Re: Why does the tutorial talk about C-n/C-p etc?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Tom <address@hidden>
> Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2016 11:36:19 +0000 (UTC)
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> writes:
> > > 
> > > I think we should first mention that arrow keys work, then invite
> > > users to learn C-b etc. saying that editing will be faster.
> > 
> > We already do precisely that.
> > 
> 
> If arrows keys work out of the box then C-p/n etc. should be
> in a section called advanced cursor control or something like 
> that and it should be moved somewhere to the end.

It's not an advanced topic, its basic cursor motion.  And the same
issue pops up again with C-v vs PageDown.

> Insertion and deletion, frames, undo, etc. are more important for 
> a new user than relearning the cursor keys, so emacs style cursor
> movement can be considered an advanced topic which can be
> learned after the user can use emacs with the arrow keys.
> 
> And if it's an advanced topic then it would be better placed
> at the end of the tutorial with other advanced topics like recursive
> editing after the basics like windows, undo and stuff.

I urge you to try modifying the tutorial along these lines, and show
the results here.  I'm sure you will soon enough bump into a problem
that you will have to make many changes in the text where you
originally didn't want to.  The tutorial text has its internal logic,
whereby it relies on previously covered stuff as it advances, so
moving part of that to the end will produce gaps in the flow of logic.

I'm not saying that the tutorial cannot be changed, or that we cannot
mention the familiar editing keys more than we currently do.  I'm just
saying that doing that is not as simple as moving some part to another
place.  There's more there than meets the eye.

Thanks.