Subject: bug#53776: Modeline indicator when using define-minor-mode

From: Michael Heerdegen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2022 04:39:54 +0100

Stephen Berman <[email-masked]> writes:

> > Because one can easily add minor-modes that exceed the mode-line
> > mini-buffer,
> > is there
> > the capability of making a hierarchical modeline indicator.
> >
> > e.g.
> >
> > Emacs-Lisp
> > company
> > Outl
> > Gon -> rich
> >     -> gudin
> >     -> cholden
>
> That would appear to require a multiline mode line, which is not
> possible with the current implementation.

Maybe goncholden wants to visualize alternative "submodes".  That's
possible: the :lighter can be any modeline construct so you can do
anything here the modeline supports, e.g. using :eval.  See the
definition of `emacs-lock-mode' for an example.

> An alternative, which might be easier to implement (for someone who
> knows how, not me), would be to make the mode line horizontally
> scrollable.  But maybe that's not so easy, since it seems so obviously
> useful, yet hasn't been implemented.

It's not hard to achieve, no.  But it replaces something that is too
crowded to be useful with something scrollable that is too crowded to be
useful.  I tried it once and was very disappointed - a modeline you need
to scroll to see everything is worse than using a help command like C-h
m.

There are better alternatives: The more you use Emacs, the more the
minor modes you use don't change any more.  Better choose one of the
available ways to make the mode indicator less longish in appearance.

Michael.