Re: [PATCH] Support "\n" in icomplete-separator

[Gregory Heytings]

> The important aspect is that in the browsers the lists are as wide or as 
> narrow as the fields from which they drop; in Emacs it is always as wide 
> as the frame, and that is many times way too wide.

Now I'm not sure anymore what we are talking about.  I was not talking 
about lists in browsers in general; of course a combo box in a webpage for 
example is not larger than the field from which it drops.  I was talking 
about what is, in a browser, the equivalent of the minibuffer in Emacs 
(because it is there that you enter your "commands") : the address bar. 
And I showed, with numbers, that with the default configuration of the 
browser used by the vast majority (66%) of the world population, the combo 
box of the address bar is larger than the largest possible Emacs 
minibuffer (again with the default configuration).

I think you underestimate the fact that the UI expectations of most people 
today have been heavily influenced by smartphones (or "portable listening 
and surveillance device" as RMS would call them ;-) and tablets.  On a 
smartphone the combo box when you type something in the address bar (and 
generally in most apps) typically uses 100% of the available screen space, 
on a tablet it's typically 50-60%.  In the same vein, most people today 
prefer to use full-screen apps, and what you consider to be "wasted screen 
space" is not at all a problem for them.

> More importantly, in Emacs the list doesn't drop down, it pushes the 
> mode line up instead. Which is counter-intuitive for those who expect 
> the drop-down list or combo-box UI which drops from the field for which 
> it shows the possible completion candidates.  So our emulation of that 
> UI is poor and looks unprofessional.

So it's the fact that the mode line is pushed up to display the completion 
candidates in a drop-down way that worries you?  IMO you're overestimating 
the importance of this, and IMO it is not at all counter-intuitive. 
There are many ways to display such things, for example the system search 
bar in macOS is positioned at the center of the screen with completion 
candidates displayed below, but in Windows it is positioned at the bottom 
of the screen with completion candidates displayed above.  All apps are 
different, and I don't see why the fact that Emacs doesn't behave like 
another app (BTW, which one should be the reference?) would make it 
counter-intuitive.

> Imagine that we would do something like that when other applications use 
> menus, for example -- this is very similar.

What do you mean?  That the eternal nature of menus is to work top-down? 
That's not true, the Windows start menu is bottom-up, and I've never seen 
this as a problem.  I've never heard anyone complaining about it either. 
And the current trend seems to be menus that work left-right (with the 
menu title replaced by an icon).

> Of course, if some people like this, I don't see why we shouldn't have 
> it.  It's just a pity that we waste so much energy on these poor-man 
> emulations instead of providing the "real thing".

But what is "the real thing"?  What macOS does?  What Windows does?  What 
Chrome does?  What ... does?

> > > or the small Google Search window to the right of the address bar.
> >
> > AFAIK it is not "activated" by default, as it is redundant with the 
> > address bar.
>
> No, it is not redundant: the address bar is for addresses, the search 
> box is for typing search strings.  The difference becomes apparent when 
> you look at the completion candidates each one offers.  But that's an 
> aside.

That might have been the case some years ago, but browsers are now clever 
enough to make a distinction between URLs and queries.  I can't tell what 
happens on your computer, but on mine typing "foo" in the search box and 
in the address bar lists the exact same completion candidates.  Which is 
why the search box isn't there in the default configuration, and why I did 
not add it.