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Crafting a Customised Emacs Configuration for Productivity and Aesthetics
By Zaine Qayyum
Emacs is a powerhouse editor that can be tailored to your specific needs, and this blog showcases how I built my Emacs configuration to enhance my productivity and enjoyment. I primarily use Emacs to organise my notes, applications, books, projects and various other things.
1. Package Management
The first step in customising Emacs is setting up package management. I’ve used MELPA as my primary package repository:
(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") t)
(package-initialize)
The snippet below shows you how to view the available packages.
M-x package-list-packages
2. Scripts and Custom Modules
To keep my configuration modular, I’ve organised custom scripts in a ~/.emacs.d/scripts/ directory:
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/scripts/")
(require 'displays)
(require 'shells)
(require 'auto-comp)
(require 'window)
(require 'keyboard)
(require 'custom-agenda)
Each of these are .el files, and are being loaded into my main init.el
3. General Settings
Startup Optimization
(setq inhibit-startup-screen t)
I disable the startup screen so that the first thing that loads up is the dashboard (more on this later).
Key Bindings
I use ESC as a universal escape key to quit minibuffer prompts:
(global-set-key [escape] 'keyboard-escape-quit)
As opposed to using C-g (boo!!).
Interface Tweaks
(menu-bar-mode -1)
(scroll-bar-mode -1)
(global-display-line-numbers-mode 1)
(global-visual-line-mode t)
These settings remove clutter like scrollbars and enable essential features such as line numbers.
4. Org Mode for Organization
Agenda and File Management
Org mode is central to my workflow. I’ve set up an agenda that pulls from multiple files:
(setq org-agenda-files '("~/master-folder/org_files/master.org"
"~/master-folder/org_files/deen-org/deen.org"
"~/master-folder/org_files/career-org/career.org"))
(require 'org)
Enhancing Org Mode Appearance
-
Inline images:
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'org-display-inline-images) (add-hook 'org-mode-hook (lambda () (org-display-inline-images t t))) -
Bullets and indentation:
(use-package toc-org :commands toc-org-enable :init (add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'toc-org-enable)) (use-package org-bullets) (add-hook 'org-mode-hook (lambda () (org-bullets-mode 1))) (add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'org-indent-mode)
Disabling Electric Indent
Org files often require manual formatting:
(electric-indent-mode -1)
5. Enhancing Visual Appeal
I’ve added themes and icons to create a visually appealing environment:
-
Kaolin Bubblegum Theme:
(add-to-list 'custom-theme-load-path "~/.emacs.d/themes/") (require 'kaolin-themes) (load-theme 'kaolin-bubblegum t) -
All-the-Icons:
(use-package all-the-icons :ensure t :if (display-graphic-p)) (use-package all-the-icons-dired :hook (dired-mode . (lambda () (all-the-icons-dired-mode t))))
6. Roam and Note-Taking
Org-roam is perfect for building a network of interconnected notes:
(use-package org-roam
:ensure t
:custom
(org-roam-directory "~/master-folder/org_files/org_roam")
:config
(org-roam-setup))
7. Language Support
I’ve configured Emacs for Haskell development:
(use-package haskell-mode)
(org-babel-do-load-languages
'org-babel-load-languages
'((haskell . t)))
8. Backup Settings
To prevent clutter, backups are redirected to the Trash folder:
(setq backup-directory-alist '((".*" . "~/.Trash")))
9. Evil Mode for Vim Lovers
Evil mode brings Vim keybindings to Emacs, with additional enhancements:
(use-package evil
:init
(setq evil-want-integration t
evil-want-keybinding nil
evil-vsplit-window-right t
evil-split-window-below t)
(evil-mode))
(use-package evil-collection
:after evil
:config
(setq evil-collection-mode-list '(dashboard dired ibuffer))
(evil-collection-init))
(use-package evil-tutor)
10. Reloading Configuration
For quick testing of changes:
(defun reload-init-file ()
(interactive)
(load-file user-init-file)
(load-file user-init-file))
11. Scripts
As previously mentioned, I’ve kept scripts in a ~/.emacs.d/scripts/ directory:
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/scripts/")
(require 'displays)
(require 'shells)
(require 'auto-comp)
(require 'window)
(require 'keyboard)
(require 'custom-agenda)
Each of these can be found in my GitHub repository: emacs-config
12. Conclusion
This is the end of my customised Emacs configuration, for more details I would recommend checking out this YouTube series: DistroTube - Configuring Emacs. I hope you find it useful :)