the mode is a character in the layout box, not a word in the tagline

1 files changed, 26 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/src/config.zig b/src/config.zig
index 0dc12f98..46bd261e 100644
--- a/src/config.zig
+++ b/src/config.zig
@@ -290,10 +290,32 @@ pub const topbar_str = "Kill Newcol Tutor Debug NextColor Dump Find Grep Help";
 pub const pane_builtins_str = "Del";
 pub const file_pane_builtins_str = "Save Del";
 
-/// the tag prefix's mode word — live chrome, not text you own
-pub const tag_normal = "NOR";
-pub const tag_insert = "INS";
-pub const tag_tty = "TTY";
+/// the pane's mode, as ONE character in the layout box at its top-left — live
+/// chrome, not text you own. It used to be a three-letter word leading every
+/// tagline; the box was already there carrying no information at all, so the
+/// mode moved into it and the taglines got their four columns back.
+///
+/// These are NOT the initials. A badge you read at a glance every time your
+/// eye crosses a pane should LOOK like what it means, and each of these is a
+/// mark that already means its mode somewhere else: `^` is the proofreader's
+/// caret, the mark that says text goes in HERE; `$` is the shell prompt, and a
+/// pane wearing it has the keyboard wired straight to the program on the other
+/// end; `•` is the pane at rest, a full stop, nothing waiting to eat what you
+/// type. (The caret's true form is `‸` U+2038 and the ASCII `^` is only its
+/// stand-in — but `^` is in every font ever made and `‸` is in about four, and
+/// a mode badge that renders blank on someone's terminal is worse than one
+/// spelled with the near-miss.)
+///
+/// ONE CODEPOINT each. The box prints a single cell, so a two-character string
+/// here would be pushed into one cell as a single grapheme and come out wrong.
+/// A font missing the glyph draws a blank box, which is exactly what the box
+/// drew before there was anything in it.
+pub const tag_normal = "•";
+pub const tag_insert = "^";
+pub const tag_tty = "$";
+/// ...and `img` stays a WORD at the head of an image pane's tagline, because
+/// it is not a mode: it says what the pane IS, which no amount of watching the
+/// box will tell you. The box on an image pane still shows its mode.
 pub const tag_image = "img";
 
 /// on a focused tag: yank what the chord would run (the selection, else the