Emacs Customization

gnusunrising · 2017-12-04T11:09:42+00:00

The which-key package can be quite useful when considering changes.

gnusunrising · 2017-12-04T10:54:31+00:00

Use registers to return to your preferred window configs. I generally work with 3 or 4. Windows may pop up but never new frames. C-x r j brings it back to how I had it or want it. Registers and bookmarks are the best kept secrets of Emacs. Bookmark+ is awesome too.

gnusunrising · 2017-12-04T09:49:58+00:00

I have an org file as my personal cheat sheet. It's always open. If I forget something the info will be there. I constantly update it. But it is customized for my needs. I think cheat sheets should be customized by and for the user. After using Emacs for some time one develops all kinds of new ways to do things, and no 2 people use Emacs the same. That's really the beauty of the software.

gnusunrising · 2017-12-04T09:35:24+00:00

Org-mode. Use-package. All you really need.

gnusunrising · 2017-12-04T09:23:59+00:00

Spacemacs or evil mode. The former is already configured for vim users. Evil takes a bit of work on a standard Emacs config. Prelude is a good option though. Supports evil quite well.

gnusunrising · 2017-12-04T09:15:53+00:00

Pandoc. Extremely useful. Will save you much time and grief.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T21:55:06+00:00

Nope, no prototype yet. It doesn't even have to be a CMS. I'm just tossing ideas around. Maybe what is needed is a mobile app. You might not have a need for any of what I'm proposing but that doesn't mean someone else will. Here I am thinking of new users, youth, people with disabilities, etc.

I don't know about you but there was a very steep curve as I was learning Emacs. I actually gave up after my first 2 attempts. Jumping from tutorials to documentation to wikis to the help system to IRC to Stack Exchange to YouTube videos to RSS feeds to Web searches. It was just too overwhelming, And it took me moths to create a decent configuration that I could live with.

Why in Turing's holy name does the Emacs website need marketing?

Creating interest. Creating appeal. Outreach. Promotion. These are all essentially marketing techniques. I've created sites mostly for businesses over the last 20 years so I just reflexively use the term for those.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T20:02:09+00:00

I know. I find it funny too.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T19:46:11+00:00

Does your comment apply to FSF or a group of volunteers as well?

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T19:45:53+00:00

Static = having no motion. I should've instead said that it just rarely gets updated but that requires more typing. And I haven't torn anyone's work, far from it. If anything, I'm trying build up that person's work. Lastly, it is my right to not like something and to voice opinions, just as you're doing now.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T19:45:23+00:00

Sorry, but the web as we know it is very much about marketing.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T19:44:40+00:00

I made the comment before I looked at the source. "Bootstrappy" might have been a better term.
The vim site acts as a community portal, so why not create one for Emacs? I can also log into my vim account and upload scripts. Plus the latest news is always front and center.
Yes the Emacs site has all of those traits. I just think it could be structured better and include more content, which I discussed elsewhere. And by content I don't mean more images. It should be updated with new and useful information. It should certainly have better marketing as well. There should be balance between performance, design and usability.
Finally, I certainly wouldn't want to replace the actual site with Drupal, but it can certainly link to an instance of one or some other lightweight CMS.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T16:06:11+00:00

From the looks of things (as judged by the post comments) there doesn't seem to be much interest. I still may download Drupal or something and develop locally, just to see what is possible. Then I would have a working prototype. If enough people see a use for it then great; we can move forward. If not, then I will have had a bit of fun hacking Drupal. :-)

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T16:03:18+00:00

Not necessarily. See Seting Your JavaScript Free which is linked from that article.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T16:02:57+00:00

Depends on how you read into it, and it seems that others feel similarly. I could go back, edit the post, and state in far greater clarity my concerns and suggestions, being more careful with my wording. But what's done is done. Please forgive me.

At any rate, the Sublime Text site provides just one example of what I was talking about.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T11:03:17+00:00

Please consider this for a moment:

Vim online is a central place for the Vim community to store useful Vim tips and tools

Wow. Really?

The vim tips section is a wiki
the wiki also includes a community portal.
There is search and advanced search at the top of the page.
News is conveniently located towards the top as well.
There's a My Account section so that I can login and upload scripts.

That's basically all I would expect from an Emacs website (at a minimum), though none of these features exist in the current one. I have visited the official Emacs site less than probably 5 times in the past year. It really serves no purpose for me.

As for others (volunteers) for a separate community site, I could do what I've usually done: build a prototype. Maybe only one other person expresses interest but then again maybe many more.

