Re:Making Emacs Popular Again (2020)
by NoGravitas on Thursday November 04, 2021 @10:34AM
(#29107706)
I'm actually in-between on this. What I normally do is write short bits of code (generally `use-package' forms) to install and load packages and set options that are essential to the operation of the package, are not private information, and don't vary between my different machines. Then I use `customize-group' to set any remaining options.
Customize could stand improvement in terms of widgets and layout, but it's not bad. Other than a coat of paint, it's pretty similar to VS Code's preferences interface.
Re:Making Emacs Popular Again (2020)
by hollerith on Thursday November 04, 2021 @10:45AM
(#29107848)
I agree that M-x customize is not horrible at what it does.
On reflection, what inspired me to chime in on this thread is amazement that there exists at least one person who is enthusiastic about the fact that Emacs has thousands of customizable settings. (M-x customize exists solely to make persistent and ephemeral changes to those settings.)
Re:Making Emacs Popular Again (2020)
by omnicognate on Thursday November 04, 2021 @01:28PM
(#29110045)
At least two. The vast range of customizable settings is one of the main selling points of emacs for me, and I find M-x customize a very pleasant way to discover and tweak them
Anyway brb, I'm off to customize how EXWM assigns workspaces to monitors when I plug my laptop into the docking station.
I use it very occasionally in order to discover the name of one of Emacs's thousands of user options, which option I then manipulate with Emacs Lisp code added to a file. I much preferred the (recently completely removed from Gnu Emacs after 2 decades of being marked as deprecated) vastly simpler list-options command for doing that.
For me, easy modification of one's personal software environment by adding Emacs Lisp code to files is the central argument for Emacs and cancels out the negatives such as the fact that, e.g., C-z does not undo the latest editing action.
One of benefits of online discussion of things like editors and programming languages is that it is a constant reminder of the largeness of the diversity in cognitive styles and preferences among people.