From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Erik Iverson Subject: Re: A shorter manual Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:57:07 -0500 Message-ID: <4BD85AD3.9070807@ccbr.umn.edu> References: <096F60B3-65ED-464E-8CDC-1041CA69B706@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1O79dV-00071K-W3 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:57:18 -0400 Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=36634 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1O79dS-0006zG-RB for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:57:15 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1O79dR-0005Mf-5e for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:57:14 -0400 Received: from walleye.ccbr.umn.edu ([128.101.116.11]:2283) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1O79dQ-0005MR-Vq for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:57:13 -0400 In-Reply-To: <096F60B3-65ED-464E-8CDC-1041CA69B706@gmail.com> List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Carsten Dominik Cc: emacs org-mode mailing list Carsten Dominik wrote: > Dear all, > > with the Org-mode manual moving toward 200 pages, I am > starting to worry that people with stop in their tracks > when considering Org-mode, just because of the sheer size > of the manual. > > So I did a little experiment. I took the manual and stripped > everything which could be considered advanced material, but > keeping all features and all basic commands and customizations. > > What remains are about 50 pages. A document with the same > structure (even the same chapter numbers) as the manual. > I am wondering if it would be useful to have this as a beginners > document - or if the existence of this document would lead > to more confusion than relief. > > http://orgmode.org/orgguide.pdf > > I don't see this a an alternative for the manual - just > as an additional, rather static document, with little need for > updates. The manual would continue to be the comprehensive > and constantly updated document. > > Comments are welcome. I think it's a great idea. The R project has something called "An Introduction to R" for beginners, separate from the complete manual. I think that as a beginner, and wondering how to break into learning a new package, that "reading the manual" has certain negative psychological connotations that "reading the intro document" does not, not the least of which is the length of full manual. And since knowing just the basics of org can be immensely beneficial, I think it's even more reason to have a basic intro document. --Erik