RE: Tentative diagnosis of TMM's problem. [Re: Enabling TransientMarkMode by default]

[Drew Adams]

> > What I threw out as a suggestion is to let users who choose 
> > so get rid of some of the annoying highlighting for t-m mode
> > by accepting to explicitly activate the region whenever
> > they want to use active-region operations. The change would
> > be to simply not let C-SPC activate the region.
> 
> We already have that in Emacs 22.

Great minds think alike, I guess. ;-) Thanks for letting me know.

> Please get up to scratch before proposing existing features.

My ignorance is unpardonable. You can whip me now. I see you've already got
your costume ready.

> (info "(emacs) Momentary Mark")

Yes, that's the idea, though a simple C-x C-x won't activate the mark with
the current implementation, as it would with my suggestion. Even C-x C-x C-x
C-x is easier than C-u C-x C-x.

And I'm not sure I see the point of C-SPC C-SPC - who would really use it
and why. I understand the aim, I think, but I doubt many will use it. Sounds
like it was added just to be complete, to give people a way to give
themselves on demand the highlighting they find so annoying when automatic.

Anyway, since this is already available, what about:

1. Making it easier for people to activate the region. C-u C-x C-x is too
cumbersome. It should be at least as easy to activate mark as to set mark.

2. Advertising this more - especially to newbies. We should say that *this
is the way to select* text, besides using the mouse.

3. Making `mark-even-if-inactive' = t the default.

With that, I think more people will be happier. Everyone will still be able
to always act on the region at all times. But newbies and others will not be
confused or annoyed by an active region popping up just from C-SPC. And the
advantages of t-m mode will be easily available on demand. 

The only people who would prefer something else would then be, I suspect:

1. Those who like the current t-m activation by C-SPC. No one has spoken up
in favor of that.

2. Those who don't even like the idea of being *able* to activate the
region. They need only avoid activating it explicitly.

But I do think we should make it easier to activate the region than C-u C-x
C-x. Use of the active region should be encouraged, not discouraged.

The doc for all related stuff, such as delete-selection mode, should then be
updated to account for (mention) this. The doc should generally be written
from the point of view of this being the standard scenario. That's assuming
we decide that it should be the standard scenario.