Re: master 40dcf9c2ab 4/5: read-multiple-choice: Display "SPC" instead of " "

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> I don't think I like the result of this changeset.  Now SPC is
> displayed as [SPC], in brackets, for a reason I cannot understand.

Before this change, SPC in `read-multiple-choice' was displayed as, for
example

    yes; use once
        ^

Where the indicated space character was underlined.  So this is
much less confusing, I think.  (See below regarding the brackets.)

Though when moving `disabled-command' to use `read-multiple-choice' it
is true that we did lose the explanation in the old prompt that said:

    Type y, n, ! or SPC (the space bar):

I'm not sure what, if anything we should do about this.  One idea is to
explain what SPC means at the bottom of the *Disabled Command* buffer.

(Personally, I think by the time you stumble upon `disabled-command' you
should already be proficient enough to know what SPC means.  But I have
nothing against being defensive.)

> Those brackets get in the way, especially if the Help buffer is
> already shown, because there the keys are shown as they should be:
> without any brackets.
>
> This affects novice.el, which is for newbies, and so the instructions
> cannot be confusing.
>
> Why is it a good idea to show some of the responses in brackets?  I
> say let's remove the brackets altogether, they are not needed,
> especially since the keys are already in a special face.  Too many
> features at once are not necessarily a Good Thing.

I think you have a point regarding these brackets, but note that they
have always been there with `read-multiple-choice'.

We could remove them, I think, but would they still be needed on
terminals that can't display underline?  Or should we perhaps just use
help-key-binding in that case?