Re: Customize face editor: [Value menu] *

[Miles Bader]

address@hidden (Kai Großjohann) writes:
> Hm.  When I first used Customize to change faces (in Emacs 20), it
> took me a while to figure out that you have to `enable' a face
> property before you can change it.  I think that having a single menu
> which says `unspecified' or the right value would be clearer.

I think it's rather more obvious in my changed implementation, because
the various buttons etc., don't show up at all until you check the item.

In other words, in the old style, it looks like this (say):

            [X] Height: [Value Menu] Height in 1/10 pt: 80
            [ ] Weight: [Value Menu] *
            [ ] Slant: [Value Menu] *

This is confusing because even though `Weight' and `Slant' aren't
selected, their buttons still show up, and it's tempting to click on
them; when you do click on them the resulting error is not entirely
clear (not because it's worded badly, but because the situation is
wierd).

In my new implementation, the same situation looks like this:

            [X] Height: [Value Menu] Height in 1/10 pt: 80
            [ ] Weight: *
            [ ] Slant: *

It's fairly obvious that you have to check the box if you want `Weight'
or `Slant', because there's not much else you can do!  When you do check
an attributes checkbox, the buttons and value appear, and can be
modified.  Furthermore, when an attribute is checked, there's no `*'
choice on the menu, you can only choose a valid value; the only way to
get the `*' back is to uncheck the checkbox (at which point the buttons
all disappear again).

I think it's a lot better than the current situation, but we'll see what
people think after 21.1...  [perhaps the * should be changed to
something else, though]

> I have also sometimes had to tell people to check the checkbox before
> changing a property.  But this question hasn't come up for a while
> now.  So maybe this problem is not so great after all.  Do you think a
> poll should be taken on one of the Emacs newsgroups?

In my opinion it's not necessary -- I think once you've tried it you'll
like it!

-Miles
-- 
Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra.  Suddenly it flips over,
pinning you underneath.  At night the ice weasels come.  --Nietzsche