Re: Experimentally unbind M-o on the trunk

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Yuri Khan <yuri.v.khan@gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2021 01:07:07 +0700
> Cc: Matt Armstrong <matt@rfc20.org>, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen 
> <larsi@gnus.org>, "Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org>, 
>       Gregory Heytings <gregory@heytings.org>, Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>, 
>       Emacs developers <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
> 
> Yet, traversing a hierarchical structure, trying to guess the correct
> path, is exactly what I tend to do when looking for something. If the
> hierarchy maps well to my guesses, I find things quickly and am happy.
> If I have to use search, I feel disappointed.
> 
> I am not alone in this. We are a subset of computer users. We are the
> same people who want to click a building on the map rather than type a
> company name into the search box. (My pet theory is that this
> preference to {search|find icons|traverse hierarchies} correlates to
> the {auditory|visual|kinaesthetic} learning modality.)

Emacs has menus (and the tool bar) for those like you.  We are not
going to remove them, at least not on my watch.

But menus are not the only way to discover Emacs features, and at
least for some not the most efficient one.  The reason is simple: not
every command and variable can be found via menus.  By contrast, the
Help commands can find _any_ command, variable, face, symbol, and even
a more-or-less free-text subject discussed somewhere in the docs.  So
the coverage is much better than that of menus.

I of course agree that wading through the wealth of the potential hits
can be frustrating at times, if you don't know the right words or
phrases.  That is why we would like to improve these features, and
that is why any patches in this area will be very welcome.  But
dismissing the Emacs Help system because it sometimes overwhelms you
is not useful, because menus will never be able to replace the Help
system.

(And please consider voicing your opinions on Reddit, where there's a
consistent propaganda to turn off the menus, including for newbies who
may not know what is VC.)