Re: Change default behavior of some commands that act on region?

[Tim Cross]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

>> There are some commands, such as `downcase-region',
>> that act on the region regardless of whether it's
>> active.  Because `transient-mark-mode' has been on by
>> default for quite a while now, and because there are
>> few such commands, users can wonder what's going on.
>
> I see two sub-issues to this:
>
> 1- Breaking long-standing behavior.  I'll let others figure out how to
>    minimize this (e.g. by testing for `transient-mark-mode` or something).
>
> 2- If we take a step back, I think we'll see there's a "better optimum"
>    in this area when `transient-mark-mode` is in use.  E.g. we could
>    combine `downcase-word` and `downcase-region` into a single command
>    which will do either of the two depending on `use-region-p`.
>
>

Just to throw another point into the mix here for consideration.

>From an accessibility perspective, transient mark mode can be a challenge.
For example, if your blind, you cannot see the highlighted region.
Therefore, packages like emacspeak turn off transient mark mode.

I raise this to highlight there is another 'group' of users who turn off
transient mark mode, so any changes to these long standing defaults
might want to consider impact on this group as well. Solutions, such as
telling people to turn on transient mark mode to get back some behaviour
is unlikely to help. If your blind, transient mark mode really just
causes confusion. 

Personally, I'm not sure there really is a need for this change. I've
seen few (none I can recall) complaints from users suggesting the
existing behaviour is confusing, but perhaps this isn't the sort of
question people ask?


-- 
Tim Cross