Modes have no effect unless I deactivate and activate again

Question

I'm extremely new to emacs (started using it yesterday), I use the latest version of emacs.

The problem is, The modes I have enabled such as auto-complete-mode and org-bullets-mode seem to be enabled at launch. But i don't see their effect on screen unless I turn them off and on again (I'm not sure if the tex global pdf mode has activated either).

Since, I'm a beginner . I'm pretty sure this is horrible code writing on my part. So, A bit of insight into what went wrong and few resources into how to set it up would be a lot more helpful than just correcting my code.

This is my init.el (Ignore the line numbers they come because i copied from vim in terminal)

;Installing Repos
  1 (require 'package)
  2 
  3 (add-to-list 'package-archives '("org" . "http://orgmode.org/elpa/"))
  4 (add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/"))
  5 (add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa-stable" . "http://stable.melpa.org/packages/"))
  6 (setq package-enable-at-startup nil)
  7 (package-initialize)
  8 ; Use evil mode
  9 (require 'evil)
 10 (evil-mode t)
 11 
 12 ;For Tex
 13 (require 'tex)
 14 (TeX-global-PDF-mode t)
 15 (latex-mode)
 16 (setq auto-complete-mode t)
 17 (auto-complete)
 18 
 19 ;For Org
 20 (require 'org-bullets)
 21 (org-mode)
 22 (setq org-bullets-mode t)
 23 (org-bullets-mode)
 24 ;Window Size
 25  (if (window-system)
 26   (set-frame-size (selected-frame) 100 200))
 27 
 28 
 29 (custom-set-variables
 30  ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
 31  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
 32  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
 33  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 34  '(custom-enabled-themes (quote (misterioso)))
 35  '(inhibit-startup-screen t)
 36 )

Edit: Even simpler things like

(set-cursor-color "#ffffff")

Isn't working on startup. What am I doing wrong? Is my installation botched?

Answer 1

Some variables in Emacs are buffer-local. This means that when you set them they apply only to the current buffer. Many minor modes are buffer-local. So running (org-bullets 1) enables org-bullets only in the current buffer.

To enable org-bullets in every org-mode buffer we use a hook that runs every time you open a new org-mode buffer.

(add-hook 'org-mode-hook
  (defun org-bullets-mode-enable ()
    (org-bullets-mode 1)))

Some minor modes can be enabled globally, usually by calling a function like (global-auto-complete-mode 1) which will enable auto-complete-mode in all buffers.

The problem you are having with set-cursor-color is that the misterioso theme is overriding your settings. I suggest you use customize-face to change your cursor color.

(require 'package)

(add-to-list 'package-archives '("org" . "http://orgmode.org/elpa/"))
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/"))
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa-stable" . "http://stable.melpa.org/packages/"))
(setq package-enable-at-startup nil)
(package-initialize)
; Use evil mode
(require 'evil)
(evil-mode t)

;For Tex
(require 'tex)
(TeX-global-PDF-mode t)
(global-auto-complete-mode 1)

;For Org
(require 'org-bullets)
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook
  (defun org-bullets-mode-enable ()
    (org-bullets-mode 1)))
;Window Size
(if (window-system)
  (set-frame-size (selected-frame) 100 200))

(custom-set-variables
;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
  '(custom-enabled-themes (quote (misterioso)))
  '(inhibit-startup-screen t)
)