frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

The Emacs Widget Toolkit

https://appetrosyan.github.io/posts/emacs-widget.html
48•signa11•9mo ago

Comments

spit2wind•9mo ago
There's also the Emacs Widget Library[1] (which I hoped this posted would be about). It's a plain text widget library that's quite powerful. Unfortunately (and surprisingly for Emacs), the documentation for it could use some love.

My understanding of the Widget Library is that it attaches various keywords and plists to a symbol which is considered the "widget". The library otherwise consists of functions that expect certain keywords on the "widget" symbol in order to perform actions or to be drawn on the screen.

The challenge is, the documentation doesn't clearly lay out what the keyword API is. This makes it hard to compose widgets in ways beyond what's shown in the docs.

[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_mono/widget.h...

appetrosyan•9mo ago
The idea is that we extend that and give it direct access to SDL. Such that we can e.g. run a shader in the buffer background, or allow you to have floating windows (frames) interacting with each other.

I am very aware of the advantages conferred by TUI and I seek to expand those to the GUI; not dumb-down to the level of modern GUI toolkits (that to be fair are dealing with a completely different problem). Hopefully, this can lead to some ideas being easier to implement from within Emacs.

_mlbt•9mo ago
Somewhat off topic, but I love all the references to Led Zeppelin’s incredible song, Stairway to Heaven.
gudzpoz•9mo ago
Personally, and contrary to the article, I do prefer Emacs's plain text widgets over more "GUI-like" ones. Plain text widgets minimize the differences between TUI and GUI Emacs and also inherently offer text selection, searching, copying, and pasting, which nicely integrates with Emacs. I mean, not many GUI frameworks let you place a cursor within a button and select its text, do they? I believe this is a unique advantage of text-based widgets: while other GUI applications require a dedicated mechanism for searching through their settings, text-based widgets allow you to use any text-searching packages to perform these actions.

Reading through the article, the author seems to be hoping for a pure GUI approach with Emacs-like navigation mechanisms, but I am not convinced that this can be as flexible as text-based widgets. However, for packages used exclusively within a GUI environment (like el-easydraw [1], which relies quite heavily on SVG-based widgets), it would be nice to have a dedicated GUI widget library.

(There was a discussion on Reddit about this a week ago [2], and I saw some comments defending GTK and PGTK that might be worth reading.)

[1] https://github.com/misohena/el-easydraw/

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/1kcgwme/the_emacs_wi...

appetrosyan•9mo ago
Author of the article.

This is what I was referring to when I talked about "rich verbs".

Many people feel that way. The idea here is not to tell you that you're wrong, but understand what you want and do it better on the GUI side. TUIs can do a lot and we should recognise their benefits. GUIs can do that too, and can sometimes do better things.

The text-based widgets done graphically do the trick. We can add stuff that can't be done in a TUI and see if they give you anything useful. If it can be done with text widgets means that it can be done in principle. GTK can't do it, and that's why I'm leaving it behind.

> (There was a discussion on Reddit about this a week ago [2], and I saw some comments defending GTK and PGTK that might be worth reading.)

The author of those comments abused their power on reddit. I will not get into the weeds, just say that I'd be happy to respond to the critique presented here in good faith.

robobro•8mo ago
Why did you delete the page?
appetrosyan•8mo ago
Didn't. I migrated to `hugo` and it trims off the `.html` at the end. The permalink is the same.
matt-attack•8mo ago
I agree and only use emacs in the console and love it. With the advent of lsp modes and real time typescript and linting it’s fantastic. But one thing I don’t like about the console is when LSP mode is giving you an in-line error on the right side of the terminal it’s wrapped and beautifully interspersed amongst your code, but it’s impossible to select multi line errors in order to paste into tools like ChatGPT. Since selecting the error, also selects your code on the left side.

Anyone have a good solution to this ?

LargoLasskhyfv•9mo ago
PSA: Use The Lucid Toolkit https://irreal.org/blog/?p=12672

https://old.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/1hlj04t/emacs_using_...

appetrosyan•9mo ago
That's the best thing to do for the moment.
robobro•8mo ago
404

Page Not Found

Sorry, this page does not exist.

