Re: Toolbar mode on/off

[David Kastrup]

Richard Stallman <address@hidden> writes:

>     at the current point of time, enabling the toolbar and disabling it
>     again is not a noop, but rather causes shrinking.
>
> That seems like bug, if it happens.
>
>       That's ugly.  On
>     the other side, Emacs should not increase its frame size beyond the
>     given initial frame size.
>
> I don't agree.  If the initial frame size was specified in lines,
> and the toolbar was off, turning it on should increase the frame
> size.

A disabled toolbar comes about only by user configuration of the
startup, and this configuration is likely to also specify a window
size filling the screen vertically.  So later enabling a toolbar
without adjusting the number of lines will cause the bottom of the
frame to go off-screen: not really useful behavior whether or not one
considers it "correct".

>     Of course, it would be nicer (and simpler altogether) if Emacs did not
>     change its frame pixel size at all when turning toolbar (or menubar or
>     whatever) on and off.
>
> That would be incorrect if the size of the text area has been
> specified in lines.

The startup configuration will usually specify both lines and the
presence and absence of the toolbar, and implicitly the frame size.
The question is whether it is more important to the user to keep the
frame size or the line count when toggling toolbar mode.

It is my conviction that in the overwhelming number of cases, the
frame size will be more important to the user, since it will be almost
always be chosen to fit the available screen area.

-- 
David Kastrup