Re: Emphasizing the top of the frame

[John Yates]

(Reviving a 5.5 year old thread.)

I coped with a bump from my original 30" monitor to
32".  But recently, when my employer foisted a 42"
behemoth upon me, I had to do something.

The result is mbmb, a Mini-Buffer overlaid on Menu-
Bar proof of concept:

    https://github.com/jsyjr/mbmb

(By day I am a C++ programmer.  This is my first real
attempt at an emacs package of any significance.  Any
and all feedback is gratefully welcome.)

My point is to demonstrate that a mini-buffer that,
when it grows, does not alter the window layout, but
instead occludes a part of the frame, is an entirely
liveable user experience.  I might even argue a less
jarring experience as less of the screen changes.

In its current state, the package is clearly a proof
of concept with a number of rough edges:

* Management of the z-axis is not great; frame
  restacking triggers an error on my Ubuntu box
* Resizing the main frame works well enough
* Moving the main frame does not work at all
  (it appears that the move-frame-functions, at
  least in recent 29.0.50 builds, never get called)
* Occasionally the echo area enters a rapidly
  flashing state; sufficient ^g tend to clear it

That said, even in this state, mbmb represents a
very big improvement in my life on a big screen.
It is now my standard configuration.

I hope that the existence of mbmb prompts owners
of minibuffer-resizing packages to support growth
downward in addition to today's growth upward.
(Could we standardize a frame parameter to record
this direction?)

My next step, when time permits, is to follow-up
on Martin's suggestions about how to move the
mode-line to the top of the window.