GNU bug report logs - #2473
usability issues on emacs's describe-mode

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Message #42 received at 2473 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: "'Lennart Borgman'" <lennart.borgman <at> gmail.com>,
        <2473 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>, "'Eli Zaretskii'" <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: <xah <at> xahlee.org>, <rms <at> gnu.org>
Subject: RE: bug#2473: usability issues on emacs's describe-mode
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:19:39 -0800

> > make the buffer present an expandable list of modes,
> > starting with just 2 items: the current major modes and 
> > "minor modes", e.g. similar to what we do in Speedbar, or
> > maybe in Outline Mode (under "Hide Sublevels").  In ASCII art:
> >
> >  + Major Mode: RMAIL Mode
> >  + Minor Modes
> >
> > Clicking on a plus near Major Mode would then expand to the text we
> > currently show for that major mode, for example:
> >
> >  - Major Mode: RMAIL mode
> >         Rmail Mode is used by M-x rmail for editing Rmail files.
> >         All normal editing commands are turned off.
> >         Instead, these commands are available:
> >
> >         .    Move point to front of this message.
> >         /    Move point to bottom of this message.
> >         SPC  Scroll to next screen of this message.
> >         DEL  Scroll to previous screen of this message.
> >         n    Move to Next non-deleted message.
> >         p    Move to Previous non-deleted message.
> >
> >  + Minor Modes
> >
> > Clicking on "Minor Modes" would show only the list of modes 
> > with short descriptions:
> >
> >  - Minor Modes:
> >    + Auto-Compression -- automatic file compression and 
> >                          uncompression.
> >    + Blink-Cursor -- blink cursor in current window.
> >    + Desktop-Save -- save Emacs session on exit.
> >    + Display-Time -- display time, load average, and mail 
> >                      flag in modeline.
> >    + File-Name-Shadow -- shadow ignored part of file name 
> >                          in minibuffer.
> >
> > etc., you get the picture.  (We could also have a tooltip 
> > on each line showing more info for that mode.)  Clicking on
> > any of the plus signs near a minor mode would display the
> > full documentation for that minor
> > mode, the one we show today unconditionally.
> >
> > This way, the user will be able to expand only the modes she is
> > interested in.  Using the short description, the user will 
> > be able to find out what is/are the modes she is interested in,
> > if she doesn't know that in advance.
> >
> > For more functionality, we could add buttons and/or help-echo
> > links to go to the manual where the mode is fully described.
> >
> > WDYT?
> 
> A very good suggestion.

Sounds good to me, too.

Actually, we've been around this block before. This discussion 5 years ago:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2004-05/msg00275.html
seemed to end with people agreeing that we should show the major mode
information and provide links to show the info for each minor mode (in *Help*).
But no one ever implemented it.

The current suggestion is better in these related ways:
* You can print all mode info at once (with ^L acting as page separator).
* You can show the info for more than one minor mode at a time, in case
comparison helps.

But of course agreement will not (again) mean anything if no one ever implements
it.

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