Re: Yet another discussion on improving the first time user experience

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Dmitry Gutov <dgutov@yandex.ru>
> Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 01:21:22 +0300
> Cc: pjb@informatimago.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > What obscure keybindings?
> 
> These ones:
> 
> > Really, why should I have to read a tutorial
> > that forces me to use strange and awkward key-bindings just to figure
> > out how to move the cursor around the screen effectively and scroll
> > the window?!

Don't believe people who say they don't want to read the tutorial in
the first place.  Here's what the tutorial _really_ says about this
(and has been saying for years):


  You can also use the PageUp and PageDn keys to move by screenfuls, if
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  your terminal has them, but you can edit more efficiently if you use
  C-v and M-v.

  * BASIC CURSOR CONTROL
  ----------------------

  Moving from screenful to screenful is useful, but how do you
  move to a specific place within the text on the screen?

  There are several ways you can do this.  You can use the arrow keys,
                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  but it's more efficient to keep your hands in the standard position
  and use the commands C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n.

This all is right at the beginning of the tutorial.

But my basic point is that people who don't read tutorials should be
right at home in Emacs wrt basic cursor motion commands, because they
just work.

> In all likelihood, a more experienced person who has many keychords
> ingrained in their workflow would find it harder to adapt to new ones
> than, say, a first-year CS student who's just picking up their first
> serious editor.

Clearly, cursor motion is not part of this issue.  The only group of
bindings for which I'm willing to accept such claims are the CUA
copy/paste bindings and perhaps Undo/Redo, C-o for "Open" and C-s for
"Save".  Because everything else is anyway specific to the
application.  Try reading the full list of the key bindings in MS
Word, for example.