From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "Peter Neilson" Subject: Re: Org Tutorials need more structure Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:36:35 -0400 Message-ID: References: <52474101.7010904@verizon.net> <20130928233159.56203f9f@aga-netbook> <20130929072801.GS12411@kuru.dyndns-at-home.com> <8761tiuttm.fsf@ucl.ac.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:54029) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VQiKt-0006Rt-Gv for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:36:53 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VQiKn-0004e0-Hq for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:36:47 -0400 Received: from pacmmta53.windstream.net ([162.39.147.112]:54257) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VQiKn-0004cy-DM for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:36:41 -0400 In-Reply-To: <8761tiuttm.fsf@ucl.ac.uk> List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org On Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:01:57 -0400, Eric S Fraga wrote: > but I'm sure somebody else will think something is missing I'll admit that I've only dabbled in org mode thus far, but here's what I see as lacking in the tutorial documentation: 1. Non-video presentations for beginners. Some of us are (for one reason or another) badly set up to use video. Perhaps our network connection is slow, or our system is flaky and crashes with video. Or perhaps we only have five or ten minutes at a time to study. Or perhaps we are mostly trying to learn from hard copy we've printed out. A few of us might even be blind. 2. Goal-oriented presentations. Instead of telling us, "The XX widget allows you to do the YY operation," we might be hoping to see, "To accomplish ZZ (for instance, task scheduling), do something like this: (neat example with pointers to syntax)" The user will hope to see examples, even annotated examples. Sometimes negative examples: "DON'T try it this way... It seems right, and it's alluring, but ultimately it won't work, and you'll never figure out what's wrong." There ought to be discussions of why we should think of the problem THIS WAY and not THAT WAY. It may be that there are portions of the existing docs that cover everything I see as deficient, and I've just not found them. Perhaps a pointer to LOOK HERE FIRST is needed for those docs. I'll end with a quotation from a leader in a club to which I once belonged: "Yes, I can see how you might think that's a problem. How would you like to CHAIR THE COMMITTEE to solve that for next year's convention?" Perhaps I'm volunteering!