Re: Emacs Survey: Toolbars

[Christopher Dimech]

> Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 7:10 PM
> From: "Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org>
> To: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> Cc: rpluim@gmail.com, eliz@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Emacs Survey: Toolbars
>
>    If some more than a few people really do expect
>    setting (option) changes to be saved automatically,
>    then we could add an option (!) (or a minor mode)
>    that does that.  Turn on that option, and thereafter
>    all changes you make to options, faces, themes, etc.
>    get saved automatically.
>
> FWIW (tiny data point) I know many users that are suprised about the
> fact that toggling an option in the menu-bar doesn't save it
> permanently.
>
>    Note that that behavior can get in the way of user
>    experimentation.  Not that it's necessarily limiting
>    - it's just a different approach.

The behaviour is akin to cycling color themes without actually changing
the theme permanently.

It is not invariably evident that the contrasts between emacs and the
behaviour of other applications is bad.  Emacs gives users much more
control of what happens.  Thusly, it is quite easy to end up messing
your system with things that ultimately you could not want.

Experimentation, either through User Hacking or through Emacs Packages
is quite a regular thing.

> It would be nice if one could see what options one set (via the
> toolbar); then one could see what one is experimenting with.

I like the idea.