Emacs help; can't see to alter options!

Emacs help; can't see to alter options!

[Kalebmcc]

I have poor eyesight, and so navigating Emacs is very difficult for me. I am
very new but want to learn. I found that switching Vim to a dark,
terminal-like colorscheme helped immensely. 

I stumbled through the Faces options and found a variable that seemed to
indicate background color, but when I set it to dark and saved, all it did
was turn the left and right borders dark. This is not helpful.

I also have many other questions I cannot find documentation for. For
example, how can I cut out all the extra stuff, like the calendar, news
reader, email, etc?

How can I add line numbers and syntax highlighting? Does Emacs support GUI
tabs? Is there documentation of all the things I can set in my emacs file? A
way to make Emacs use native Windows keybinds (CTRL+Z for back, CTRL+C for
copy, CTRL+V for paste, etc)? Can I make the toolbar more compact? 

I have so many questions, but am so puzzled by my inability to find answers.
And before you suggest buying a book, lemme tell you my philosophy: If you
have to buy a book to understand free software, it is effectively not free.
-- 
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Re: Emacs help; can't see to alter options!

[Bastien]

Kalebmcc <kalebmcc@gmail.com> writes:

> I have poor eyesight, and so navigating Emacs is very difficult for me. I am
> very new but want to learn. I found that switching Vim to a dark,
> terminal-like colorscheme helped immensely. 

You can use this somewhere in your .emacs.el configuration file:

(setq default-frame-alist
      '((background-color . "black")
	(foreground-color . "white")))

> I also have many other questions I cannot find documentation for. For
> example, how can I cut out all the extra stuff, like the calendar, news
> reader, email, etc?

If you don't need it, don't load it.  

> How can I add line numbers 

M-x linum-mode RET

> and syntax highlighting? 

M-x global-font-lock-mode RET

> Does Emacs support GUI tabs? 

Not natively, but some packages add this feature.  I know about
elscreen.el, which I find useful:

  http://www.morishima.net/~naoto/software/elscreen/

> Is there documentation of all the things I can set in my emacs file?

C-h i m Emacs RET i Customization RET

> A way to make Emacs use native Windows
> keybinds (CTRL+Z for back, CTRL+C for copy, CTRL+V for paste, etc)?

M-x cua-mode RET

> Can I make the toolbar more compact?

M-x tool-bar-mode RET will make it disappear (= very very compact!)

> I have so many questions, but am so puzzled by my inability to find answers.
> And before you suggest buying a book, lemme tell you my philosophy: If you
> have to buy a book to understand free software, it is effectively not free.

Let me disagree.  

For me Free Software is like culture.  Everyone should be able to enjoy
it, understand it, contribute to it.  But it doesn't mean you don't have
to pay to study it.  After all, all the books we buy is because we want
to study (and enjoy...) some aspect of the culture.

Hope my answers are useful!

-- 
 Bastien

Re: Emacs help; can't see to alter options!

[Jim Kalb]

>>>>> "Kalebmcc" == Kalebmcc  <kalebmcc@gmail.com> writes:

    Kalebmcc> I have poor eyesight, and so navigating Emacs is very
    Kalebmcc> difficult for me. I am very new but want to learn. I found
    Kalebmcc> that switching Vim to a dark, terminal-like colorscheme
    Kalebmcc> helped immensely.

    Kalebmcc> I stumbled through the Faces options and found a variable
    Kalebmcc> that seemed to indicate background color, but when I set
    Kalebmcc> it to dark and saved, all it did was turn the left and
    Kalebmcc> right borders dark. This is not helpful.

I'd suggest getting color-theme, http://www.nongnus.org/color-theme.
Once that's up and running it should be easy to find a combination of
colors that makes life easier for you.

jk