Re: Emacs Survey: Toolbars

[Richard Stallman]

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  > > So here's an idea.  We could make Emacs display, where the toolbar
  > > would have been, a question:
  > >
  > >    Would you like a toolbar here or not?   Yes   No
  > >
  > > If you click Yes, that customizes to permanently turn on the toolbar.
  > > If you click No, that customizes to permanently turn off the toolbar.

  > I think that sounds slightly intrusive...

Why would it be more intrusive than the toolbar currently is?
It would occupy the same screen area.

  >   but we certainly could have
  > something in the menu area for that: A mouse-3 popup that switches the
  > toolbar on/off, for instance.

Yes, we could do that, but it would not encourage people to actually
answer the question.


  > > Each one could offer to click on a web page where you could
  > > register your preference.  That way we would get a complete sample.

  > I'm not very enthusiastic about that -- it smacks a bit of
  > "telemetry".

That is a misjudgment.  There is nothing wrong with inviting the user
to communicate.

  >   We don't want Emacs to be seen as a piece of software that
  > "phones home" and leaks data.

I agree, but what I am proposing is not that.

  > In the mega-thread about modernising Emacs, the common refrain was that
  > we needed actual data on what users do.  We now have some data, and I
  > don't think we should just dismiss that data because of statistical
  > quibbles.

My suggestion will get us very good data about this question.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)