Re: etc/TODO:Horizontal scrollbar

[Robert J. Chassell]

   1. I got a horizontal scrollbar ...

   It really did not look nice to me. ...  Could we use the modeline
   as a scrollbar instead of coming up with a real horizontal scroll
   bar?

This is great!  We have needed a horizontal scrollbar for a long time.

If you use the modeline, please leave it mostly as is, since it is
useful.

On a bitmapped display, you could indicate the part of the window that
is visible by indenting or exdenting the modeline a little bit, like
this, where the indented portion is visible in the window:

    _________          ______
             \________/  

    --:--    *mail*
              _________
    _________/         \_____


(A decade or more ago, I suggested that you could mark segments of a
text, such as the beginning of a chapter in Texinfo, or a major part
difference in a source library by using indentation, or another type
of mark, on a vertical scroll bar.  This would be in addition to the
current `thumb' that marks the text visible in the window.  I have
often thought that like the current `thumb', such an indicator would
be a useful and unobstrusive help.  But I don't know enough to do this
myself.)

On a character-only display, you will need a separate mode line,
since you cannot manipulate bits.

In that case, the display might look like this, where the portion
marked by uppercase letters is visible in the window:

    xxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXxxxxx
    ----:---F1    *mail*

I don't know how to mark a horizontal scroll bar for people who listen
rather than look (the permanently and the situationally blind).  How
do eyes-free people handle the current vertical scroll bar; do they
turn it off?

Now all we need is to be able to address a display as
`remote.machine.com:pts/7' or `remote.machine.com:tty4' as well as
`remote.machine.com:1.0' and Emacs will become a very nice program for
group work over slow connections.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                         Rattlesnake Enterprises
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.teak.cc                             address@hidden