From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eric Abrahamsen Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Where does a begginer begin Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:35:23 +0800 Message-ID: <87aaat9c7o.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net> References: <32353194.post@talk.nabble.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1314585358 4841 80.91.229.12 (29 Aug 2011 02:35:58 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 02:35:58 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Aug 29 04:35:55 2011 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([140.186.70.17]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1QxrhZ-00047Z-Rv for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:35:53 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:56784 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QxrhY-0000qt-Rt for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:35:52 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:59832) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QxrhU-0000qo-S8 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:35:49 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QxrhT-0003jQ-Rx for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:35:48 -0400 Original-Received: from lo.gmane.org ([80.91.229.12]:52165) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QxrhT-0003jL-Go for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:35:47 -0400 Original-Received: from list by lo.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1QxrhS-00046L-Cu for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:35:46 +0200 Original-Received: from 114.250.123.181 ([114.250.123.181]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:35:46 +0200 Original-Received: from eric by 114.250.123.181 with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:35:46 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-Lines: 46 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: 114.250.123.181 User-Agent: Gnus/5.110018 (No Gnus v0.18) Emacs/23.2 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:yE1P3wwjBsM93esWSC8Jj1AR7wU= X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) X-Received-From: 80.91.229.12 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:82085 Archived-At: On Mon, Aug 29 2011, bre wrote: > I've been using emacs for basic text editing here and there for a few years > now. > > I've never been able to get very far in customizing it, and doing anything > beyond text edition, because any documentation sites intended to be helpful > I come across seems to assume way more knowledge than I have. > > For example, today I wanted to figure out how to make a latex template that > is loaded when I create a .tex file. > > The simplest way to do it seems to be auto-insert mode. But how to use > auto-insert mode? > > OK, this website has some information: > http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoInsertMode > > but notice they have a bunch of elisp code, and never tell you where to > enter the elisp code it gives? Do I put it in a file? Do I put it in > *scratch*? I tried the scratch pad, but I got all kinds of strange results, > and the end it simply didn't work. > > Is emacs documentation this hopeless? This is just one example. I have a > difficult time doing anything beyond basic text editing with emacs, because > of this documentation issue. All documentation seems to assume either the > person is a complete beginner, giving basic text editing documentation. Or > assume the person is quite familiar with it. There seems to be a big gap in > between. Anybody else have this problem? Emacswiki is really only supplemental to the main documentation, which is inside emacs itself. Have you not seen the manual? You could start with the tutorial (C-h t), which might be old hat to you, and then go on to the Info manual pages for emacs itself, reachable most easily by (C-h r). The section: (info "(emacs)Init File") Answers your specific question (the init file is where all your custom code goes). Also type C-h ? for the bewildering array of ways in which emacs can answer questions about itself. HTH, Eric