ahead.
Some commands display informative messages in the echo area. These
-messages look much like error messages, but they are not announced with
-a beep and do not throw away input. Sometimes the message tells you
-what the command has done, when this is not obvious from looking at the
-text being edited. Sometimes the sole purpose of a command is to show
-you a message giving you specific information---for example, @kbd{C-x =}
-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.
+messages look much like error messages, but they are not announced
+with a beep and do not throw away input. Sometimes the message tells
+you what the command has done, when this is not obvious from looking
+at the text being edited. Sometimes 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.
@cindex @samp{*Messages*} buffer
@cindex saved echo area messages
Normally, the mode line looks like this:
@example
--@var{cs}:@var{ch} @var{buf} (@var{major} @var{minor})--@var{line}--@var{pos}------
+-@var{cs}:@var{ch} @var{buf} @var{line} @var{pos} (@var{major} @var{minor})------
@end example
@noindent