No I don't want 2, Emacs

[todsacerdoti]

https://www.emoses.org/posts/dont-write-2/

[m463]

I use lots of hacks like this in my life. It's nice that you can (mostly) do this with open source software.

Too bad the rest of the world generally doesn't support this sort of thing. for example maybe you can buy a macos/ios tool to <overcome-ui-problem> but you can't just do it yourself.

[hbogert → m463]

After so many years just using Linux desktops I was shocked how many single purpose GUI applications I need on my MacBook from work.

The one that comes to mind is a GUI with a single button to restore subpixel hinting functionality on, what apple calls, lo-dpi screens. Apple in all their wisdom disabled subpixel hinting a long time ago.

The one I haven't tackled yet, is having only output on my external screen without having to close the lid. Why is this difficult? Am I dumb? I expect there is a GUI somewhere which will expect 10 dollars per year.

[solarwindy → hbogert]

Pretty sure Lunar [0] can do this for you, and you can buy a lifetime license.

[0]: https://lunar.fyi/

[eviks → hbogert]

If you're used to scripting these things you can create your own simple guis with something like Keyboard Maestro ($, but not subscription) where a button would just call the script to do what you want

But yeah, the OS won't be of much help, it's not designed for these things to be comfortable

[eviks]

That's why the proper user interface is to use a predefined sequence instead of a freeflowing text input box allowing arbitrary mistakes

So Space,S or good old Ctrl+S or equivalent

that will also save you from :w1 and :w3 and :we

[spac → eviks]

by mapping `:` to `;` you actually can save by just typing rather than using those pesky modifier keys :-) That's invaluable to my wrists.

[eviks → spac]

This doesn't solve anything as it's still an unconstrained experience and allows ;w2

Space,S is saving by just typing

And you can also use ; for a much more frequent operation - cursor movement

[sph]

This is a good example of what Lisp brings to Emacs. Here we augment an existing function with new functionality.

When people say "I am gonna rewrite Emacs in Lua because parens scare people away" completely miss the point.

[xigoi → sph]

Lua also allows you to redefine an existing function.