Subject: bug#12443: 24.2.50; Default values in the minibuffer prompt (fix inconsisntecy)

From: Dani Moncayo <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 21:10:12 +0200

On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 5:56 PM, Stefan Monnier
<[email-masked]> wrote:
>> I see no reason for this inconsistency,
>
> Agreed.  The officially sanctioned behavior is to use "(default ...)".

Then all commands should be consistent on that.

>> neither I see the need for the "default " part.
>
> That would make the job of minibuffer-electric-default-mode harder
> (more false positives).

I didn't know about that minor mode.  I've just read its docstring and
I think it isn't worth it, because:
* It makes the input string jump right and left, making harder to
concentrate on it.
* Users obviously know that the default value is used only when no
value is provided, so there is no need to be inserting/removing the
default value from the prompt.
* The only advantage I can see is to save space in the minibuffer when
you are entering some text, but usually the frame is wide enough not
to care about this.

(Anyway, I don't understand why the way of formatting the default
value in the prompt string should make the job of this mode harder,
because if we know what the default value is and how is formatted in
the prompt string, it should be trivial to identify that part at the
right side of the prompt string.  Maybe I'm missing something...)

>> So, hereby I propose to fix this, i.e., to omit the "default " in
>> those commands where this is currently shown.
>
> I find the "(default ...)" text to use up too much space for my own taste, so
> I use the patch below to rewrite it on-the-fly to "[...]".

Thanks, but if we agree that there is a problem here (or there is room
for improvement), it would be better to fix this in the vanilla Emacs.

-- 
Dani Moncayo