Re: change cursor type when idle

[Juanma Barranquero]

On Feb 12, 2008 7:44 PM, Dan Nicolaescu <address@hidden> wrote:

>   - this wheel has been invented elsewhere and has been in wide use in
>   many editors for a long time.
vs.
>   - I am not familiar with a similar feature elsewhere.

That's hardly a compelling argument. For one, there are literally
thousands of editors; if even a fraction of them has implemented it
the read-only cursor, that would seem to indicate that some people
find it useful, as I do; OTOH, most editors I used before Emacs didn't
have a read-only mode, so the argument doesn't really apply. Perhaps
that means that read-only mode is not that useful, or it would have
been in wide use in many editors for a long time...

>   - bad things happen if you don't notice that you've accidentally
>   pressed "Insert" and continue typing. A visual clue is an extra aid
>   for the user.
vs.
>   - The fact that you can't input text is a good enough indication that
>   the buffer if read-only. Changing the cursor in this case needs added
>   code and documentation.   _I_ can see no benefit to the users from this.

In my setup, if I start typing blindly in a read-only buffer, I
certainly lose what I'm typing, because I receive no audible alert.
That's as "bad thing" to me like accidentally overwriting a file, if
undo is available. And if it is not, read only mode or not typing
blind would be advisable :)

             Juanma