RE: delete-selection-mode as default

[Drew Adams]

> Highlighting regions should be separated from whether they are active or
> not, and I don't want hidden regions, either.

There are ways to highlight the region without activating it.
You can use one of those (preferably with a different face,
if you also sometimes use an active region)..

But it's important to highlight the active region.

> Currently even when a region is not active (it is a hidden region
> because it is not highlighted), you can do something with it, so users
> always get an "active" region even when they don't want one.  It's only
> a bit less active than it is when it is highlighted.

The "active region" has a well-defined meaning in Emacs.
Don't confuse things by talking about how you can act on
the region when it is not active in the usual sense.

> > I feel like region activation by `C-x C-x' was maybe foisted
> > on people who never wanted or expected to do anything
> > with an active region.
> 
> Do you mean they would rather do things with hidden regions?  I never
> want to do that.

Not clear, but it sounds like you do want an active region, in the usual
sense, but you want it to be active for only some things, none of which
are type/paste to replace/delete.

> Use point and mark purely for navigation, set a selection-start-marker
> with C-spc and a selection-end-marker with another C-spc (or whatever
> key binding is appropriate for it).  The region is between these
> markers, and you can have multiple regions in the same buffer.  Do
> something with a region, and its markers are forgotten unless you use a
> prefix.  Have a key binding to jump around between the regions in a
> buffer, and you can tell Emacs with which of them you want to do
> something by moving point into it.  If you want to do the same thing
> with multiple regions, move point into one after another and make them
> "sticky" for operation, or mark them right after selecting them.

Much of what you describe is available with various libraries, including
`zones.el' (https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Zones).