From: John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com>
To: Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl>
Cc: Org-mode mailing list <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
Subject: Re: A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode?
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:06:52 -0500 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <CA+M2ft8SoG5rcp=TQz6kZOxaf7sU=3Q5BMfQMmU4vd+NP8idzg@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20140723232013.42690fcf@aga-netbook>
I learned Emacs from scratch for the sake of Org-mode.
- I printed out an Emacs shortcut cheat sheet and tacked it on my cubicle wall.
- Basic Orgmode setup is pretty simple. My config, which allows
working with R and exporting to various formats:
#+begin_src
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/org.git/lisp/")
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/org.git/contrib/lisp")
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/site-lisp/ess/lisp/")
(org-babel-do-load-languages
'org-babel-load-languages
'((latex . t)
(R . t)))
;; font size, window height/width/placement
(set-face-attribute 'default nil :height 100)
(setq initial-frame-alist
'((left . 0) (top . 16)
(width . 120) (height . 45)))
(tool-bar-mode 0)
;; misc org stuff
(require 'org-inlinetask)
(require 'org-id)
(global-set-key "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
(global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
(setq org-hide-leading-stars t)
(setq org-blank-before-new-entry nil)
(setq org-link-file-path-type (quote absolute))
(setq org-link-to-org-use-id 'create-if-interactive)
;; babel
(require 'ess-site)
;; get copy and paste to the clipboard
(global-set-key "\C-w" 'clipboard-kill-region)
(global-set-key "\M-w" 'clipboard-kill-ring-save)
(global-set-key "\C-y" 'clipboard-yank)
#+end_src
I have some agenda tweaks, todo keywords, fill-mode adjustments,
sunrise commander file manager settings, and other miscellany, but the
above would still cover 90% of my usage needs.
I think the biggest phrase that needs further clarification is
"...spend any more than, say, 2 days on [...] learning basics of
Em&Om." Where do you draw the line between basics and advanced usage,
and what qualifies as "learning." Having used Org for maybe 4 years
now, I still consider most of what I do fairly basic compared to
others I see, but my co-workers nearly soil themselves in fear/awe
sometimes when they see me working in Org-mode.
My recommendation, only because it worked for me, is simply to sell
the end result/benefits of Org, which is why I assume we all keep
using it (and started using it in the first place). It wasn't because
I just wanted to try something new on a whim that I learned Org. It
was because I'd tried other stuff (TiddlyWiki, iGTD, Chandler, Tracks,
Zim, EverNote, Google Notebook) and in simply watching videos and
reading about Org, I was sold.
Thus, it was the hope/desire/being-sold-in-advance on the benefits
that gave me the energy to overcome the learning curve (which was
definitely painful). I'm not sure that without understanding why one
is doing it that they'll go for it. I certainly don't think I could
have made the switch if I set a goal of 2 days to feel like I knew
what I was doing (I wouldn't have succeeded)!
Instead, I tried to just start simple. Just stop taking notes in
TiddlyWiki and start taking them in Org. Then I'd decide I wanted to
try something like time stamps and learn those. Then time tracking,
then beamer, then babel/in-document plot generation. And so on.
Long winded... but I'd suggest starting small. Maybe just get to the
point where he could take a recent document created with Scrivener and
re-create it in Org?
Good luck with the migration!
John
On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 4:20 PM, Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> wrote:
> Hi list,
>
> this is only partially Org-ode related, but I hope I'll be excused.
> A friend of mine uses Scrivener; he also does some simple
> JavaScript/jQuery programming and HTML/CSS editing. He *is* interested
> in Emacs & Org-mode, but does not want to spend more than, say, 2 days
> on installing, configuring and learning basics of E&Om. Are there any
> resources which might help? I offered him some help with installing
> and teaching, but what could I use? (Of course, the built-in tutorial
> and Sacha Chua's sketch-tutorials are great, but what else does there
> exist? Also, is prelude or Emacs Starter Kit a good idea? I
> understand this is opinion-based, but maybe someone has some experience
> *teaching* Emacs and Org-mode?)
>
> Best,
>
> --
> Marcin Borkowski
> http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski
> Adam Mickiewicz University
>
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2014-07-23 23:06 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 14+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2014-07-23 21:20 A gentle introduction to Emacs & Org-mode? Marcin Borkowski
2014-07-23 22:00 ` Thorsten Jolitz
2014-07-24 15:50 ` SabreWolfy
2014-07-23 22:07 ` Leonard Avery Randall
2014-07-23 23:06 ` John Hendy [this message]
2014-07-24 19:17 ` Manish
2014-07-26 1:58 ` Steven Arntson
2014-07-27 12:03 ` Bastien
2014-07-29 2:03 ` John Kitchin
2014-07-29 13:22 ` Jorge A. Alfaro-Murillo
2014-07-29 20:39 ` John Kitchin
2014-08-12 19:34 ` David Ongaro
2014-08-12 20:18 ` Nick Dokos
2014-08-13 11:35 ` Marcin Borkowski
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
List information: https://www.orgmode.org/
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to='CA+M2ft8SoG5rcp=TQz6kZOxaf7sU=3Q5BMfQMmU4vd+NP8idzg@mail.gmail.com' \
--to=jw.hendy@gmail.com \
--cc=emacs-orgmode@gnu.org \
--cc=mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
Code repositories for project(s) associated with this public inbox
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs/org-mode.git
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for read-only IMAP folder(s) and NNTP newsgroup(s).