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Fwd: ideas for customize
From: |
Samuel Wales |
Subject: |
Fwd: ideas for customize |
Date: |
Sat, 3 Jan 2009 17:11:41 -0700 |
I am not a subscriber, but Drew suggested that I send these ideas to
this list.
These are not huge issues for me, but I hope they help others.
Thanks.
P.S. I just thought of another idea: put (customizable) on variables
and faces in apropos mode so that the user knows that it isn't just an
internal variable.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Samuel Wales
Date: Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 16:49
Subject: ideas for customize
To: address@hidden
Recently two people expressed different opinions on the value of
customize. I hope that this email helps create more understanding.
A lot of people seem to find customize irksome. I very much
appreciate the work that went into it and the philosophy
behind it, but I admit that I, too, don't use it (except for
faces because I don't know how to do those otherwise).
Here are some extemporaneous ideas for possible ways to
improve it.
These are just my impressions and some of them might be
incorrect. I might have missed a few things.
However, I hope that they are useful. :)
- the customizable entries should stand out. but some
are in a special face while others are not. help text
and docstrings look the same as the entries. a special
face, perhaps red, used for all customizable entries and
not used for anything else, would help.
- help text does not take into account window-width. it
should fill according to window-width minus a fixed
amount. this should also optionally occur for docstring
text, ideally trying to notice, filladapt-style, when
there is a table, a list, or code.
- it is not easy to navigate with the keyboard. n and p
get stuck on values, then you have to manually go to the
next widget.
- too many keystrokes to try various settings (e.g. try
various faces).
- perhaps something like orgstruct minor mode could be
used to organize the customize buffer so that users do
not have to learn a special way of interacting.
- a more flexible infrastructure for customize-changed,
which also works for large packages that do not come
with emacs, might be nice.
- the difference between "undo edits" and "reset to saved"
is not clear. rewording would help.
- it is not clear how to .emacs -ize custom code. simple
for variables, less so for faces. also not clear when
to do so, in the case of faces. for example, will a
restart of emacs be necessary?
- having the entries in custom-set-variables and
custom-set-faces include the (useless for it but useful
for the user) setq or set-face (or whatever it is) would
make it easy to cut and paste from the custom section to
your own .emacs.
- it is not easy to hide and unhide. a key would be
easier than buttons.
- have help text tell you how.
- trees should be easier to fold and unfold, perhaps with
a key.
- a command for next and previous (perhaps redefining n
and p) which also optionally hides and unhides
everything as you navigate, would also help.
- it seems to say changed outside of customized even when
it is not. have not tracked this down. comment
perhaps.
- choosing numbers to choose the state requires a
translation step. selecting by letter would be less
cognitively burdensome.
Again these are just possibilities for improving the (imo)
good start that is customize.
--
For personal gain, myalgic encephalomyelitis denialists are knowingly
causing further suffering and death by grossly corrupting science. Do
you care about the world?
http://www.meactionuk.org.uk/What_Is_ME_What_Is_CFS.htm
--
For personal gain, myalgic encephalomyelitis denialists are knowingly
causing further suffering and death by grossly corrupting science. Do
you care about the world?
http://www.meactionuk.org.uk/What_Is_ME_What_Is_CFS.htm
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