[alxp]

I recently switched from NetBeans to Emacs, and while NetBeans did support split windows, it involved carefully dragging a tab to just the right place in the application, then adjusting, then reaching for the mouse any time you wanted to scroll. With Emacs, it's not just split windows, it's split windows accessible via one key command, and a shortcut key to scroll the _other_ window without switching that really boosts my productivity.

The thing I thought I'd miss the most was not being able to use the scroll wheel in the text terminal, but using 'go to next function' and 'go to previous function' key combos, along with making very liberal use of inline search has done a pretty good job replacing how I previously navigated documents.

I didn't think that not having to leave the home row keys was such a big deal but now I have to do it so much less often taht I can feel how jarring it is to my rhythm of working.

[vbsteven]

If you use the gui version of emacs instead of the terminal version you can still use the scrollwheel.

I usually run 1 gui emacs instance with my main development environment and only use the terminal version when logged into remote machines.

[dhemmerling]

You can use the mouse + scrollwheel in the terminal as well. Eval (xterm-mouse-mode).

[alxp]

I looked into those, but my preference for not ever leaving the home keys is trumping using the scroll wheel for now.

[dhemmerling]

You are right to not do so. Describing what is not impossible is hardly advocacy, however. There are a few uses for allowing mouse in terminal emulated emacs of varying utility. Same with the GUI version, but just to get basic mouse/wheel functionality is not one of them.