When working with many windows at the same time, each window has a size that is not convenient for editing.
golden-ratio helps on this issue by resizing automatically the windows you are working on to the size specified in the "Golden Ratio". The window that has the main focus will have the perfect size for editing, while the ones that are not being actively edited will be re-sized to a smaller size that doesn't get in the way, but at the same time will be readable enough to know it's content.
For more info about the golden ratio check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio
Use el-get to install.
To enable automatic resizing, put on your .emacs.d/init.el
(require 'golden-ratio)
(golden-ratio-mode 1)If you want to disable automatic resizing done by golden-ratio, just invoke
M-x golden-ratio-mode
To call golden ratio manually just M-x golden-ratio
If you use a large screen and have very wide frames golden-ratio makes very wide windows. This can be handled automatically by setting golden-ratio-auto-scale to true. This does a good job of keeping windows at a reasonable width regardless of how wide or narrow your frame size is. This works well on my laptop regardless of which monitor or LCD I happen to be using.
(setq golden-ratio-auto-scale t)
For those who wish for manual control, If golden-ratio-auto-scale is false, manual control can be exercised through the golden-ratio-adjust-factor variable. setting it to something less than 1 will cause the windows to be less wide. The golden-ratio-adjust function allows for experimentation with this value.
M-x golden-ratio-adjust
It is also possible to toggle between widescreen and regular width window sizing with
M-x golden-ratio-toggle-widescreen
The variable golden-ratio-wide-adjust-factor can be set to the adjustment value you desire the widescreen toggle to use.
The following code will set up golden-ratio to adjust for a moderately wide screen and also allow toggling between normal, with an adjustment factor of 1, and wide with an adjustment factor of .8. For a very wide screen/frame of ~3400 px, .4 works well giving screens with a width ~100 columns wide.
(setq golden-ratio-adjust-factor .8
golden-ratio-wide-adjust-factor .8)When working with files that are required to have a maximum line width or when writing text it's sometimes good to have a fixed width on the window you are typing in. For example when editing this files it's nice to set:
(setq golden-ratio-max-width 100)When I write I like to have two empty buffers on the side and set
(setq golden-ratio-max-width 72)to get a distraction free experience.
Code inspired by ideas from Tatsuhiro Ujihisa