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#314 Changes to top status bar: no time and help

Unknown
closed
nobody
None
v4.1
5
2016-03-06
2015-02-22
No

I'd like to recommend two changes to the default top bar. The top bar is quite limited area, I believe it should show as many properties relevant to actually editing the file as possible (including longer filenames without truncating them), and get rid of things that are irrelevant.

  • Remove the clock, maybe replace it by something more useful (e.g. my personal preference is the percentage within the file)

On graphical desktops I'm sure everyone has a clock somewhere, so it's only relevant for text consoles or actual physical terminals, which are used quite rarely. There's probably a clock if you look up on your (physical) wall, there's a clock on the mobile in your pocket etc. If I still wanted to see a clock, I'd probably want to do it even when I'm not inside joe, and for that tmux might be a good choice.

  • Ctrl-K H for help: Shorten and move to the copyright bar

This is probably a bit more controversial... First, everywhere else (even inside the help) joe uses a shorter notation (^KH), I don't know if spelling out Ctrk-K H for the first time helps the user or not. Second, I wonder if it would be enough to show it at the copyright line when joe is started up and it'd disappear on the first keypress, how confiusing would it be for first time users? (By the way does joe still attract new users, or do we have only those who got used to it a long time ago? :))

What also bothers me with these two messages is that if you have multiple text editing windows open at the same time in a single joe then these are repeated multiple times without providing additional info; it's just a waste of precious screen real estate.

Discussion

  • John J. Jordan

    John J. Jordan - 2015-02-24

    I remember being a new user some 18-odd years ago, and if you had told me to type "^KH" I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to do it. Once the help is expanded, it's easy to figure it out, but I would have been lost if it wasn't for that (and probably moved along to another editor). No idea how many folks come to it fresh anymore (new bug: let's add telemetry! =B-)

    The clock I can agree with. That has outlived its usefulness IMO.

     
  • Joe Allen

    Joe Allen - 2015-03-16

    An issue with "Ctrl-K H" on the copyright bar is that there is no current way to vary it depending on the rc file. No way to make it ^X^H for jmacs, for example.

     
  • Egmont Koblinger

    Okay, let's just leave the help as it is :)

    How about removing the time, or replacing by e.g. the percentage ("%p%%")?

     
  • Joe Allen

    Joe Allen - 2016-03-06
    • status: open --> closed
    • Applies To: --> v4.1
     

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