RE: address@hidden: Should be able to select text in splashscreen]

[Drew Adams]

    > Users should be able to select text in the splash screen displayed
    > using Help > About Emacs.

    Lots of graphical programs display splash screens containing text that
    cannot be selected.  New users *won't* expect to be able to interact
    with the text.  New users will also know that they can find out
    version numbers from a menu item called "About Emacs", and indeed we
    have such a menu item.  Besides, it would be extremely annoying if the
    splash screen doesn't go away when you press any key.

Please read what I wrote: "the splash screen displayed __using Help > About
Emacs*__.

The initial splash screen is not the problem I wrote about. The problem is
what is displayed by Help > About Emacs. In *that* display, especially,
users should be able to select text. And this has nothing in particular to
do with new users, BTW.

It is true that some MS Windows applications also suffer from the defect of
not letting you select the text displayed by "About...". I find that quite
annoying when it happens, and I appreciate an app that lets me select the
version number and other info, to paste it into an email to tech support,
for instance.

I know of no app, in any case, that makes the "About..." display disappear
when you click the mouse in it or hit a key. That's plain brain-dead. Again,
I'm talking about the "About Emacs" display, not the initial splash screen -
use anything you want for that, including animation for all I care.

The point is that users should be able to easily copy version and other
information, to paste it elsewhere. If they know about `M-x emacs-version'
then they can do that (because trying to select the echo-area message with
the mouse will now show it in *Messages*, where it is selectable), but many
users will try to get this info via About Emacs, where they cannot copy it.

    The one change I would make to the splash screen is to add some text
    saying something like "Press any key to continue".  Many graphical
    programs take a long time to start up, and display splash screens
    while they are starting up; a particularly confused user might think
    he has to wait for the splash screen to disappear by itself before
    editing can commence.

Useless, IMO. How long does it take a user to try hitting a key or clicking
the mouse? But harmless, if like it. ("Press any key" has of course become
risible in many quarters, because of the reports of users asking which key
the "any" key is.)