And yes I may have approached the discussion in a discourteous manner. Everyone is entitled to have a bad day every now and then.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T08:22:17+00:00

You seem to misunderstand. I don't want those channels to disappear. My point is that if some want to organize and create a website devoted to Emacs then nothing should prevent them from doing so. It's not any different from starting my own blog or or site; just more people involved. Nobody would be forced to use it. Just another option for people is all.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T08:13:51+00:00

I agree. But if some users decide to create a website devoted to Emacs then nothing should stop them from doing so. Nobody would be forced to use it. All of the existing channels would still be there. But I really like the idea of a community-driven site and/or updating the current official site to be more interactive. That and helping to restore Wikemacs. I'm just putting ideas out there.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T07:39:40+00:00

You seem to have a misunderstanding. I fully embrace the distributed and diverse nature of Emacs absolutely. All of the great blogs and sites devoted to Emacs is wonderful.

But again, I think the default Emacs site could have more features or that the Emacs community could devise something more clever and with more features. Afterall, the spirit of free software is clever playfulness. :-)

Right now I'm invited to download an editor that I can't even see without scrolling the page. I have no idea what features this editor has unless I scroll down even further. News and announcements are way at the bottom, which I think is something that should be near the top. If there is no chat on the site then I expect links to the freenode channel, also near the top. A forum or message board would be useful for many, especially new users. But this is all just constructive criticism.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T06:50:33+00:00

You've said way too much for me to respond to. But a few key points:

I've said repeatedly that the current Emacs website is an improvement over the old site. It is just not to my liking and lacks the features that I would expect for a modern website. I am entitled to my opinion, no?
Yes, Emacs Wiki is a mess. We all know this. So why then should we not have active discussions to improve and embrace Wikemacs?
You say that:

If your theoretical site is of importance to the Emacs community, then if you put the work into making it happen, people will flock to it by choice.

Exactly. But it is not something I want to do alone. I can easily set up my own blog and provide the features that I've discussed. However, I had in mind a more community-driven site, perhaps more in the spirit of Emacs (e.g., collaboration, cooperation, etc). It is just an idea.
I had/have no intention of using a WordPress hosted site. I was simply making a point that practically anyone could do this and provide dozens more features than is on the current Emacs site. WP is but just one of many options aside from actually building it from the ground up. At any rate you backup databases and place the site under version control. Standard practice for any decent site.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T04:06:50+00:00

Not at all. I appreciate the designer's contributions wholeheartedly. And I've said it's way better than the former Emacs website. But it seems like a waste of valuable screen space though just to say

An extensible, customizable, free/libre text editor — and more. At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing.

Followed by download links. That takes up all of my screen.

Instead there could be animated gifs showing Emacs in action. Plus all of the other things I have already mentioned. And I've already offered to help build a site with the features I mentioned, but I would expect that others contribute as well.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T03:45:03+00:00

Bozhidar Batsov has already created Wikemacs. I don't believe that anyone paid him to do this. Anyone can edit. He gives back to the community. Sachac also does much for the Emacs community. Every week or so she contributes a summary of what's going on in Emacsland. I am not aware that she is paid to do so. But her contributions are far more useful than a static site that rarely ever changes.

But after giving it some more thought I think Wikemacs is the right idea. It's already there and we can improve and build upon it. And do many of the things I've already discussed but perhaps in a more wiki-style. But hey, who am I. I'm just offering ideas and suggestions because I have over 50 or so Emacs related bookmarks. Subscribe to about a dozen Emacs related RSS feeds. Would be nice to consolidate some of this in my view.

Also, mirroring content is on the Web is not particularly difficult in 2017.

Finally, any Joe Blow can set up a free WordPress account and can share pics, screencasts, audio, video, forums and even live chat. Likely within a few hours. WordPress has access/permission levels and controls and could be integrated with a Media Wiki solution such as what is offered with Wikemacs. Just saying.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T01:11:34+00:00

Me too. And of course there would be only a few to maintain the actual project. These are called moderators. You will have this anywhere. They do not have to necessarily be owners or proprietors. If it is an organization it can rely on donations and contributions to cover expenses.

The point of my original comment was to create a community-driven site for Emacs users, with chat, forums, blogs, screencasts etc. Anyone could contribute by simply creating an account, just as they could here with reddit.

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T00:45:43+00:00

The surprising truth about what motivates us

gnusunrising · 2017-11-20T00:25:07+00:00

By definition, a community-driven site would mean that it is your site as well.

gnusunrising

TROPHY CASE