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Re: delete-selection-mode


From: David Reitter
Subject: Re: delete-selection-mode
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:55:52 -0400

On Mar 24, 2010, at 11:15 AM, Drew Adams wrote:
>> 
>> Is there any empirical sign that this makes Emacs
>> harder to use -- for anyone?  Or harder to learn -- for anyone?
> 
> Empirical studies that demonstrate that? Dunno. I certainly haven't researched
> it, myself. Have you? Any empirical indication that it does *not* make life 
> more
> difficult? Just because people get by with the feature and don't complain
> doesn't mean that it is a blessing.

Somebody will complain sooner or later.

We've had d-s-m switched on in Aquamacs from the very beginning (2005), and I 
remember seeing only one complaint ever.  
If text gets overwritten inadvertently it is easy to undo.  Of course, 
transient mark mode has been on as well, so that the interaction w.r.t. the 
region makes sense.  One caveat is that the Aquamacs demographic is not the 
same as the Emacs one.

Second, people who don't like it may either turn it off manually (which they 
often do, rather than complain), or use an older version.  Both is fine.

It has been my philosophy in Aquamacs to not try to make too many people happy, 
but get the interaction right for certain target users.  Emacs would do well to 
do the same:  you can't make novel users and traditionalists happy at the same 
time.  Whatever you do, do it well.  Pick your poison and stick with it.  
(Different distributions, as with Aquamacs, address the issue!)



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