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(emacs)Display Custom

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Customization of Display
========================

   This section contains information for customization only.  Beginning
users should skip it.

   The variable `mode-line-inverse-video' is an obsolete way of
controlling whether the mode line is displayed in inverse video; the
preferred way of doing this is to change the `mode-line' face.  Note:
Mode Line.  However, if `mode-line-inverse-video' has a value of
`nil', then the `mode-line' face will be ignored, and mode-lines will
be drawn using the default text face.  Note: Faces.

   If the variable `inverse-video' is non-`nil', Emacs attempts to
invert all the lines of the display from what they normally are.

   If the variable `visible-bell' is non-`nil', Emacs attempts to make
the whole screen blink when it would normally make an audible bell
sound.  This variable has no effect if your terminal does not have a way
to make the screen blink.

   When you reenter Emacs after suspending, Emacs normally clears the
screen and redraws the entire display.  On some terminals with more than
one page of memory, it is possible to arrange the termcap entry so that
the `ti' and `te' strings (output to the terminal when Emacs is entered
and exited, respectively) switch between pages of memory so as to use
one page for Emacs and another page for other output.  Then you might
want to set the variable `no-redraw-on-reenter' non-`nil'; this tells
Emacs to assume, when resumed, that the screen page it is using still
contains what Emacs last wrote there.

   The variable `echo-keystrokes' controls the echoing of
multi-character keys; its value is the number of seconds of pause
required to cause echoing to start, or zero meaning don't echo at all.
Note: Echo Area.

   If the variable `ctl-arrow' is `nil', all control characters in the
buffer are displayed with octal escape sequences, except for newline
and tab.  Altering the value of `ctl-arrow' makes it local to the
current buffer; until that time, the default value is in effect.  The
default is initially `t'.  Note: Display Tables.

   Normally, a tab character in the buffer is displayed as whitespace
which extends to the next display tab stop position, and display tab
stops come at intervals equal to eight spaces.  The number of spaces
per tab is controlled by the variable `tab-width', which is made local
by changing it, just like `ctl-arrow'.  Note that how the tab character
in the buffer is displayed has nothing to do with the definition of
<TAB> as a command.  The variable `tab-width' must have an integer
value between 1 and 1000, inclusive.

   If the variable `truncate-lines' is non-`nil', then each line of
text gets just one screen line for display; if the text line is too
long, display shows only the part that fits.  If `truncate-lines' is
`nil', then long text lines display as more than one screen line,
enough to show the whole text of the line.  Note: Continuation Lines.
Altering the value of `truncate-lines' makes it local to the current
buffer; until that time, the default value is in effect.  The default
is initially `nil'.

   If the variable `truncate-partial-width-windows' is non-`nil', it
forces truncation rather than continuation in any window less than the
full width of the screen or frame, regardless of the value of
`truncate-lines'.  For information about side-by-side windows, see
Note: Split Window.  See also Note: Display.

   The variable `baud-rate' holds the output speed of the terminal, as
far as Emacs knows.  Setting this variable does not change the speed of
actual data transmission, but the value is used for calculations.  On
terminals, it affects padding, and decisions about whether to scroll
part of the screen or redraw it instead.  It also affects the behavior
of incremental search.

   On window-systems, `baud-rate' is only used to determine how
frequently to look for pending input during display updating.  A higher
value of `baud-rate' means that check for pending input will be done
less frequently.

   You can customize the way any particular character code is displayed
by means of a display table.  Note: Display Tables.


   On a window system, Emacs can optionally display the mouse pointer
in a special shape to say that Emacs is busy.  To turn this feature on
or off, customize the group `cursor'.  You can also control the amount
of time Emacs must remain busy before the busy indicator is displayed,
by setting the variable `hourglass-delay'.

   On some text-only terminals, bold face and inverse video together
result in text that is hard to read.  Call the function
`tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors' with a non-`nil' argument to
suppress the effect of bold-face in this case.