Re: Fiddling with the menus (was: bug#4043: 23.1; thanks for emacs

[Stefan Monnier]

>> I agree that getting rid of the non-interactive search items in
>> Edit->Search would be a good simplification.
> I would suggest burying them deeper down in the menus instead.
> For advertising reasons it is still good to have them there.

I see no need to advertise them.  I'd rather improve isearch so that the
non-interactive search commands are never needed (AFAIK this is already
the case, but it seems you disagree).

>> Not sure about these.  They're not very useful maybe, but they do serve
>> the purpose of indicating what is the canonical keybinding for
>> those commands.
> For whom? I think new users will probably use C-End etc.

We recommend M-> and M-< because they are more likely to work under ttys.

>>>     * The “Case-Insensitive Search” should be moved to be together with
>>>     the interactive search menu under Edit.
>> 
>> This also sounds OK, except for the problem of making the behavior of
>> the "Save options" menu entry clear: currently this entry saves all the
>> options that appear above in the menu.  So if we move an entry to some
>> other menu, we get into some trouble.

> The "Save options" is in my opinion confusing. I think it would be
> better to ask for each option if it would be set permanently or just
> temporarily.

> This would be easier to understand and there would be no obstacle of
> this kind for moving them.

Could be.  But I wouldn't want to ask the question when the option is
chosen, only when "Save options" is selected.

>>>     * The Scroll-bar and Fringe menu items should be gone.  Scroll-bar is
>>>     a standard feature in all applications.  If a power user wants it
>>>     off, he can do so thru the customization menu.  The Fringe adjustment
>>>     is again for tweakers.  It adds distraction.
>> Those entries mostly play the role of advertisement.
> Maybe bury them under "Show/Hide - Advanced - Scroll-bar" etc?

The show/hide submenu is very large, so the benefit seems dubious.

>>>     * The Time, Battery, are of little use. Their functionality are
>>>     provided by the OS's tool bar. Again, for geeks who need it, it is
>>>     easy to call the command by “M-x”.
>> I'd tend to agree.  But I also do not remember why they were added, so
>> maybe there's just something I'm missing.
> Bury it under advanced as above.

Maybe if/when more stuff gets added to show/hide.


        Stefan