From 48ed1287d7a70b0b3098e9b9731eda07fff9a074 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joe Frikker <joe@redbookcattle.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2026 17:07:17 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] A little prose

---
 home.org | 82 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------
 1 file changed, 53 insertions(+), 29 deletions(-)

diff --git a/home.org b/home.org
index 376b6ca..36f0889 100644
--- a/home.org
+++ b/home.org
@@ -844,26 +844,9 @@ These are just some general settings that apply everywhere. First, a few package
 Turn off some default settings that I don't find useful.
 
 #+BEGIN_SRC elisp
-  (setopt inhibit-startup-screen t)
-  (setopt initial-scratch-message nil)
-  (setopt sentence-end-double-space nil)
-  (menu-bar-mode -1)
-  (scroll-bar-mode -1)
-  (tool-bar-mode -1)
-  (setopt make-backup-files nil)
-  (setopt split-width-threshold 200)
-  (setopt split-height-threshold nil)
-  (setopt display-buffer-base-action
-   '((display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-same-window
-      display-buffer-in-previous-window
-      display-buffer-use-some-window)))
-  (setopt view-read-only t)
   (setopt save-interprogram-paste-before-kill t)
   (setopt kill-whole-line t)
-  (delete-selection-mode t)
   (column-number-mode t)
-  (setopt auto-save-default nil)
-  (setopt create-lockfiles nil)
   (setopt enable-recursive-minibuffers t)
   (setopt line-spacing 0.15)
 
@@ -874,6 +857,50 @@ Turn off some default settings that I don't find useful.
   (tab-bar-mode)
 #+END_SRC
 
+Don't show the welcome screen, and keep the scratch buffer empty by default. These are not useful
+after you've started emacs more than a few times.
+
+#+begin_src elisp
+  (setopt inhibit-startup-screen t)
+  (setopt initial-scratch-message nil)
+#+end_src
+
+Turn off all the ugly graphical crap.
+
+#+begin_src elisp
+  (menu-bar-mode -1)
+  (scroll-bar-mode -1)
+  (tool-bar-mode -1)
+#+end_src
+
+I don't find emacs's backup files useful, and they seem to litter my directories. I could maybe see
+a use if I wasn't using git. But, git is so easy to use, that I pretty much use it everywhere. I
+don't need a poor man's local history.
+
+Also, why do I have to set so many variables just to get emacs to stop putting extra files
+everywhere?
+
+#+begin_src elisp
+  (setopt make-backup-files nil)
+  (setopt create-lockfiles nil)
+  (setopt auto-save-default nil)
+#+end_src
+
+Turn on ~view-mode~ automatically when the buffer is read-only. This just helps out with navigation
+a bit. I almost want to open files read-only by default, just so I can use ~view-mode~ (maybe with
+some other keybindings) all the time. But, I think one more invisible flag to manage is a bit much.
+
+#+begin_src elisp
+  (setopt view-read-only t)
+#+end_src
+
+I don't really do anything with sentences. But, I also never put two spaces after a period. So, at
+least this setting is correct.
+
+#+begin_src elisp
+  (setopt sentence-end-double-space nil)
+#+end_src
+
 Make sure which-key mode is always on. The on-the-fly keymap help it gives is indespensable.
 
 #+BEGIN_SRC elisp
@@ -902,23 +929,13 @@ already indented, then try to complete the thing at point." Recommended by [[htt
 #+END_SRC
 
 Set the cursor to be a bar. I'm not sure what the benefit would be of a block cursor, since the
-current character isn't really "selected" like it would be in Helix. When I had God mode set up, I
-switched to a block cursor during normal mode, just because I was so used to it from Helix and
-Vim. Now, I don't think there's really a need to ever switch.
+current character isn't really "selected" like it would be in Helix. I switch this to a box when in
+god mode / read-only buffers, like vim would.
 
 #+BEGIN_SRC elisp
   (setq-default cursor-type 'bar)
 #+END_SRC
 
-Emacs is supposed to be all about automation (maybe?). There's basically never a case where I don't
-want changes I've made to be immediately saved to disk. So let's have Emacs do that. There's still a
-fairly long (~5 sec) delay before changes are saved, which is kind of annoying. Maybe I'll look into
-that at some point?
-
-#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
-  ; (auto-save-visited-mode)
-#+END_SRC
-
 Repeat-mode takes care of eliminating some annoying duplicate keypresses. I mostly use repeat-mode
 for two-character commands that need to be repeated; ~devil~ also has some single-key-with-modifier
 repeats set up that only apply in that mode.
@@ -1229,6 +1246,13 @@ content to be.
 
       (advice-add 'quit-window :around #'jf/quit-window-restore-fullscreen)
 
+  (setopt split-width-threshold 200)
+  (setopt split-height-threshold nil)
+  (setopt display-buffer-base-action
+   '((display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-same-window
+      display-buffer-in-previous-window
+      display-buffer-use-some-window)))
+
       (setq display-buffer-alist
             '(((or "magit: *"
                    "magit-log*"