From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Kastrup Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: evangelizing Emacs with a graphical tutorial Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:06:19 +0100 Message-ID: <86k5z46afo.fsf@lola.quinscape.zz> References: <87ejpc3ilr.fsf@localhost.i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1170155335 7712 80.91.229.12 (30 Jan 2007 11:08:55 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:08:55 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Jason Spiro Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Jan 30 12:08:48 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1HBqp4-00061E-4T for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:06:46 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1HBqp3-0001vc-KN for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:06:45 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1HBqoq-0001vP-6O for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:06:32 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1HBqon-0001vA-P5 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:06:30 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1HBqon-0001v7-L1 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:06:29 -0500 Original-Received: from pc3.berlin.powerweb.de ([62.67.228.11]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1HBqon-0003CN-2c for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:06:29 -0500 Original-Received: from quinscape.de (pd95b0fdb.dip0.t-ipconnect.de [217.91.15.219]) by pc3.berlin.powerweb.de (8.9.3p3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA30329 for ; Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:06:24 +0100 X-Delivered-To: Original-Received: (qmail 31447 invoked from network); 30 Jan 2007 11:06:27 -0000 Original-Received: from unknown (HELO lola.quinscape.zz) ([10.0.3.43]) (envelope-sender ) by ns.quinscape.de (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for ; 30 Jan 2007 11:06:27 -0000 Original-Received: by lola.quinscape.zz (Postfix, from userid 1001) id EE83123834; Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:06:19 +0100 (CET) In-Reply-To: <87ejpc3ilr.fsf@localhost.i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me> (Jason Spiro's message of "Tue\, 30 Jan 2007 05\:38\:08 -0500") User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.50 (gnu/linux) X-detected-kernel: Linux 2.4-2.6 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:65629 Archived-At: Jason Spiro writes: > "Drew Adams" wrote: >> FWIW, here are some minor suggestions for the splash screen. > [snip] > > I agree wholeheartedly with your suggestions. I have one more: We > should provide a clickable link to a graphical tutorial on the Emacs > splash screen. > > http://stuff.mit.edu/iap/emacs/emacs-slides-1.pdf seems to be a good > one. It quickly covers the basics such as how to move the cursor. > Then it gets to the useful stuff, such as the kill ring, isearch, etc. > > I took a show of hands at my school's LUG meeting today, and only 10% > of the students used Emacs. Nowadays, too many people use non-Free > IDEs. Is there any better way to show people the power of Emacs than > a graphical tutorial? Is that a trick question? How about an interactive hands-on tutorial running in Emacs itself? Seems more useful for me, and we have that already. And it is not in a propretary format, and it does not require a different program for display. And for non-interactive use, it would appear that the Emacs reference card covers a _lot_ more. Maybe we should link to that in some manner, like offering to call (shell-command (format (mailcap-mime-info "application/postscript") (expand-file-name "refcard.ps" data-directory))) > If I submit a patch to implement this link, will it be accepted? Apart from the points above: what guarantee would we have that the link does not go away in the next 5 years? -- David Kastrup