Re: do i need a .newrc file?

[Kai Grossjohann <kai@emptydomain.de>]

Tim McNamara <timmcn@bitstream.net> writes:

> Part of it is how Emacs splits the screen.  Only a small portion of
> the info text is visible at any time, for example, and it does strange
> things with tranposing buffer positions that are not one would
> naturally expect.  This is more an issue for new users, and of course
> new users are much more likely to be going through the manual.
> Experienced users know how to manipulate buffers, do full-screen
> displays, eliminate split windows, etc.  I still get weird results,
> like the Messages buffer suddenly appearing on screen when I was
> trying to do something else.

When I type C-h i, there is no split.  (Unless there was a split to
begin with, of course.)

I have seen newbies drag the modeline, but of course that only resizes
the window.  Maybe we should add a little [X] icon in the modeline, so
that people know what to do to close the corresponding window.  (But
then the problem is that the modeline is below the window, whereas
Windows users are used to the [X] button being above the thing that's
closed.  Hm.)

>> One possible problem is that the keys are different from what people
>> with web browsers are used to.  Alt-Left doesn't do what you think
>> it'd do, for instance.
>
> Well, with a GUI it's simple to navigate with just the mouse.  Just
> point and click, no key commands required.  Having grown up with GUIs,
> like most users, I often do not even know the key sequence equivalent
> of a mouse movement in any of my Web browsers.

So, does this not work in Info?

You have to use the middle mouse button for following a link, though.
That's unfortunate.  But I don't see how to change this without
causing lots of problems.  Any ideas?

>> But Info has the `i' key which searches the index.  It also has the
>> `s' key which searches the whole manual.  (And unless the whole
>> manual is a single HTML file in the web version, there is no
>> fulltext search in the web version!)
>>
>> I find these two search options indispensable.
>>
>> I also often use `g' which allows me to enter a node name (with
>> completion) and then warps me there.
>
> For the new user, these things seem to result in finding the wrong
> information.  Often times what one would be looking for has an
> entirely idiosyncratic name, so one can't find it readily.

:-(  It's a pity.  Is the `i' search really so bad?  If so, then more
search terms should be added such that people can find it even when
they type the Windows terminology.

> Emacs is counter-intuitive in how commands are named, and it is
> necessary to learn an entirely Emacs-specific vocabulary to be
> compentent in it (modes and nodes and such).  The terminology used
> between Mac OS and Windows text editors/word processors tends to be
> relatively similar to each other (cut and paste rather than kill and
> yank, for example) and Emacs does not follow those naming conventions,
> having predated most of Mac and Windows by years.  Some significant
> things are missing, like a menu command to create a new file (rather
> than having to do 'C-x C-f newfile" for example.  And commands can
> vary dramatically from major mode to major mode, whereas Mac and
> Windows conventions avoid this.

At least `i cut SPC and SPC paste RET' finds something useful in the
current Emacs CVS info file.

> It's a difficult problem to solve- Emacs has a long tradition and
> changing that terminology to make it more accessible to new users
> would annoy and discombobulate the longstanding users.  The power of
> Emacs is, as has often been remarked, it's Achilles heel.  And yet to
> grow the user base, it's possibly important to make the Emacs
> experience not totally alien to what users already know- and the main
> potential for expanding the user base is Windows users and Mac users.

Yes.  I totally agree with you, even though I might forget from time
to time.  The problem is quite difficult to solve.

Kai