Re: Some developement questions

[hw]

Ergus <address@hidden> writes:

> On 6 September 2018 03:11:08 CEST, hw <address@hidden> wrote:
>>Paul Eggert <address@hidden> writes:
>>
>>> hw wrote:
>>>> My first step with 'emacs -q' would be to make the menu fonts
>>larger.
>>>> As much as I like monospace fonts, the typewriter font used for the
>>text
>>>> was *really ugly* even 30 years ago.  One look at Emacs with this
>>font
>>>> might turn most people away before they start reading anything.
>>>
>>> This matches my perception too, when I show Emacs to students. Emacs
>>> starts up in monospace font and that looks sooooo 1980s.
>>
>>not really
>>
>>I don't mean to say that there's something wrong with monospace fonts.
>>I prefer them for most things because they're monospace.
>>
>>We should ask a designer for some ideas about how to make Emacs look
>>better.
>
> We can also see what have succeded before, for example packages like
> powerline or fonts like Hacks or Cantarell.

I never used these fonts, and what is powerline?

> They have succeded independently of operative systems, editors or
> tools. The default color scheme, graphical or tui. These are the kind
> of initial things I wanted to ask to the new user if there is not
> config file. If he dont want any help can get the defaults, else he
> could choose and the first impresion could be much much better.

That's one of the things I've been thinking about when trying to figure
out why 'emacs -q', creating an X frame, is so ugly.  I thought it might
look much better with different colours, but that's just me as I don't
like black on white much on monitors.

What also makes it look ugly is the toolbar and the menu.  Turning those
off by default might not be the best idea, though.

Having the user pick colors initially is probably difficult:  I need to
see how it looks when I pick colors, so I try them out.  Asking someone
what colours they would like and then using them probably won't work.

Preparing preset colour themes (skins) might work.  You can show a
preview image and let the user pick one.  That could include font
selections.