Emacs, naked.

When it gets too cold, you can always put on more layers of clothing. But when it gets too hot, after a while you can't take off any more. – RMS

This is GNU Emacs:

/img/bare-emacs.png

Now let the show begin…

Code snippets are for GNU Emacs 24.3 and above.

A blank stage

;; Prevent the cursor from blinking
(blink-cursor-mode 0)
;; Don't use messages that you don't read
(setq initial-scratch-message "")
(setq inhibit-startup-message t)
;; Don't let Emacs hurt your ears
(setq visible-bell t)

;; You need to set `inhibit-startup-echo-area-message' from the
;; customization interface:
;; M-x customize-variable RET inhibit-startup-echo-area-message RET
;; then enter your username
(setq inhibit-startup-echo-area-message "guerry")

Break the walls

;; This is bound to f11 in Emacs 24.4
(toggle-frame-fullscreen) 
;; Who use the bar to scroll?
(scroll-bar-mode 0)

/img/emacs-wide-screen.png

The sky is the limit

(tool-bar-mode 0)
(menu-bar-mode 0)

;; You can also set the initial frame parameters
;; (setq initial-frame-alist
;;       '((menu-bar-lines . 0)
;;         (tool-bar-lines . 0)))

/img/emacs-clear-top.png

Groundless fear

;; See http://bzg.fr/emacs-hide-mode-line.html
(defvar-local hidden-mode-line-mode nil)
(defvar-local hide-mode-line nil)

(define-minor-mode hidden-mode-line-mode
  "Minor mode to hide the mode-line in the current buffer."
  :init-value nil
  :global nil
  :variable hidden-mode-line-mode
  :group 'editing-basics
  (if hidden-mode-line-mode
      (setq hide-mode-line mode-line-format
            mode-line-format nil)
    (setq mode-line-format hide-mode-line
          hide-mode-line nil))
  (force-mode-line-update)
  ;; Apparently force-mode-line-update is not always enough to
  ;; redisplay the mode-line
  (redraw-display)
  (when (and (called-interactively-p 'interactive)
             hidden-mode-line-mode)
    (run-with-idle-timer
     0 nil 'message
     (concat "Hidden Mode Line Mode enabled.  "
             "Use M-x hidden-mode-line-mode to make the mode-line appear."))))

;; Activate hidden-mode-line-mode
(hidden-mode-line-mode 1)

;; If you want to hide the mode-line in all new buffers
;; (add-hook 'after-change-major-mode-hook 'hidden-mode-line-mode)

;; Alternatively, you can paint your mode-line in White but then
;; you'll have to manually paint it in black again
;; (custom-set-faces
;;  '(mode-line-highlight ((t nil)))
;;  '(mode-line ((t (:foreground "white" :background "white"))))
;;  '(mode-line-inactive ((t (:background "white" :foreground "white")))))

/img/emacs-clear-bottom.png

Well… it's more interesting with some text:

/img/emacs-clear-bottom-text.png

In the limelight

;; A small minor mode to use a big fringe
(defvar bzg-big-fringe-mode nil)
(define-minor-mode bzg-big-fringe-mode
  "Minor mode to use big fringe in the current buffer."
  :init-value nil
  :global t
  :variable bzg-big-fringe-mode
  :group 'editing-basics
  (if (not bzg-big-fringe-mode)
      (set-fringe-style nil)
    (set-fringe-mode
     (/ (- (frame-pixel-width)
           (* 100 (frame-char-width)))
        2))))

;; Now activate this global minor mode
(bzg-big-fringe-mode 1)

;; To activate the fringe by default and deactivate it when windows
;; are split vertically, uncomment this:
;; (add-hook 'window-configuration-change-hook
;;           (lambda ()
;;             (if (delq nil
;;                       (let ((fw (frame-width)))
;;                         (mapcar (lambda(w) (< (window-width w) (/ fw 2)))
;;                                 (window-list))))
;;                 (bzg-big-fringe-mode 0)
;;               (bzg-big-fringe-mode 1))))

;; Use a minimal cursor
;; (setq default-cursor-type 'hbar)

;; Get rid of the indicators in the fringe
(mapcar (lambda(fb) (set-fringe-bitmap-face fb 'org-hide))
        fringe-bitmaps)

/img/emacs-big-fringe.png

Oh, but you don't want the grey fringe?

;; Set the color of the fringe
(custom-set-faces
 '(fringe ((t (:background "white")))))

/img/emacs-big-white-fringe.png

Let's turn off the light…

(custom-set-faces
  '(default ((t (:background "black" :foreground "grey"))))
  '(fringe ((t (:background "black")))))

/img/emacs-by-night.png

Enjoy !

(Keep the sound muted.)

Download the video here.

Download the full Elisp file here or read it as a gist.

Bonus trick

Ok, sometimes I still want to see what's in the mode-line.

I use the C-s-SPC key for this (Control Super Space) with this simple function to display the mode-line in the header:

;; Command to toggle the display of the mode-line as a header
(defvar-local header-line-format nil)
(defun mode-line-in-header ()
  (interactive)
  (if (not header-line-format)
      (setq header-line-format mode-line-format
            mode-line-format nil)
    (setq mode-line-format header-line-format
          header-line-format nil))
  (set-window-buffer nil (current-buffer)))
(global-set-key (kbd "C-s-SPC") 'mode-line-in-header)

/img/emacs-mode-line-header.png

Discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7107893

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