Fwd: Prepend an indicator to the minibuffer prompt to show you can use completion

[Ken Manheimer]

[whoops - sent a separate copy directly to drew, meant to cc the list.]

On 8/13/06, Drew Adams <address@hidden> wrote:
> Minor feature suggestion, for after the release:
>
> Prepend a one-character indicator, with a face that stands out, to the
> minibuffer prompt, whenever completion is possible.
> [...]
> Knowing whether completion is available can change the way you interact with
> Emacs. Not knowing it is available can mean that you miss out on a quick way
> of inputting something.

i like this idea.  i have a few modifications.

first, i would prefer to use a new indicator in the fringe, when the
fringe is present - seems like this would be a nice use of that real
estate, more suitable than precious minibuffer content space.  the new
cue would display with the fringe top-of-buffer signal, when people
use that, but that's generally redundant in the minibuffer, since it
always has a prompt on the first line, and usually contains one or
just a few lines.

second, you get many of the benefits you seek, and more, with
something like icomplete.  with icomplete, on the third character you
get a concise indication of the completion prospects, not just that
completion is available.  a fringe indicator would not conflict,
however, and would still be nice, though less necessary.

> An additional subtlety can help a little more: I prepend a different
> character (`=') and highlight it in a different color, whenever completion
> requires a match.

with icomplete you get different braces around the completion
prospects depending on whether the match is required or optional.

i think that having the option for an indicator in the fringe, whether
or not you use something like icomplete, would be good.

--
ken
address@hidden
http://myriadicity.net


--
ken
address@hidden
http://myriadicity.net