Re: [Orgmode] RFC: Improvements to org-remember

[Samuel Wales]

Hi James,

Parts snipped.

James TD Smith
<address@hidden> wrote:
> On 2008-11-24 14:41:00(-0700), Samuel Wales wrote:
>> + respect pop-up-windows
>
> Could you explain this in more detail?

That variable controls whether the window gets split.  Some
people prefer buffer-creating commands to act like c-x 4 b
while others prefer that the whole window be used.  Those
who use somewhat large fonts need the latter because
splitting the window makes small windows.  It does not seem
to be possible to change org-remember's behavior with
same-window-buffer-names or -regexps.  That's about all I
know about it.  A dedicated variable would be OK.

>> + if org-remember does not recognize the type, abort completely
>
> Personally I'd prefer it to keep asking for a valid
> template if you enter a character that doesn't correspond

I like your proposal even better.  Ideally ^G and perhaps
esc esc esc will get you back to where you were before.

>> + org-remember-templates takes a character
>>   can it take a function key?
>
> It would be possible to add this. Do you specifically want
> to use the F-keys, or have you just run out of keys for
> templates? I'm planning on adding two-stage selection for
> remember templates, which will make it possible to have
> many more templates.

If possible, it would be nice if it were like emacs key
bindings.  Function keys can be surprisingly useful.

>> + emacs-w3m tight integration with org-mode
>>   - might be interesting to use an org-mode file to store
>>   bookmarks. this
>>     would require changing the way bookmarks are added,
>>     to store them in a way similar to org-remember.
>
> I like the idea of using org-mode to store bookmarks. I
> use org-mode to keep track of things I want to read
> online, using a remember template
>
> '("Web reading" ?w "* TOREAD %^L\n%U %k\n%? "
> "~/Personal/Web.org" "Web sites to read")
>
> which I use to add items to my reading list. I also have
> the following in my .emacs:

> which fills in the descriptions for links with the title
> from the retrieved web page.

IMO it would be good to have this stuff integrated as org
code, and, if the user sets, to replace the relevant keys
(such as v) in w3m.  Sounds like all the code is there.

There are useful possibilities here.  Remember could then
use ido to choose where in the bookmark tree, ideally
creating a parent headline if it does not exist.  Or just go
to a default location to be refiled later.  Or offer places
where you have bookmarked stuff before.

The best part is that you can have all of your bookmarks in
your org outline hierarchy where they belong.  If they are
tagged as bookmarks, then they show up in an agenda command
as a nice sparse tree of bookmarks.  Then you can call w3m,
or whatever else, from there.  No need to keep a separate
bookmark file.

This would be easier to use than the dedicated w3m bookmark
mechanism.

And it would work for files and directories also.  You can
bookmark some code that you are working on, if you want.

Remember seems like the right place to do most of this.

>>   - Perhaps antenna can also be integrated with org-mode.

Extension #1 to the bookmark idea.

Antenna is a way of keeping up with site changes.  In w3m,
it is a separate command from bookmarks, but there is no
reason that both antenna and bookmarks could not use the
same mechanism.  In org, this would be powerful.  For
example, a bookmark could have properties, and among those
properties would be the site's last-modified timestamp or
your last-checked timestamp.  Then without visiting the
pages you can run a command to see which pages have changed.

Where remember comes in is that remember helps you store
those bookmarks.

You might want to limit the scope of your code, but I
thought I'd propose it anyway in case there is interest.

The bookmark idea is much more important than antenna.

>>
>> + org merge org-annotate-file with remember code
>>   to allow annotating anything

> Have you looked at org-registry.el in contrib? The
> `org-registry-show' function will list any org files which
> have links to the current buffer.

Extension #2 to the bookmark idea.

My idea is to always have annotations available for
emacs-w3m, dired, files, like org-annotate-file, just with
more modes.

You can see in the mode line that whatever buffer you are in
has an annotation, and you can make an annotation.  You can
also go to the annotation.

The annotations are stored in an org file anywhere in the
hierarchy.  Thus, if you want, annotations on a doctor's web
site can be stored in the entry for that doctor that is in
your org file.  If you visit that web site from any source,
even Google, the mode line says that it is annotated.  Then
you can pull up that entry with a command.

Likewise with files or dired or whatever.  For example, you
can comment org.el or /etc/passwd without having to modify
them.

Remember code seems a plausible place to arrange for
choosing a location and putting a note into it.  Annotations
are like bookmarks with text that also go the other
direction.  It's natural to combine the idea of a bookmark
and the idea of an annotation.

You might want the mode line to say "there is bookmark to
this (web page, file, etc.)" as one character and "there is
a text note about this" as another character.  Thus, if you
have annotated a file and the file is unmodified, you will
see "-u:--!!" and if you have merely bookmarked the location
without commenting on it, then you will see "-u:--!-".

The bookmark idea is more important than annotations.

>
>> + brainstorm: support asking for the template after the
>> note was entered.

> 1. C-c m RET to run org-remember and select no template.
> 2. Enter your idea.
> 3. C-c m to run org-remember again.
> 4. Select the appropriate template.
> 5. Fill in any prompts for todo keywords and tags, or leave blank as 
> appropriate.
> 6. C-c C-c to file the note.
>
> Would that be suitable?

Looks good.  Thanks for considering it.

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