> on Google, I get an helpful page from org-mode manual *an unhelpful On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 4:38 PM James Lu wrote: > Can your response be summarized like this? > > "Let's keep doing the same thing we're doing now > and get the same result we've been getting for decades." > > > > Today, there is a wealth of on-line > > information, with tutorials, how-tos, discussions, code > > samples, and help readily available to anyone who asks > > politely. > > Sure, but when I search "emacs org-mode deadline agenda" > on Google, I get an helpful page from org-mode manual > as the first result. I want to sort by deadline, not see what's > due today. "I want to do X" guides don't appear. > > "emacs org-mode sort by deadline agenda" gets > me this that just tells me to follow another link and read > several more paragraphs: > https://orgmode.org/manual/Sorting-of-agenda-items.html > > Compare that to most task managers that simply show you > where on the GUI to do it. I want a guide and a lecture, not > a lecture and a puzzle. Even if it's a little puzzle, I shouldn't > have to think about it to do a task other people have done > before. > > Say what you will about it "taking time to learn." I think > the documentation is poorly organized. > > On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 1:32 PM Bob Newell > wrote: > >> >> In your long posting with many ideas about making Emacs >> beginner friendly, there is much to consider, and I must say >> right at the start that easing the Emacs learning experience >> is a worthy goal. >> >> It does raise the question: how did the current Emacs users >> learn Emacs? I can't speak for anyone else but I don't know >> that my own experiences are in any way unique. I learned first >> from the tutorial, then from some of the manuals, then by doing >> and experimenting and reading more of the manuals, and trial >> and error. >> >> Could this have been more efficient? Yes, of course. But I did >> I learn a lot in the process--- a very serious "lot"--- and it >> cemented my knowledge and appreciation of what Emacs could, >> and was already, doing for me. >> >> Do I advocate pure bumbling in the dark as a means of >> learning? No. But perhaps guided bumbling is more of the >> thing. >> >> We can never forget something critically important: Emacs is a >> very sophisticated, very powerful tool, and like all such >> tools, it takes effort and dedication to learn. (Even lesser >> tools, like office suites, take effort to learn, if perhaps in >> lesser amounts.) >> >> While we can and should do all we can to make the road >> smoother--- short of turning Emacs into something completely >> different and so overwhelmed with tooltips, popups, and other >> "help" that it becomes unpleasant or even unusable--- let's >> face it, Emacs is never going to be "easy." >> >> Emacs will continue to attract a certain audience. I'm not >> sure that this is an issue per se. Nor (as I've said in the >> past) do I mean this to be an elitist thing. Emacs has a >> certain appeal to certain people. So does opera, baseball, or >> liver and onions. >> >> Things are, in fact, very much easier now than when I started >> with Emacs decades ago. Today, there is a wealth of on-line >> information, with tutorials, how-tos, discussions, code >> samples, and help readily available to anyone who asks >> politely. >> >> But in the end: do you become a chess master after reading a >> "Chess Made Easy" book? Do you become a concert guitarist >> after working through "Guitar Playing Made Easy For >> Beginners"? >> >> Effort and reward go together, whether it's Emacs or anything >> else that is deep and sophisticated. If someone wants instant >> gratification, maybe Twitter is a better choice. >> >> -- >> Bob Newell >> Honolulu, Hawai`i >> >> - Via GNU/Linux/Emacs/Gnus/BBDB >> >>