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Re: [TeXmacs] Two problems of TeXmacs (IMHO)


Chronological Thread 
  • From: Joris van der Hoeven <address@hidden>
  • To: Andreas Seidl <address@hidden>
  • Cc: <address@hidden>
  • Subject: Re: [TeXmacs] Two problems of TeXmacs (IMHO)
  • Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 16:49:17 +0100 (CET)

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003, Andreas Seidl wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2003, Javier [iso-8859-15] Arántegui Jiménez wrote:
> > In my opinion, one of the weakest points of TeXmacs is that the help
> > files are sometimes difficult to understand (at least for me). A few
> > days ago, I gave up
>
> I agree that the documentation that comes with TeXmacs is too much
> information and the wrong information for new users. Missing are tutorials
> to get started quickly, the manual can be read later.
>
> But -- it should not be the developer's task to write tutorials, this is
> something the users can do!

I absolutely agree!

> Try google with "photoshop button tutorial" and "texmacs equation
> tutorial" to see the difference. Furhtermore, it should be much easier for
> a new user, who is working into the subject for the first time, to know
> what to explain and how to explain. It needs not to be a whole tutorial,
> contributing a paragraph to the FAQ would be nice as well :)

Yes!

> What about a TeXmacs webring of users, who display testimonials like "my
> life has changed to the better since I learned about TeXmacs, you should
> try it", show what they have done with TeXmacs and talk about the problems
> they encountered? Group meetings of anonymous TeXmacsians?
>
> A bit more bazaar, a bit less cathedral, anybody?

We attempted to do this with the Wiki, but somehow the interest dropped
down after a while. Yes, you are right that it would be good if people
share experiences, but this is up to the users...

Also, the wiki has been used very little in order to write documentation.
Of course is that one does not really want informal documentation,
but rather something well thought out, even though a contribution to
the documentation may have a very narrow scope (like: how to put labels,
how to use lengths, how to install under cygwin, etc.).

A final problem with the wiki was that it does not use the TeXmacs format.
Of course, it is best to write documentation directly using TeXmacs,
with examples and such, especially now that we have better and better
exporters to Html, Pdf, etc. Notice that it is quite easy to contribute
small pieces of documentation by CVS. When TeXmacs will be even better
integrated with the web, then we might think about a TeXmacs wiki though,
directly available from the editor.

> Anyway, as I had already similar problems with explaining, I recently
> started to write a webpage with title "TeXmacs in 60 minutes", where I
> explain some features and issues (mostly windows) you encounter, and give
> a hands-on tutorial, where I walk the reader through creating a small
> paper. After investing a little time, an educated decission can be made by
> the reader whether he wants to start the endeavor of using texmacs or not,
> and he will know what points there are for TeXmacs.

Why not commit this by CVS?

And if there are more volunteers, please let me know...


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