Re: A shorter manual

["Thomas S. Dye" <tsd@tsdye.com>]

On Apr 28, 2010, at 5:46 AM, 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.
>
> - Carsten
>

Aloha Carsten,

I think this is a terrific idea, immediately useful.

The addition of hyperref links back to the advanced material in the  
manual might be useful and shouldn't require much maintenance.

A section at the end of each chapter, "Additional Reading," with links  
to Worg articles, etc. might also prove useful, but could be a pain to  
maintain.

All the best,
Tom