Re: Propose to add setup-wizard.el to ELPA

[Stefan Kangas]

Simon Pugnet <simon@polaris64.net> writes:

> If the wizard could provide a common interface (e.g. a "wizard-builder")
> that's easy to use and is presented using the same interface as the main
> wizard then I think that could be a very nice way of helping newcomers
> to certain packages.

We have discussed this in the past, and I can only very much agree.

> For example, as well as giving configuration instructions in the
> package's README, the package author could include their own wizard and
> say something like "For interactive configuration, just evaluate
> (invoke-wizard 'some-package) after loading the package."

Or you could run the wizard if you detect that the package has not
already been configured.  I guess this would be up to the package
developer to decide what will work best for their package.

> One could argue that this is pretty close to just launching
> customize-group for the package and limiting the options to only the
> most important. However Yuan's wizard provides a more newcomer-friendly
> and interactive interface (e.g. changing the theme immediately once it
> is selected) so I think it is worthwhile keeping the wizard UI and
> customize UI separate in this case.

Right.  The problem with customize-group is that it can easily be
overwhelming, as it shows all options with their full documentation,
instead of just asking a small set of highly specific questions like
"what's the address of your mail server".