Re: How to make Emacs popular again: Use monospaced fonts less

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

One of the reasons Emacs looks kinda old-fashioned is that we use
monospaced fonts all over the place.  Now, when programming and stuff, a
monospaced font is preferred, but in other contexts, it looks pretty
old-fashioned.

So here's my most controversial suggestion ever:

diff --git a/lisp/faces.el b/lisp/faces.el
index 5b7e0a5aee..e6f65a5901 100644
--- a/lisp/faces.el
+++ b/lisp/faces.el
@@ -2553,6 +2553,7 @@ mode-line-faces
 (defface mode-line
   '((((class color) (min-colors 88))
      :box (:line-width -1 :style released-button)
+     :inherit variable-pitch
      :background "grey75" :foreground "black")
     (t
      :inverse-video t))

In addition to looking nicer, it means we can fit more data into the
mode line.

Other obvious candidates for variable-pitching are basically any mode
that displays data in tabular form.  And, of course, the manuals, but
that'll happen by itself once we move from .info to .html.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no