Thanks for the detailed answer Eli! On 03/13/2016 03:03 PM, Eli Zaretskii wrote: >> From: Clément Pit--Claudel >> Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2016 14:41:54 -0400 >> >> Here are a few things that I struggled with when I started using Emacs (phrased in terms of concepts that I was already familiar with) >> >> * Opening and saving a file >> * Copying (or cutting) and pasting >> * Undoing, and in particular the notion of undoing an undo >> * Using C-u as a prefix >> * Searching (and replacing) >> * The notion of major and minor modes >> >> Interestingly, the tutorial does cover all of this; but it also tried to train me to be efficient at things that I didn't care (like having me jump around the buffer, paging through things with C-v, etc): what I wanted was a five minutes introduction which would: >> >> * Give me enough to survive in Emacs with more or less the same productivity as I has in GEdit (which was pretty low) >> * Teach me a few cool features so that I felt compelled to keep using Emacs >> >> Based on this, it would be easy to pick up more stuff along the way. >> >> Speaking of cool features, here are a few ones that are very simple to comprehend, but that I find very useful; I think the tutorial could expose them: >> >> * C-SPC C-SPC to mark a point >> * C-u C-SPC to jump to a previously marked point >> * C-w marking the following word during a search > > I see your point. But here's the problem: > > * The tutorial explicitly aims at making you more productive than > you'd be in GEdit or Notepad, as high productivity is one of > Emacs's string selling points > * The set of "cool features" that users would like to be taught is > highly variable from one user to another, and their superset is way > too large for a tutorial > > The only practical solution to the dilemma is to have multiple > tutorials. This is not ideal, either, because many newcomers will not > know enough to choose the ones they want, but it's a step in the right > direction (IMO). > > The only problem is to find volunteers who'd actually write such > tutorials. > >> In addition, I think many people get attracted to Emacs for a particular programming language, so I like the suggestion of the tutorial branching up into various directions after exposing the basics. > > I actually think that a tutorial should demonstrate the common stuff, > i.e. how the same commands do different things in each major mode. > For the details that are specific to each mode users should read the > respective manuals and doc strings, as describing them in a tutorial > will make that tutorial be very much like the manual ;-) > >> One final idea: maybe the tutorial could showcase more of Emacs' fancy features? Like syntax highlighting, spell checking, image support, indentation, and similar things? Right now it's a plain text buffer in fundamental mode. > > Excellent ideas, but again: we need someone to step forward and > actually do all that. Most of us are not good at writing such > interactive documentation. >