From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Richard Riley Subject: Re: org-mode tutorial questionaire Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:32:08 +0100 Message-ID: References: <87bpeesu45.fsf@fastmail.fm> <87fx3q1mcv.fsf@gollum.intra.norang.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1NuK8Z-0008Cp-0p for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:32:19 -0400 Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=45203 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1NuK8W-0008CG-Ho for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:32:17 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1NuK8U-0002fO-6s for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:32:16 -0400 Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com ([72.14.220.159]:24838) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1NuK8U-0002fI-1P for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:32:14 -0400 Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id d23so1661513fga.12 for ; Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:32:12 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <87fx3q1mcv.fsf@gollum.intra.norang.ca> (Bernt Hansen's message of "Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:31:44 -0400") 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: Bernt Hansen Cc: Richard Riley , emacs-orgmode@gnu.org Bernt Hansen writes: > Richard Riley writes: > >> Matt Lundin writes: >> >>> Hi Alex, >>> >>> Alexander Poslavsky writes: >>> >>>> There is a new tutorial on worg: http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/ >>>> org4beginners.php. The idea is to write a tutorial for somebody who is >>>> new to org-mode. >>> ... >>>> For everybody: >>>> -What kind of tutorial would be the most useful? >>>> -What in your experience people find confusing? >>> >>> Thanks for taking the time to put this on Worg. I wish I had had such a >>> concise summary of the various flavors of emacs on different platforms >>> when I started exploring org-mode. >>> >>> I was wondering if you could elaborate on the following. Are you >>> suggesting that new users should never use M-x customize? >> >> As a general comment on this : I used to hand code all my >> customisations. And ran into terrible problems somewhere along the >> line. Now anything that has a customise interface, I use that interface >> and have had no such problems anymore. The downside of course is that >> your customisations are not grouped "logically" with comments -but, for >> me anyway, using the customisation interface lends itself to much more >> trustworthy code. > > I also use customize extensively -- wherever it is available. I don't > have to worry about the exact syntax of the value of the variable - I > can just use the customize interface and pick what I want and move on to > more productive things. > > I used to hand code variables as Richard did but found I wasted a heck > of a lot more time fiddling with the syntax of a variable doing that > instead of just setting it and forgetting it with the customize > interface. The customize interface that Carsten has put together also > makes it easy to see all of the options for a variable in org-mode. > > Some variables need to be set before org-mode is loaded (when using > setq) but as I understand it this isn't the case for customizations. > > Regards, > Bernt > > PS. > > I keep my ~/.emacs -> ~/git/emacs/emacs.el and ~/git/emacs/custom.el > files in a git repository (~/git/emacs) so I can commit changes to these > files and add meaningful comments about the reason for the change in the > commit message. This lets me easily experiment with changing half a > dozen variables and not worrying about remembering the old values in > case I want to go back. Git has the information and it's easy to > restore the old values for any point in the git history. This also lets > me synchronize variable changes to my laptop so my on-the-road org-mode > setup is identical to my workstation. > As a side note to this is for those not familiar with git, its pretty simple to manage a remote git repo using ssh. When on the road or dealing with multiple PCs around the "globe" (!) this can be priceless. I maintain my own "sparse" repo on my mail server machine. Whenever I update my ~/.emacs.d/emacs-init.org file or my custom.el in the same dir I push it to the remote shh repo too. Handy as to then sync my laptop or the machine at work. Needless to say, all my org-files are in there too. The only thing that still taxes my pickled brain is when I need to merge. The git terminology for fast forwards etc confuses me each and every time ;) -- Google Talk : rileyrgdev@googlemail.com http://www.google.com/talk