Re: [Emacs-diffs] /srv/bzr/emacs/trunk r99650: Put scroll-bar on right by default on UNIX.

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, everybody.

On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 01:16:08PM +0900, Miles Bader wrote:
> Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> writes:
> > The problem is with how ``convenient'' is decided.  I suspect most
> > users nowadays will say that having the scroll bar on the right is
> > the most ``convenient''. 

> They may, but I suspect they can't actually say why...

I can.  On the right, the scroll bar doesn't get in the way, at least not
very much.  On the left, it is very close to where you're mostly
inserting/deleting/reading text, and acts like a dripping tap, a sounding
foghorn, a nagging wife, some illocatable rotting fish.  It takes over
your mind, reducing your concentration on what you're doing.

> The Emacs' position, whether one agrees with it or not, is actually
> based on some reasoning.

I think it's based on the assumption that a scroll bar is an essential
part of editing that nobody can bear to be without; that it'll be getting
used so often that nobody could possibly object to it.  I think these
assumptions warrant examination, particularly under Emacs.

> -Miles

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany)
, who uses (scroll-bar-mode -1) when inside a GUI.