Customization and Flexibility in the exmh Mail User Interface
Brent Welch
brent.welch@eng.sun.com
Sun Microsystems Laboratories
2550 Garcia Ave. M/S UMTV29-232
Mountain View, CA 94043
Abstract
The exmh mail user interface is designed to be flexible and
customizable. The goal in the design is to provide a platform that can
be tuned to suit individual preferences, as well as extended to
provide custom functionality. There are several mechanisms for
customization: install-time settings define runtime support
requirements; a Preferences user interface exposes various "knobs" and
"dials"; the X resource database controls fonts, colors, and other
widget attributes; a personal library of Tcl procedures supports new
functionality; the buttons and menus in the interface are defined by X
resource specifications to allow customization and access to personal
Tcl extensions; hook points in the implementation support callbacks to
user extensions at key moments in mail handling; A binding user
interface defines editing and accelerator keystrokes. This paper
describes these mechanisms, and provides some experiences in the use
and development of exmh.
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