Re: Consistent vanilla Emacs

[Nicolas P. Rougier]

Thanks for this feedback, I'll wait until you have looked at the code. In the
meantime, I'll try to separate default color/face settings from other
stuff. Concerning the mode line at the top, it brings all kind of problem (for
example when a mode wants to use the header line) and maybe it's not a good
idea for a new user.

For the font, it would be nice to have a default font shipped with Emacs but I
imagine this will make the binary heavier and you need a font license that is
compatible. The Roboto Mono font I used is licensed under an Apache 2.0 (which
I think is compatible) while, for example, the Fira Code (a nice programming
font) is licensed under a SIL Open Font License. I think it is also compatible
but I'm not quite sure. For this last one, one advantage is that it is a
variable font meaning all the weights are in a single file.


Nicolas

Stefan Kangas <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi Nicolas,
>
> "Nicolas P. Rougier" <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> I've been working on making vanilla Emacs (i.e. no packages installed) more
>> consistent and elegant in terms of faces/colors/fonts/size. You can see some
>> screenshots at https://github.com/rougier/elegant-emacs.
>
> Thank you for working on this.  As I've already told you in private, I
> like some of the fundamental ideas in your proposal, and think it has a
> fresh look we could definitely use in GNU Emacs itself.
>
> Of course, there are some details we need to work out, technically and
> in terms of what information to present to the user.[1]  RMS has said we
> need to include copying and warranty information on the splash screen,
> for example.  There are also considerations of aesthatics and
> consistency.
>
> For background, there is a thread on a better splash screen here:
>
>     https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2020-04/msg01733.html
>
>> These mockups have been made using org-mode. Probably this can be made
>> differently and more efficiently but I'm not too familiar with Emacs 
>> internal.
>
> I think making a prototype in Org-mode is not a bad idea.  But we can't
> load Org-mode by default, because it is too big and would increase
> startup times.  So eventually we will need to write patches for Emacs
> which produce the desired results.
>
> I will try to find the time to study your proposal more fully in the
> next couple of days.  Here are some initial observations from the
> screenshots:
>
> 1. Currently, the consensus seems to be that the menu and tool bar are
>    important to have.  So we can't disable them by default.  We would
>    like to make them look better though, but I don't know if there is
>    any work being done on that.
>
> 2. You seem to have moved the mode-line to the top.  I don't have an
>    opinion of that yet.
>
> 3. We currently don't ship any fonts with GNU Emacs.  Maybe we should
>    consider doing that?  It seems to me that many other applications do.
>    Or maybe we should introduce a stronger set of default fonts for
>    different systems.
>
> 4. I like the margins you set on the windows.  But it is less efficient
>    than not using them, because you can see less text on your screen.
>    That makes me doubt that it's a good choice functionally, even if it
>    is aesthetically pleasing.  Is there an option to enable this only
>    for certain buffers?
>
> (BTW, your `elegant.el' includes things like setting `indent-tabs-mode'
> to nil.  Could you please separate those parts from the graphical
> changes?  For example by moving them to a separate file.  That will
> facilitate this discussion, I think.)
>
> Best regards,
> Stefan Kangas
>
> Footnotes:
> [1] Nicolas has agreed to sign the copyright assignment papers, and has
>      been sent the form to get the process started.