Small Updates to the README (#2091)

Update the README and related files.

This commit generally updates some language in the "About" section, and other sections with respect to keeping accurate information, and laying out the project goals in a clear way.

We're also marking Alacritty as "beta" software at this point, not that this has any explicit meaning.

1 files changed, 43 insertions, 30 deletions

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cc647f6a..6fa6890b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,24 +5,27 @@ Alacritty
 [![Appveyor build Status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/github/jwilm/alacritty?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/jwilm/alacritty)
 
 Alacritty is the fastest terminal emulator in existence. Using the GPU for
-rendering enables optimizations that simply aren't possible in other emulators.
-Alacritty currently supports macOS, Linux, and Windows.
+rendering enables optimizations that simply aren't possible without it.
+Alacritty currently supports macOS, Linux, BSD, and Windows.
 
 <p align="center">
-  <img width="600" alt="Alacritty running vim inside tmux" src="https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/4285147/21585004/2ebd0288-d06c-11e6-95d3-4a2889dbbd6f.png">
+  <img width="600"
+       alt="Alacritty running vim inside tmux"
+       src="https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/4285147/21585004/2ebd0288-d06c-11e6-95d3-4a2889dbbd6f.png">
 </p>
 
 ## About
 
-Alacritty is focused on simplicity and performance. The performance goal means
-it should be faster than any other terminal emulator available. The simplicity
-goal means that it doesn't have features such as tabs or splits (which can be
-better provided by a window manager or [terminal multiplexer][tmux]) nor
-niceties like a GUI config editor.
+Alacritty is a terminal emulator with a strong focus on simplicity and
+performance. With such a strong focus on performance, included features are
+carefully considered and you can always expect Alacritty to be blazingly fast.
+By making sane choices for defaults, Alacritty requires no additional setup.
+However, it does allow [configuration](#configuration) of many aspects of the
+terminal.
 
-The software is considered to be at an **alpha** level of readiness--there are
-missing features and bugs to be fixed, but it is already used by many as a daily
-driver.
+The software is considered to be at a **beta** level of readiness -- there are
+a few missing features and bugs to be fixed, but it is already used by many as
+a daily driver.
 
 Precompiled binaries are available from the [GitHub releases page](https://github.com/jwilm/alacritty/releases).
 
@@ -34,8 +37,8 @@ Precompiled binaries are available from the [GitHub releases page](https://githu
 
 ## Installation
 
-Some operating systems already provide binaries for Alacritty, for everyone else the instructions
-to build Alacritty from source can be found [here](INSTALL.md).
+Some operating systems already provide binaries for Alacritty, for everyone
+else the instructions to build Alacritty from source can be found [here](INSTALL.md).
 
 ### Arch Linux
 
@@ -94,7 +97,7 @@ brew cask install alacritty
 Once the cask is installed, it is recommended to setup the [manual page](INSTALL.md#manual-page),
 [shell completions](INSTALL.md#shell-completions), and [terminfo definitions](INSTALL.md#terminfo).
 
-### Windows 
+### Windows
 
 #### Via [Scoop](https://scoop.sh)
 
@@ -108,9 +111,9 @@ scoop install alacritty
 Prebuilt binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows can be downloaded from the
 [GitHub releases page](https://github.com/jwilm/alacritty/releases).
 
-To work properly on Windows, Alacritty requires winpty to emulate UNIX's PTY API.
-The agent is a single binary (`winpty-agent.exe`) which **must** be in the same
-directory as the Alacritty executable and is available through the
+To work properly on Windows, Alacritty requires winpty to emulate UNIX's PTY
+API. The agent is a single binary (`winpty-agent.exe`) which **must** be in
+the same directory as the Alacritty executable and is available through the
 [GitHub releases page](https://github.com/jwilm/alacritty/releases).
 
 ## Configuration
@@ -131,9 +134,8 @@ run. On most systems this often defaults to
 `$HOME/.config/alacritty/alacritty.yml`.
 
 Many configuration options will take effect immediately upon saving changes to
-the config file. The only exception is the `font` and `dimensions` sections
-which requires Alacritty to be restarted. For further explanation of the config
-file, please consult the comments in the default config file.
+the config file. For more information about the config file structure, refer to
+the default config file.
 
 ### Windows
 
@@ -144,18 +146,29 @@ On Windows the config file is located at:
 ## Issues (known, unknown, feature requests, etc.)
 
 If you run into a problem with Alacritty, please file an issue. If you've got a
-feature request, feel free to ask about it. Keep in mind that Alacritty is very
-much not looking to be a feature-rich terminal emulator with all sorts of bells
-and widgets. It's primarily a cross-platform, blazing fast `tmux` renderer that
-Just Works.
+feature request, feel free to ask about it. Please just keep in mind Alacritty
+is focused on simplicity and performance, and not all features are in line with
+that goal.
+
+Before opening a new issue, please check if it has already been reported.
+There's a chance someone else has already reported it, and you can subscribe to
+that issue to keep up on the latest developments.
 
 ## FAQ
 
 **_Is it really the fastest terminal emulator?_**
 
-In the terminals I've benchmarked against, Alacritty is either faster, WAY
-faster, or at least neutral. There are no benchmarks in which I've found
-Alacritty to be slower.
+In the terminals we've [benchmarked](http://github.com/jwilm/vtebench),
+Alacritty is either faster or **way** faster than the others. If you've found a
+case where this isn't true, please report a bug.
+
+**_Why isn't feature X implemented?_**
+
+Alacritty has many great features, but not every feature from every other
+terminal. This could be for a number of reasons, but sometimes it's just not a
+good fit for Alacritty. This means you won't find things like tabs or splits
+(which are best left to a window manager or [terminal multiplexer][tmux]) nor
+niceties like a GUI config editor.
 
 **_macOS + tmux + vim is slow! I thought this was supposed to be fast!_**
 
@@ -178,11 +191,11 @@ Alacritty discussion can be found in `#alacritty` on freenode.
 ## Wayland
 
 Wayland support is available, but not everything works as expected. Many people
-have found a better experience using XWayland which can be achieved launching
-Alacritty with the `WAYLAND_DISPLAY` environment variable cleared:
+have found a better experience using XWayland which can be achieved by
+launching Alacritty with the `WAYLAND_DISPLAY` environment variable cleared:
 
 ```sh
-env WAYLAND_DISPLAY= alacritty
+env WAYLAND_DISPLAY="" alacritty
 ```
 
 If you're interested in seeing our Wayland support improve, please head over to