Re: Emacs for new users

[Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Les Harris <lharris@gnome.org> wrote:
> Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> It is quite strange to not include Emacs. On the other hand it points
>> to how important it is too make it easy to start using Emacs. I think
>> we should have to move to adhere better to existing GUI standards (CUA
>> for example, but that is a hot potato).
>
> First let's get the tautologies out of the way: Emacs is a complex
> system with many features and extreme extensibility.
>
> With that axiom in mind I would argue that any attempt to add a veneer
> of simplicity over the top is doing a disservice to would-be emacs
> users.
>
> With that said, I think a solution to the learning-emacs-in-classroom and
> emacs-for-new-users problems is the same: include a .emacs which turns
> on things like CUA mode to make operation more familiar.


The problem is that it does not work as good as it could in all
situations. Since CUA is not the default not so much effort in getting
rid of all ruogh things. Not that you can't work around them, but it
is not so easy for a newcomer.


> The instructor of an emacs class is in an ideal position to do this.
> For others this is something that could be easily distributed with emacs
> perhaps with adding a blurb about it on the emacs splash screen.


There has been much talk about this, but no real attempt to finish
something for it. The best approach is possibly to use Emacs themes
for this and distribute them.

However I am not sure if themes are sufficiently modular for this. Can
you use two themes at the same time for example?