GNU bug report logs - #32536
displayed width of man pages

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: hw <hw <at> adminart.net>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 24.3; Feature Request: change defaults or behaviour
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2018 14:42:48 +0200

This is not bug report but a change or a feature request:

Please change the default behaviour of the (man) function or the default
value of Man-width to 75 such that manual pages are formatted to a
reasonable width by default.  The same goes for other manuals that are
being formatted before displayed.

Text is best read when it is displayed in about 70--80 characters per
line.  The size of the window the text is displayed in does not change
this.  It is reasonable to assume that users rather have manual pages
displayed with line lengths that make them easy to read than having them
displayed at about 300 characters per line when the window happens to be
full screen or 140 when they have two windows side by side.  When a user
needs wider text, they can still change the default.


As a feature request:

How about changing the effect of Man-width, or an additional setting:
Emacs could usefully format manual pages to fit the window when the
window is narrower than the default width of manual pages (unless the
window is ridiculously narrow, in which case it could fall back to the
default width for manual pages) and format them no wider than the
default width of manual pages for windows that are wider.  It could
also, depending on a(nother) setting(s), dynamically re-format the
manual pages to

min(
    (width_of_window <= ridiculously_narrow) ?
    max_width_of_manual_pages : width_of_window,
    max_width_of_manual_pages
   )

when the window is resized and had been less wide than the maximal width
for manual pages before.

The "max_width_of_manual_pages" could be a range, like 70 to 100,
because it may be desirable to use a couple more characters per line
when the width of the window allows it, without going crazy.  The
default for "ridiculously_narrow" might be like 60.  Of course, this
can all be changed by the user.

This feature might be cool for those who like dynamic (re-)formatting; I
don't think it's much needed.



In GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.22.10)
 of 2017-09-20 on c1bm.rdu2.centos.org
Configured using:
 `configure '--build=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu'
 '--host=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' '--program-prefix='
 '--disable-dependency-tracking' '--prefix=/usr' '--exec-prefix=/usr'
 '--bindir=/usr/bin' '--sbindir=/usr/sbin' '--sysconfdir=/etc'
 '--datadir=/usr/share' '--includedir=/usr/include'
 '--libdir=/usr/lib64' '--libexecdir=/usr/libexec'
 '--localstatedir=/var' '--sharedstatedir=/var/lib'
 '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--infodir=/usr/share/info' '--with-dbus'
 '--with-gif' '--with-jpeg' '--with-png' '--with-rsvg' '--with-tiff'
 '--with-xft' '--with-xpm' '--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' '--with-gpm=no'
 'build_alias=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu'
 'host_alias=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-DMAIL_USE_LOCKF -O2 -g
 -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions
 -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4
 -grecord-gcc-switches -m64 -mtune=generic' 'LDFLAGS=-Wl,-z,relro ''

Important settings:
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  locale-coding-system: utf-8
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Org

Minor modes in effect:
  diff-auto-refine-mode: t
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  desktop-save-mode: t
  tags-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  size-indication-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  auto-fill-function: org-auto-fill-function
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A 
ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC 
O A ESC O A ESC O B ESC O C ESC O B ESC O C C-x b * 
G r TAB RET L C-s C-s ESC O D RET ESC < ESC > ESC O 
A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC 
O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A 
ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC 
O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O B ESC O B 
ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC 
O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B 
ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC O B ESC 
O B ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A 
ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC O A ESC 
O A ESC O A RET C-x b RET C-x 1 C-x b e d TAB RET C-s 
d e b C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-a C-s g n u 
C-s C-s C-s C-s C-a ESC x r e p o r TAB RET

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