Re: Propose to add setup-wizard.el to ELPA

[Simon Pugnet <simon@polaris64.net>]

Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> writes:

> I am not sure if I brought this up last time, but how difficult do you
> think it would be to generalise this into a "wizard.el" package, that
> could be used by any package to define an interactive configuration
> wizard?

I really like this idea!

If the wizard could provide a common interface (e.g. a "wizard-builder")
that's easy to use and is presented using the same interface as the main
wizard then I think that could be a very nice way of helping newcomers
to certain packages.

For example, as well as giving configuration instructions in the
package's README, the package author could include their own wizard and
say something like "For interactive configuration, just evaluate
(invoke-wizard 'some-package) after loading the package."

One could argue that this is pretty close to just launching
customize-group for the package and limiting the options to only the
most important. However Yuan's wizard provides a more newcomer-friendly
and interactive interface (e.g. changing the theme immediately once it
is selected) so I think it is worthwhile keeping the wizard UI and
customize UI separate in this case.

P.S., I also have an interest in the idea of an Emacs set-up wizard, and
I've written about this before:
https://blog.polaris64.net/post/could-emacs-have-a-set-up-wizard/