Re: evangelizing Emacs with a graphical tutorial

[Juri Linkov <juri@jurta.org>]

> I am not sure about that: the most unfriendly thing an editor can do to
> a beginner is not allowing him to quit.  Now that's probably not an
> issue for the GUI startup screen since we have File/Exit Emacs on the
> menu.
>
> Actually, the next unfriendly thing is not allowing a user _not_ to
> quit.  I just tried
>
> C-h k M-F4
>
> and got the following result:
>
> Conspicuously absent in this plethora of answers is an option _not_ to
> quit (presumably "Cancel").  Closing the dialog window happens to
> achieve that, apparently, but it is not really obvious.

It seems C-g is supposed to be used to close the dialog window,
but this is not obvious either.

And the "Yes/No" answer is not a friendly thing too.  I once lost
changes in an unsaved file a long ago (not in Emacs) because after
closing the program to the question "Save file?" in a hurry I answered
"No" intending the meaning "No, I will save it later" :-)  I guess this
is the reason why instead of "Yes" and "No" many contemporary programs
display explicit unambiguous answers like "Save" and "Don't save".

-- 
Juri Linkov
http://www.jurta.org/emacs/