Good questions! Thank you.

1) My proposal is for new people to have a landing set of pages to click through, explaining things in a clear and easy way for them to understand without the instant introduction of concepts which are alien to them. I think the help files are a great thing, but they are overwhelming for new people. I know this because I’ve shown it to people in my circles who don’t know much of anything about how to use a computer, but still use applications such as Word or Pages to type up things for work/classes. They couldn’t understand the first thing about the help pages.

I think there are a few reasons for this, but the most notable one is that programmers (which seems to comprise the vast majority of Emacs users) tend to take a lot of terms and concepts for granted. This makes the default help files and GNU eww page a bit overwhelming for most people. I want to introduce them to the things they need to get started and comfortable before showing them that vast amount of information.

Also, programmers are people who, when they don’t understand a term (or function or variable) instantly look it up. Most people don’t do that. And if we show them how to do, for instance, C-h v and then type a variable name, the documentation which follows is rarely understandable by people without any sort of coding background. Let’s be real: Most people don’t even know what a function or variable is. It’s not something they use in every day conversation or on their computers. Learning Emacs will teach them this of course, but I don’t want it to be the first thing they start learning.

2) There is an EmacsWiki page for Emacs Newbies, and I have been going over it and other written material provided by other volunteers. I want to consolidate things into easily understood sections. Therefore, I have put up the page I’m working on (it’s a very, very, very unfinished rough rough rough draft) laying out the ideas I have so far. It’s going to change in very big ways, sections will be moved, more will be added. But if anyone wants to contribute/add/edit, please feel free. It’s on GitHub (which I know isn’t people’s favourite around here, but I use it because I don’t really know others and I’m not a coder/developer so please bear with me as I learn):

If anyone has any corrections/deletions/suggestions/additions, please let me know. I know I’m a regular user but I’m very willing to learn. If I make a mistake, it’s not intentional.

In summary: I think that Emacs COULD be for a lot of people who aren’t using it. I think most people CAN learn. Also, let me reiterate: whomever wrote the navigation/editing tutorial in Emacs hit the nail on the head. It taught me very quickly what I needed to know and it was written for total newbies. It’s something I appreciate a lot and it will be the first tutorial the new user in these pages will learn (there will be a link to point to it and info on how to get back provided).

Thanks again to anyone who provides any help or tips/feedback. I’m taking it all in. I have my regular job I’m really busy with but I’m getting it all done as fast as possible.