Subject: Re: bug#68663: Unsaved buffers dialog is unhelpful

From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2024 15:31:14 -0800

Nikolay Kudryavtsev <[email-masked]> writes:

> That's very unfortunate.
>
> I'll summarize the arguments for changing this dialog for the future,
> because I have a hunch that this would eventually be changed:
>
>  From the point of view of a power user this is bad because power users
> generally have Emacs running for day-weeks-months at a time and they
> generally need to know whether the change they've made to some buffer
> days ago is meaningful or a typo. The new behavior requires them to set
> use-dialog-box nil or remember about the C-x C-c behavior being
> different. All for a basic thing that ideally should not take any mental
> space.

Thanks.  I think the old dialog was a complete mess myself, as did
others, so I think simply reverting to it is the a no-go.

However, we might be more amenable to a well-thought out proposal for
what an improved dialogue might look like in 2024.  I'm not saying that
we would accept it, but I'm not prepared to close any doors either.

The fact that we recently changed it means that it would have to be a
solid proposal for us to accept it, though.  Mere tweaks to get some old
favorite feature back are not likely to fly.

Good arguments here might include:

 - "I have looked at how VSCode does this, a project with significant
   resources to pour into things like dedicated UX experts, and here is
   what they do.  We might want to do something similar, because ..."

>  From the point of view of a new user this is bad because now the user
> is stuck searching for those modified buffers by hand since Emacs have
> not given him any guidance. Quitting and saving is such a basic
> operation(cue two pages of vim jokes) that at this point we should not
> only not expect the user to know about M-x save-some-buffers, but even
> what the buffer modified mode line flag looks like.

I didn't check, but it sounds like this might point to a real problem.
Could you please describe in more detail the workflow that you have in
mind?  What is the exact situation when you see the problem, and why?

Bonus points for coming up with other ideas to improve the situation
than reverting or a complete redesign.