Much ado about ido-mode (Emacs)

Ben Sturmfels at 2016-07-15T00:33:23Z

I don't really get the appeal. It makes opening files in the minibuffer feel claustrophobic and the defaults prevent you from opening a directory. I know where my files are, and if I don't, I open a directory using find-file and browse through in dired-mode. I also find it very hard to visually scan a horizontal list of files/items.

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That's good to hear. Let me know how you go with it!

Ben Sturmfels at 2016-07-17T11:42:26Z

@Ben Sturmfels I rather like ido-mode, though I do hit those moments every now and then where I feel like I'm fighting it, but I still feel like the net gain is positive?

Nonetheless, there are some neat helm-based file/buffer completion prompts you might like trying out if you'd prefer a "vertical" completion system that's a bit less hyper about trying to finish what you want. (I've never quite swung into a helm routine myself though.)

Christopher Allan Webber at 2016-07-17T14:25:03Z

Oh goodness... Ido and Helm. So many things to investigate! I'm trying to find way to enhance my productivity while not shaving too many yaks and also learn more about Emacs in general.

Charles Stanhope at 2016-07-17T19:33:01Z

Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠) likes this.

Never tried it. My usage of emacs is: find something that I want to do (or don't want to) - find a module/configuration that does it. As such ido mode never came on my radar. In fact, I sometimes prefer opening directories rather than files, because I usually need to work on other files in that directory.

Erez Schatz at 2016-07-24T07:08:52Z