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From: elf@ee.ryerson.ca (luis fernandes)
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Subject: Editing the manual
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 15:35:52 -0500
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I still use vm to read mail. I have considered using gnus on many
previous occasions, but have found the portion of the manual that
describes how to read mail, rather overwhelming.

I would like to propose an approach that would alleviate this
apprehension (at least to me; mail is *VERY* important to me (I
refuse to answer my phone, or answer the door; so email is the only
method people can communicate with me)) so I cannot afford to lose
even 1 message.

With this in mind, I would like to propose that certain sections in
the manual accomodate both the novice and the expert user.

The section aimed at the novice would describe the minimum number of
steps required to get the bare-bones functionality of whatever is
being described. The expert section would describe, in appropriate
detail, the more esoteric functionality the user may be interested
in.

For example, with reading mail, I would like to know what variable to
define in my ~/.gnus file. and what commands to type in the
command-buffer, I envision it looking like:

		5.0 Reading Mail With Gnus

		A few words about the benefits of reading mail with gnus, &c.

		1. Add (setq this-n-that t) The doc-string for this-n-that
		   pasted here.
		2. Add (setq something-else nil) The doc-string for
		   something-else.
		3. Type M-x get-mail-with-gnus RET

[If I'm reading this on-line, I can cut-n-paste the lisp-code into my
~/.gnus and be up-and-running in under 30 sec.]

		For more experienced users, you can get gnus to split mail
		into various folders and sort it &c...

[These steps, would require more work on the reader's part because he
may have to ftp auxilliary software (procmail) and will take >30s]

This novice/expert proposal will not apply for all the sections but
only for those where there is both a simple way to do something and a
more involved way (e.g. mail, scoring, etc.)