Re: A proposal for a friendlier Emacs

[Nicola Manca]

On 17/09/20 11:04, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
>     Dear all,
>
>     following the recent discussions about a startup wizard and modern-mode
>     I try to provide a suggestion.
>
> I think a startup wizard balances everything, new users with
> experience other editors can easily pick what they prefer in this
> configuration wizard thing.  This hasn't the negative notion of
> "modern", "newbie", etc.

Indeed, the startup wizard could contain the "enhanced options" (I like 
the term since its quite neutral), however if we need something quick 
that work. Also, it is something new users could expect from a "first 
startup" of a software.

>     What about having a startup screen, opening only if no .emacs or other
>     user configuration file is found just saying (the text is just an example):
>
> It shouldn't be super intrusive if there is no .emacs, since it is
> quite common to fire up Emacs without a .emacs.

I think we should find a compromise here. If an experienced user stats 
emacs without a .emacs present, he/she may disable this somehow (maybe 
with --no-splash ?)
I think we shall think to the case when someone download emacs and run 
it to try, how to identify such case?

>     Welcome!
>     This is the first time you run Emacs, please choose how to proceed:
>
>     [] Go Vanilla!
>        (standard defaults, no customizations)
>
>     [] Start Configuration Wizard
>        (set-up your .emacs configuration file interactively)
>
>     [] Try Emacs in enhanced-mode
>        (run with a predefined configuration showing emacs potential)
>
>     After this screen, the normal Emacs splash screen could me presented.
>
>     This mimics what many GNU/Linux distros already do, allowing minimal
>     installation, full-featured installation or Live (no-installation.
>
>     The idea is that the option number 3 also enables a first-level menu
>     item allowing to select among:
>
> Any specific reason why not have those in one of the menu bars by
> default instead?  this would keep the "splash" slightly simpler.

Just because the idea is that this mode would be meant to show a 
configured emacs running, if you like it, you can transfer the 
configuration to your own .emacs.

>     How does it sounds?
>
> I think this is the most sensible proposal.

thank you! :D