From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: PT Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Making Emacs more newbie friendly Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 22:12:27 +0100 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes; charset=iso-8859-15 Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1111180401 19712 80.91.229.2 (18 Mar 2005 21:13:21 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 21:13:21 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Mar 18 22:13:21 2005 Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DCOmQ-00057c-3N for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 18 Mar 2005 22:13:14 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DCP2y-0003uu-8e for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 18 Mar 2005 16:30:20 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!npeer.de.kpn-eurorings.net!newsfeed.freenet.de!80.239.136.22.MISMATCH!tsicnews.teliasonera.com!aioe.org!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 68 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 31RCCk/TMS1hSA3uc1+Qlw.domitilla.aioe.org Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 21:09:50 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: Opera M2/7.54 (Win32, build 3865) Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:129371 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org X-MailScanner-To: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:24926 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:24926 I'm sure I'm not the first to come up with this idea, but I think it = really would help if emacs had a newbie-mode which made it easier for = newbies to get acquainted with it. I don't even recommend emacs anymore when someone asks me for a good = editor, because they always complain about emacs being too foreign, = non-standard, etc. This newbie mode would be a simple command which when activated would = change default emacs settings, keybindings to as similar to a more usual= = editor as possible. This would include for example keybindings which are familiar for new = users: F1 for help, F2 for save file, F3 for load file, etc. Menus should be activated with Alt+, e.g. Alt-F for File menu. I kn= ow = that Alt-F (Meta-F) is forward word, but I don't think a newbie would mi= ss = it too much. pc-selection-mode should be the default, so that he can mov= e = around with arrows + ctrl, shift, etc. I know there could be a problem with these bindings if emacs is run in a= = terminal, but newbies rarely do that, a graphical environment is more = common nowadays. Useful general settings should be turned on by default. column numbers, = = global font lock, etc. So I'd like a single command which I could put into a newbies .emacs fil= e: (newbie-mode) and this would set everything, so that a new user can perform any simple= = editing operation using only the knowledge he brought from other = systems/editors. And when he sees that emacs is not the editor from hell= = then he might be more interested to learn more about it. Anyone thinks it's a good idea? -- = Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/