The Modernization of Emacs: terminology buffer and keybinding

[Bjorn Borud]

[Robert Uhl <eadmund42 at NOSPAMgmail.com>]
| 
| Why should the ignorant decide?  Do you leave the decision of what great
| art is to 3 year olds and their doting parents?  Do you leave the
| decision of what great food is to the ignorant, unwashed,
| McDonald's-devouring masses?  Why then do you leave the decision of
| what's a useful interface to those with insufficient experience?

Robert does have a point; however, one needs to take into account that
it is very difficult to judge the quality of an interface if it is one
that is very familiar to you or if the inner workings are obvious to
you.  this is why programmers often make bad UI designers: we are
intimately familiar with the inner workings, and to us it is okay if
the UI is just a thin layer on top of a system we've made.

(I'd say the web is a better showcase for this.  there seems to be no
end to the number of websites that have awkward interaction modes.
nor do people seem particularly shy about adding "just one more" thing
to an already crowded interface -- because they're blind to the wall
of complexity it presents to the occasional user).

editors like Emacs is not something which is designed for the casual
user, so what the casual user thinks is irrelevant.  (also note that
the definition of "casual user" has changed).

-Bjørn