Re: Fixing antediluvianisms in Emacs' UI

[Ilya Zakharevich]

On 2010-07-08, David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:
> I think the point was that the manual was not deficient concerning the
> information it provides, but in not making Xah Lee want to read it.

> In a way, it is a losing battle.

Why consider it in military terms?  The question at point is that
Emacs' UI is lacking.  So just fix it: make it self-documenting, as
any good-UI program should be...

Looks like some vestiges of 80s' mentality still remains in Emacs
design: at the time, a common misconception was that problems with UI
may be "fixed" by updating the manuals.  Well, even if one still
believes in this way, it is a dead end: Emacs' manual IS quite good
already, so the improvements achieved in this way would have a trace
value only.

Now, after the flood of "grandmother revolution" [*], we know OTHER
ways.  "Self-documenting" means the program guides the user how to use
it.  Emacs is now flexible enough so that with most tasks, this may be
easily achieved.

  [*] this is how as one of the designers of Plan9 called the major
      event of 90s: achievement of understanding of UI design so good
      that UI accessible to "grandmothers" may be created.  He
      attributes this breakthrough to effort of M$; I tend to agree...

> People expect software to just work without reading manuals.

That's right.  And when we can EASILY cater to their expectations, we should.

The question at point: ISearch.  Lemme sketch one possiblity of adding
self-documentation to ISearch (people with better UI-design experience
must be able to find something yet better):

  a) Change the prompt (configurable; verbose by default;
     self-documentation should mention how to disable verbosity):

                Isearch (F1 for help):

  b) bind F1 F1 to "Open manual on basics of Isearch";

  c) bind F1 to open a shrink-wrapped buffer with "Quick info" on
     ISearch.  This info should include the `current state' (case
     sensitivity etc) - plus information where this state "comes
     from": e.g., whether the particular setting is mode-specific.  It
     should also state how to toggle "I" in ISearch, toggle case-fold,
     switch direction, regexpness, by-word, different ways to quit,
     etc.

     Should also state how to start Isearch in `a particular state'
     (with some toggles pre-loaded).

Does not look difficult to do, does it?

Hope this helps,
Ilya