emacs can be run within a terminal or with a graphical interface for xserver. colors and font-rendering may look different. i prefer emacs on the terminal because it seems simpler, can be used in screen sessions, and i would not have to set up xserver forwarding through ssh sessions for example.
start emacs with "emacs --daemon" and open files with "emacsclient -tc" ("t" uses the terminal, "c" creates a new frame). this way emacs is not started anew when you open a file for editing
these shell scripts can be put, with the executable bit set, into a path listed in $PATH
file name: e
#!/bin/sh emacsclient -tc
usage
e readme.md
useful for searching and adding files in one terminal and editing in an open emacs window in another terminal.
file name: ea
#!/bin/sh for file in "$@" do emacsclient -e '(find-file "'$file'")' done
usage
ea readme.md
auto-complete word autocompletion
smartparens structural editing of bracket expressions. alternative to paredit
web-mode handles syntax-highlighting for files with mixed languages like html templates
adaptive-wrap long lines start on the next line with indent
sph-scheme-mode simple scheme mode
corral quickly surround words with characters in emacs
highlight-symbol highlight and rename the current word throughout the buffer
modes i had issues with