Re: Where does a begginer begin

[Jorgen Grahn]

On Sun, 2011-08-28, bre wrote:
>
> I've been using emacs for basic text editing here and there for a few years
> now. 
>
> I've never been able to get very far in customizing it, and doing anything
> beyond text edition, because any documentation sites intended to be helpful
> I come across seems to assume way more knowledge than I have. 
>
> For example, today I wanted to figure out how to make a latex template that
> is loaded when I create a .tex file. 
>
> The simplest way to do it seems to be auto-insert mode. But how to use
> auto-insert mode?
>
> OK, this website has some information:
> http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoInsertMode
>
> but notice they have a bunch of elisp code, and never tell you where to
> enter the elisp code it gives? Do I put it in a file? Do I put it in
> *scratch*?  I tried the scratch pad, but I got all kinds of strange results,
> and the end it simply didn't work. 
>
> Is emacs documentation this hopeless? This is just one example. I have a
> difficult time doing anything beyond basic text editing with emacs, because
> of this documentation issue. All documentation seems to assume either the
> person is a complete beginner, giving basic text editing documentation. Or
> assume the person is quite familiar with it. There seems to be a big gap in
> between. Anybody else have this problem? 

I partly agree ... but the hardest part IMHO is asking the right
questions. There should be Emacs consultants who sat down and watched
you use it for a week, then came back with a report outlining what you
should do differently[1].

That's praise, not critisism, by the way. I don't think a program as
large and detailed as Emacs can be "discoverable" in the sense that
daily use teaches you how to use it best.

/Jorgen

[1] He could have told me about dabbrev-expand years before I
    discovered it by accident.  Or ff-find-other-file, which I
    learned about 20 minutes ago.

-- 
  // Jorgen Grahn <grahn@  Oo  o.   .     .
\X/     snipabacken.se>   O  o   .