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* meta commands and Info manual
@ 2015-07-07 14:45 Alan Wehmann
  2015-07-20 21:14 ` Nicolas Goaziou
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Alan Wehmann @ 2015-07-07 14:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: emacs-orgmode

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I am a new user of Org.  I'm an experienced user of Emacs.  My first use of Org was to create a table.  I soon found myself wanting to insert a column.  I looked at Info node "(org) Built-in table editor" [This manual is for Org version 8.2.9.] and it said:

‘M-S-<right>     (org-table-insert-column)’
     Insert a new column to the left of the cursor position.

I now know that this was somewhat mis-leading, since that key combination is bound to "org-shiftmetaright", but at the time I was rather confused (see topic "Org keymap question" in "news group" gnu.emacs.help).  I'd recommend a revision to the Info manual, to describe more prominently command "org-shiftmetaright" and other "meta" commands like it (apologies in advance if there is a later version of the Info manual that addresses this).

Info node "(org) Conventions" does mention the use of the meta commands somewhat, but I certainly didn't see it right away.

I am using:

GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin13.4.0, NS apple-appkit-1265.21) of 2015-04-10 on builder10-9.porkrind.org


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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: meta commands and Info manual
  2015-07-07 14:45 meta commands and Info manual Alan Wehmann
@ 2015-07-20 21:14 ` Nicolas Goaziou
  2015-07-20 22:08   ` Nick Dokos
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Nicolas Goaziou @ 2015-07-20 21:14 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Alan Wehmann; +Cc: emacs-orgmode

Hello,

Alan Wehmann <alan.wehmann@gmail.com> writes:

> I am a new user of Org. I'm an experienced user of Emacs. My first use
> of Org was to create a table. I soon found myself wanting to insert
> a column. I looked at Info node "(org) Built-in table editor" [This
> manual is for Org version 8.2.9.] and it said:
>
> ‘M-S-<right>     (org-table-insert-column)’
>      Insert a new column to the left of the cursor position.
>
> I now know that this was somewhat mis-leading, since that key
> combination is bound to "org-shiftmetaright", but at the time I was
> rather confused (see topic "Org keymap question" in "news group"
> gnu.emacs.help). I'd recommend a revision to the Info manual, to
> describe more prominently command "org-shiftmetaright" and other
> "meta" commands like it (apologies in advance if there is a later
> version of the Info manual that addresses this).

I think meta commands are the ones confusing here. I mean, is

  M-S-<right>  (org-shiftmetaright)

informative?

Anyway, I'm not sure to understand what puzzled you in the first place.


Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: meta commands and Info manual
  2015-07-20 21:14 ` Nicolas Goaziou
@ 2015-07-20 22:08   ` Nick Dokos
  2015-07-21  8:45     ` Suvayu Ali
  2015-07-21 21:45     ` Nicolas Goaziou
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Nick Dokos @ 2015-07-20 22:08 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: emacs-orgmode

Nicolas Goaziou <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr> writes:

> Hello,
>
> Alan Wehmann <alan.wehmann@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I am a new user of Org. I'm an experienced user of Emacs. My first use
>> of Org was to create a table. I soon found myself wanting to insert
>> a column. I looked at Info node "(org) Built-in table editor" [This
>> manual is for Org version 8.2.9.] and it said:
>>
>> ‘M-S-<right>     (org-table-insert-column)’
>>      Insert a new column to the left of the cursor position.
>>
>> I now know that this was somewhat mis-leading, since that key
>> combination is bound to "org-shiftmetaright", but at the time I was
>> rather confused (see topic "Org keymap question" in "news group"
>> gnu.emacs.help). I'd recommend a revision to the Info manual, to
>> describe more prominently command "org-shiftmetaright" and other
>> "meta" commands like it (apologies in advance if there is a later
>> version of the Info manual that addresses this).
>
> I think meta commands are the ones confusing here. I mean, is
>
>   M-S-<right>  (org-shiftmetaright)
>
> informative?
>
> Anyway, I'm not sure to understand what puzzled you in the first place.
>

I think what's puzzling is that these are not "normal" emacs keybindings
(and therefore not discoverable using the "normal" emacs mechanisms):
there is an extra level of indirection that org mode imposes which you
just have to know about. But I'm not sure what the best way to document
them would be: maybe a section explaining the mechanism plus links (or
footnotes) to go from e.g. the description of M-S-<right> in the table
section to the mechanism section. Or maybe showing the indirection
explicitly:

