2005-03-25 Software

From a short discussion on the EmacsChannel: I wrote that I used Emacs in X11, usually maximised, with menu, no toolbar, no scrollbar. Dabian and castaway wondered how I worked without scrollbars, and gnome said he used it as a visual indicator to tell him where he is in the file. To navigate, I use the page-up and page-down keys, if at all. Usually source code is like hypertext. I jump from block to block using isearch or other means – but never by scrolling up or down. The blocks are usually connected in more ways than one – a linear layout sucks. You can never line the blocks up so that their spatial relation makes perfect sense. It may make *some* sense, but in the long term, using “up” and “down” as your only means to navigate and the scrollbar as your only means to orient yourself is doomed to be very inefficient.

Dabian

castaway

gnome

Scrolling is only useful when I read text. And I also rarely use the mouse when inside Emacs.

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