You can head back to the homepage.

appetrosyan•8mo ago
Hi. I just migrated my blog to Hugo yesterday. The correct link is:

https://appetrosyan.github.io/posts/emacs-widget/

Your Agent's Memory Is Broken. Here's Why

https://ramsriharsha.substack.com/p/your-agents-memory-is-broken-heres
1•riemannzeta•1m ago•0 comments

Show HN: I built a YC-style interview practice tool for myself, now public

https://www.getycready.com/
1•zacharykapank•3m ago•1 comments

Continual learning and the post monolith AI era

https://www.baseten.co/resources/research/continual-learning/#introduction
1•jxmorris12•6m ago•0 comments

Detecting backdoored language models at scale

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/02/04/detecting-backdoored-language-models-at-...
1•geox•9m ago•0 comments

The Cloud Hyperscalers are starting to look like REITs

https://deadneurons.substack.com/p/the-cloud-hyperscalers-are-starting
1•nr378•11m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Non AI-obsessed tech forums

2•nanocat•13m ago•1 comments

Show HN: A React testing boilerplate built for vibe coding

https://www.testsolid.com/
1•dudeskey•14m ago•0 comments

Persistent Memory for OpenClaw/Moltbot/Clawdbot

https://mem0.ai/blog/mem0-memory-for-openclaw
1•ninadwrites•15m ago•0 comments

Executive Function as Code: using (Doom) Emacs to script my brain

https://milly.kittycloud.eu/posts/executive-function-as-code-doom-emacs-adhd/
2•0xMillyByte•15m ago•0 comments

Ultima IX

https://www.filfre.net/2026/02/ultima-ix/
1•doppp•16m ago•0 comments

Will firms try to combine software developer and product manager roles?

https://bjornwestergard.com/firms-combine-software-roles/
1•bwestergard•17m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Chiptune Tracker

https://chiptunes.netlify.app
1•iamdan•18m ago•0 comments

Words That Mean Nothing

https://dogdogfish.com/blog/2026/02/06/words-that-mean-nothing/
2•matthewsharpe3•21m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Falcon's Eye (isometric NetHack) running in the browser via WebAssembly

https://rahuljaguste.github.io/Nethack_Falcons_Eye/
1•rahuljaguste•22m ago•1 comments

Claude Opus 4.6 vs. GPT-5.3-Codex: AI Model Showdown

https://badlucksbane.com/posts/claude-opus-4-6-vs-gpt-5-3-codex-the-ai-model-showdown.html
1•IAmNeo•24m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Vibe coded real-time Super Bowl Squares app (Claude Code and Opus 4.5)

https://defirate.com/squares/
1•ksaville•24m ago•0 comments

The Problem with Silicon Carbon Batteries [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPAY2VxfFBk
1•mgh2•25m ago•0 comments

Gizmo: A TikTok for interactive, vibe-coded mini apps

https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/04/meet-gizmo-a-tiktok-for-interactive-vibe-coded-mini-apps/
1•fcpguru•27m ago•0 comments

Both GCC and Clang generate strange/inefficient code

https://codingmarginalia.blogspot.com/2026/02/both-gcc-and-clang-generate.html
4•rsf•31m ago•2 comments

Show HN: R3forth, a ColorForth-inspired language with a tiny VM

https://github.com/phreda4/r3
6•phreda4•32m ago•0 comments

Pilot mistakenly attempted to take off from a taxiway at Brussels Airport

https://www.brusselstimes.com/1956996/pilot-accidentally-takes-off-on-the-wrong-lane-at-brussels-...
1•susam•32m ago•0 comments

One Year of Using Go

https://rugu.dev/en/blog/one-year-of-go/
1•kugurerdem•32m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Ty-lsp skill for coding agents

https://github.com/agentic-utils/claude-plugins
1•brtkwr•33m ago•0 comments

Choose to be the person you need the most

https://blog.aintapp.com/be-who-you-need-the-most/
1•i_k•35m ago•0 comments

Using a Jailbroken Gemini to Make Opus 4.6 Architect a Kinetic Kill Vehicle

https://recursion.wtf/posts/shadow_queen/
1•inanna_malick•38m ago•2 comments

Visualize MySQL query execution plans as interactive FlameGraphs

https://github.com/vgrippa/myflames
1•tanelpoder•40m ago•0 comments

Early Christian Writings

https://earlychristianwritings.com/
22•dsego•41m ago•0 comments

Mindfulness can support GenAI use in transforming project management

https://techxplore.com/news/2026-02-mindfulness-genai.html
1•myk-e•41m ago•0 comments

Wine 11.2 – Run Windows Applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and macOS

https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/releases/wine-11.2
2•neustradamus•43m ago•0 comments

In the early 20th century there were plans to build a Berlin suspension railway

https://old.reddit.com/r/berlin/comments/1qxs3gh/in_the_early_20th_century_there_were_plans_to/
2•doener•44m ago•0 comments