From: Jonathan Guthrie 

On Tue, Nov 25, 2003 at 01:03:00AM +0000,
Neil.Heller!1.106.2000.0{at}filegate.net wrote:
> > Since every keypress and mouse click I/O event in EMacs is
> > configurable, wouldn't it make more sense to use EMacs to emulate
> > it?

> You like just the sort of person for whom I've been looking:  someone
> with a working knowledge of emacs.  Can you tell me:

> 1)  How to adjust the default tab space

> 2)  How to adjust the number of lines shown per screenful.

> I've been battling those two things since I first got Linux.

Assuming that you are using GNU Emacs (and assuming that it works the same
way as the Xemacs that I prefer) you set the "default-tab-width"
value for 1) and 2) is set by the text screen size that you use so you
can't adjust it inside the program.  If you are using a text display that
is larger than what emacs uses, you need to set the LINES and/or the
COLUMNS value properly.  That doesn't work in an xterm.  If you use the X
(or MS Windows) version of Xemacs, then you can adjust the size of the
display by grabbing the edge of the window and dragging it.

Generally, you want to set the tab width to 8 and set the indentation
values to match whatever you prefer for your indentation.  That way, it
looks the same if you cat or more it or print it (or edit it in a different
editor) as it does on the screen.  To set the tab width to 8, you put
something like this line (setq-default tab-width 8)
in your .emacs or .emacsrc file.

To set the indentation width, you set other values that depend on the major
mode you're using.  I've learned to live with the default 2, so I have no
examples of that handy.
--
Jonathan Guthrie (jguthrie{at}brokersys.com) Sto pro veritate

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