‘M-S-<right>     (org-shiftmetaright) --> (org-table-insert-column)’

Nick

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: meta commands and Info manual
  2015-07-20 22:08   ` Nick Dokos
@ 2015-07-21  8:45     ` Suvayu Ali
  2015-07-21 21:45     ` Nicolas Goaziou
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Suvayu Ali @ 2015-07-21  8:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: emacs-orgmode

On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 06:08:56PM -0400, Nick Dokos wrote:

> Or maybe showing the indirection explicitly:
> 
> ‘M-S-<right>     (org-shiftmetaright) --> (org-table-insert-column)’

Particularly this suggestion would be very helpful, even for long time
Org users such as myself.

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: meta commands and Info manual
  2015-07-20 22:08   ` Nick Dokos
  2015-07-21  8:45     ` Suvayu Ali
@ 2015-07-21 21:45     ` Nicolas Goaziou
  2015-07-22  2:26       ` Nick Dokos
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Nicolas Goaziou @ 2015-07-21 21:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Nick Dokos; +Cc: emacs-orgmode

Hello,

Nick Dokos <ndokos@gmail.com> writes:

> I think what's puzzling is that these are not "normal" emacs keybindings
> (and therefore not discoverable using the "normal" emacs mechanisms):
> there is an extra level of indirection that org mode imposes which you
> just have to know about. But I'm not sure what the best way to document
> them would be: maybe a section explaining the mechanism plus links (or
> footnotes) to go from e.g. the description of M-S-<right> in the table
> section to the mechanism section. Or maybe showing the indirection
> explicitly:
>
> ‘M-S-<right>     (org-shiftmetaright) --> (org-table-insert-column)’

C-h k M-S-<right> should already show you the indirections.

Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: meta commands and Info manual
  2015-07-21 21:45     ` Nicolas Goaziou
@ 2015-07-22  2:26       ` Nick Dokos
  2015-07-22 13:03         ` Suvayu Ali
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Nick Dokos @ 2015-07-22  2:26 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: emacs-orgmode

Nicolas Goaziou <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr> writes:

> Hello,
>
> Nick Dokos <ndokos@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I think what's puzzling is that these are not "normal" emacs keybindings
>> (and therefore not discoverable using the "normal" emacs mechanisms):
>> there is an extra level of indirection that org mode imposes which you
>> just have to know about. But I'm not sure what the best way to document
>> them would be: maybe a section explaining the mechanism plus links (or
>> footnotes) to go from e.g. the description of M-S-<right> in the table
>> section to the mechanism section. Or maybe showing the indirection
>> explicitly:
>>
>> ‘M-S-<right>     (org-shiftmetaright) --> (org-table-insert-column)’
>
> C-h k M-S-<right> should already show you the indirections.
>

Yes, it does - I should have tried it out before spouting off:
you very thoughtfully added the indirections to the doc string
of org-shiftmetaright.

Thanks for doing that and for pointing it out. If I ever knew
about it in the past, I certainly had forgotten it.

For my part I'm happy (and I suspect Suvayu is as well), so I
guess it's back to the OP: what, if anything, should be
changed?

-- 
Nick

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: meta commands and Info manual
  2015-07-22  2:26       ` Nick Dokos
@ 2015-07-22 13:03         ` Suvayu Ali
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Suvayu Ali @ 2015-07-22 13:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: emacs-orgmode

On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 10:26:15PM -0400, Nick Dokos wrote:
> 
> For my part I'm happy (and I suspect Suvayu is as well), so I
> guess it's back to the OP: what, if anything, should be
> changed?

Indeed!  I happily shut up :).

As to the OP, the discussion towards the end of this section should
cover the subtlety for a new user, (info "(org) Conventions").

WDYT?

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2015-07-22 13:03 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 7+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2015-07-07 14:45 meta commands and Info manual Alan Wehmann
2015-07-20 21:14 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2015-07-20 22:08   ` Nick Dokos
2015-07-21  8:45     ` Suvayu Ali
2015-07-21 21:45     ` Nicolas Goaziou
2015-07-22  2:26       ` Nick Dokos
2015-07-22 13:03         ` Suvayu Ali

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