- @dfn{Echoing} means displaying the characters that you type.
-Single-character commands, including most simple editing operations,
-are not echoed. Multi-character commands are echoed if you pause
-while typing them: if you pause for more than a second in the middle
-of a command, Emacs echoes all the characters of the command so far,
-to prompt you for the rest of the command. The echoed characters are
-displayed in the echo area. Once echoing has started, the rest of the
-command echoes immediately as you type it. This behavior is designed
-to give confident users fast response, while giving hesitant users
-maximum feedback. @xref{Display Custom}.
-
-@cindex error message in the echo area
- If a command cannot do its job, it may display an @dfn{error
-message}. Error messages are also displayed in the echo area. They
-may be accompanied by beeping or by flashing the screen.
-
- Some commands display informative messages in the echo area. Unlike
-error messages, these messages are not announced with a beep or flash.
-Sometimes the message tells you what the command has done, when this
-is not obvious from looking at the text being edited. Other times,
-the sole purpose of a command is to show you a message giving you
-specific information. For example, @kbd{C-x =} (hold down @key{CTRL}
-and type @kbd{x}, then let go of @key{CTRL} and type @kbd{=}) displays
-a message describing the character position of point in the text and
-its current column in the window. Commands that take a long time
-often display messages ending in @samp{...} while they are working,
-and add @samp{done} at the end when they are finished. They may also
-indicate progress with percentages.
+@cindex echoing
+ The echo area is so-named because one of the things it is used for
+is @dfn{echoing}, which means displaying the characters of a
+multi-character command as you type. Single-character commands are
+not echoed. Multi-character commands (@pxref{Keys}) are echoed if you
+pause for more than a second in the middle of a command. Emacs then
+echoes all the characters of the command so far, to prompt you for the
+rest. Once echoing has started, the rest of the command echoes
+immediately as you type it. This behavior is designed to give
+confident users fast response, while giving hesitant users maximum
+feedback.
+
+@cindex error message
+@cindex echo area message
+ The echo area is also used to display an @dfn{error message} when a
+command cannot do its job. Error messages may be accompanied by
+beeping or by flashing the screen.
+
+ Some commands display informative messages in the echo area to tell
+you what the command has done, or to provide you with some specific
+information. These @dfn{informative} messages, unlike error messages,
+are not accompanied with a beep or flash. For example, @kbd{C-x =}
+(hold down @key{CTRL} and type @kbd{x}, then let go of @key{CTRL} and
+type @kbd{=}) displays a message describing the character at point,
+its position in the buffer, and its current column in the window.
+Commands that take a long time often display messages ending in
+@samp{...} while they are working (sometimes also indicating how much
+progress has been made, as a percentage), and add @samp{done} when
+they are finished.