Re: [O] [POLL] Should Org tempo be enabled by default? (expand templates thru e.g. "<s[TAB]")

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

Bastien <address@hidden> writes:

> Here is what the experience can look like:
>
> - Upgrading Emacs or Org (hurray!!)
> - Trying to hit <s as usual one month after the upgrade
> - Thinking your stupid

[...]

I have an issue with this argument: it can be opposed to virtually any
backward-incompatible change we make. There are actually 10 such changes
in Org 9.2. Would it makes sense to remove them because some users,
unfortunately, will encounter a workflow break upon updating Org?

I totally agree this is an issue, yet, we have to move forward. We can
make UX consistent across releases, but we cannot guarantee 100%
compatibility at each step. As a data point, I don't know any software
that preserves the exact same UX after each release -- Firefox, Gnome,
I'm looking at you! There are unavoidable gotchas. This just means Org
is still vivid.

> In fact, I'm inclined to ask the real question: if org-tempo is on by
> default, who will have good reasons to turn it off and why?

This is one problem: only a few will have a reason (good or bad, who
cares?) to turn it off, e.g., because expansion gets in the way with
other templating systems. Possibly even fewer will actually turn it off.
As a consequence, the vast majority of users will keep using "<s" -- and
put maintenance burden on us -- instead of trying, and improving
something else. Inertia...

I already stated the following, sorry for re-iterating. Marking a region
and wrapping it in some environment is a basic operation Org is expected
to provide. We already did with `org-emphasize'. Implementing
programmable templates, even though we are re-using what Emacs ships
with, is another story.

Org Tempo is a nice tool. I'm not questioning this. It is also almost
100% compatible with previous feature. Yet, it competes with external
Emacs libraries, as capable as itself. Since it is not a feature
mandatory in Org, why forcing it onto the users? I'm inclined to think
we shouldn't.

Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou                                                0x80A93738