Subject: bug#41129: outline-mode: New keybindings for demote/promote/move-subtree

From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2021 09:07:30 -0600

Pankaj Jangid <[email-masked]> writes:

> Lars Ingebrigtsen <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>>> (define-key outline-minor-mode-map (kbd "M-<left>") 'outline-promote)
>>> (define-key outline-minor-mode-map (kbd "M-<right>") 'outline-demote)
>>
>> `M-<right>' (etc) are already bound to cursor movement commands by
>> default, so this would shadow these bindings in outline-minor-mode?  I
>> think that would be inconvenient for many people.

Yes, it is a real problem.  But since this is context dependent, I find
that in practice I am rarely surprised by this.  YMMV.

>> I'm not sure M-<right> (etc) are obvious bindings for outline handling
>> even if that weren't the case.  Anybody got any opinions here?
>
> That is difficult question. Because people coming from org background
> will find it difficult if ‘M-<right>’ and ‘M-<left>’ don’t work as
> expected by them.

Right, this is the reason for suggesting this in the first place.

FWIW, I find the org-mode bindings to be okay in the sense that at least
they are easy to learn.  But I have found myself wanting something a bit
more ergonomic at times.

> Irrespective of the above issue, in my opinion, there should be a
> standardized way of doing similar things in Emacs.

Agreed.  Perhaps it is possible to find a better alternative.  Such an
alternative should ideally be suitable for at least all three of
outline-mode, org-mode and outline-minor-mode.

It might be hard to settle on something that makes everyone happy,
however.