Can Emacs Regain Popularity with Modern UI Design? RMS and Community Weigh In
The article recounts a recent Emacs‑devel mailing‑list debate where developers, including Richard Stallman, discuss updating Emacs' user interface and overall appeal to compete with modern editors like VS Code and Vim.
Emacs, once more famous than Linux, has become relatively obscure; developers on the emacs‑devel mailing list are discussing how to enhance its attractiveness and make it popular again.
Richard Stallman (RMS), the original author, has joined the discussion.
Some community members suggest that Emacs' UI buttons are too rectangular and should be rounded like modern interfaces.
RMS responds that perhaps a mode could be added to give Emacs decorative touches to attract users who judge by surface appearance.
Others argue that graphic design elements can improve usability, but RMS points out technical obstacles: the interface code between Emacs and the X‑based GUI needs expert rewriting, and any changes before that could cause breakage.
RMS agrees that graphics can enhance usability, yet the underlying issues go deeper than just rounded corners.
According to the 2019 Stack Overflow developer survey, Microsoft Visual Studio Code is the most popular editor, while Vim remains far more popular than Emacs; Emacs developers also discuss why VS Code is favored and how to learn from its strengths.
Learning Emacs is likened to playing a musical instrument—once mastered, the text editor becomes a developer’s tool of choice.
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