Re: `isearch-allow-scroll' - a misnomer and a bad design

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Richard Stallman writes:

 > Whether something is a mode is a question about how people understand
 > its interface.

Indeed.  Guess what?  My fingers use isearch as you originally
intended; I don't use *any* non-printing characters to invoke isearch-
specific commands except C-s, C-r, BKSP, and RET (you missed those
last two, I think they have always been available with isearch-
specific behavior).  Nevertheless, I *understand* isearch as modal.

 > It is normal for editing commands to stop searching and edit
 > instead.

You made an exception for BKSP.  That one bothers me a lot.  Much of
the time, it "should" stop searching and edit the buffer, but it
doesn't.  Of course, there's no way for Emacs to know which I meant,
so I have to accept that modality.  OTOH, it would be abnormal for RET
to stop searching and self-insert; its current meaning of "accept the
search (= just stay at the found text)" is just right.  Those two
keystrokes alone are enough to evoke a perception of modality in me.