I haven't seen it mentioned, but the 'zone-rainbow' packages never fail to put a smile on me, with it's silliness.
My Emacs eye candy
31–40 of 89 posts
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#32I want to switch to one of those Emacs candy looking setup, but it always ends up being a lot less fun once you have it installed and nothing works as you expects, the whole thing looks like grand father software and the UX is beyond bad. Sure, if you put up with the pain of setting it all up, eventually, you have something that works and that only you can use.
You can try Doom Emacs if you want a solid starting point. ( https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs ). Emacs is so idiosyncratic compared to a lot of modern stuff people are used to, starting with a base like this may be a little easier than trying to do it from the ground up.
Whats the difference between Doom emacs and spacemacs ?
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spacemacs has decent defaults, is easily extendable, and looks pretty good too.
Yea, I used to maintain a fairly complicated emacs config that I was never quite happy with. Nowadays, I just go with spacemacs. Tired of messing with stuff :)
Similar experience. Not limited to emacs, I used to spend a lot of time to configure my desktop. Nowadays I go with stock XFCE on machines I use occasionally or shared with others and i3 on my main machine. No configurations. In emacs profile I have very few settings to get the indentation required by company style and avoid trailing whitespace / missing newline at the end. That's all.
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
The extensibility and customizability of Emacs typically means that bad UX is user error. There is a barrier to entry, but if you don't want to go past that, it's no big deal. I'm not sure that's the editor's fault though.
If you need to overcome a barrier and extend/customize to reach a good UX, that is the program's fault (applies to any program, not just emacs)
I don't think good UX is a universal concept. People have different preferences. On my desktop I don't want click to type. But still many seem to prefer just that.
I want a trackpoint, many are happy with touchpads.
(Of course some implementations can be classified as just bad UX...)
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you need to overcome a barrier and extend/customize to reach a good UX, that is the program's fault (applies to any program, not just emacs)
I don't think good UX is a universal concept. People have different preferences. On my desktop I don't want click to type. But still many seem to prefer just that. I want a trackpoint, many are happy with touchpads. (Of course some implementations can be classified as just bad UX...)
> I don't think good UX is a universal concept.
There are some more-or-less objective criteria we can apply. From "how many actions it takes to achieve something" to accessibility.
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#36My emacs setup is pretty much eye candy free. I remove scrollbars and menus because I never use the mouse and mode-line linenumber and % of file is usually fine.
Zone seems like fun, but I would never activate it.
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
The extensibility and customizability of Emacs typically means that bad UX is user error. There is a barrier to entry, but if you don't want to go past that, it's no big deal. I'm not sure that's the editor's fault though.
If you need to overcome a barrier and extend/customize to reach a good UX, that is the program's fault (applies to any program, not just emacs)
Where is Xah Lee when you need him?
His critiques of Emacs on this are spot on, imo.
Helps that he backs up his claims (scattered around his site) with data and usability research.
"If emacs just use standard keys for open close save, cut copy paste undo, users will double in 1 year."[0]
[0]Emacs Modernization: http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/emacs_modernization.html
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think good UX is a universal concept. People have different preferences. On my desktop I don't want click to type. But still many seem to prefer just that. I want a trackpoint, many are happy with touchpads. (Of course some implementations can be classified as just bad UX...)
> I don't think good UX is a universal concept. There are some more-or-less objective criteria we can apply. From "how many actions it takes to achieve something" to accessibility.
Emacs is not terrible for accessibility. This is Parham Doustdar talking about how he uses Emacs as a blind developer:
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#39My emacs setup is pretty much eye candy free. I remove scrollbars and menus because I never use the mouse and mode-line linenumber and % of file is usually fine. Zone seems like fun, but I would never activate it.
Do not underestimate the usefulness of the context-based menu bar. It will save you an apropos on many occasion, and open your mind to new actions that you missed on the first skim of the package methods.
Re: My Emacs eye candy
#40I want to switch to one of those Emacs candy looking setup, but it always ends up being a lot less fun once you have it installed and nothing works as you expects, the whole thing looks like grand father software and the UX is beyond bad. Sure, if you put up with the pain of setting it all up, eventually, you have something that works and that only you can use.
I think it's worth it, if you are a tinkerer and if you look at that kind of software as a "Personal Development Environment" a phrase I first heard in this video[1]. So, yeah the focus is on creating software that is tailored to your requirements. If your requirements are that someone else has to be able to use it, because you do a lot of pair programming, then that's something to consider.
I've tried a lot of editors over the years... Currently I'm using neovim. It's been pretty nice--after some major adjustments. I like altering my configs and changing what's not working for me. Would I use it exclusively? No, but it's a nice tool to have in my toolbox. And with some effort it also can look very pretty.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMVIJhC9Veg&embeds_euri=http...