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Beginning to see the light with org-mode
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Posted by jaslar
Dec 12, 2015 at 08:31 PM
pandoc-mode is genius. Thank you.
Of course, just as I thought I was making progress, I’m back to these odd differences. Windows markdown-mode now works great. Linux, on the other hand, still won’t move subtrees with Alt-shift-arrow. Frustrating. But I’ve decided that learning emacs and org-mode, etc., is more like learning the piano than like learning an application. I’m moving to Chicago in January, and I see there’s an Emacs support group there that I’ll check out. I don’t know if it will be more like a church, or more like AA.
Posted by Dr Andus
Dec 13, 2015 at 02:42 PM
jaslar wrote:
>it gives WriteMonkey a run for
>its money, too, but that’s mainly (for me) because WriteMonkey doesn’t
>do folding.
That might change in the forthcoming WriteMonkey v. 3, at least by the look of the screenshot here, which seems to have a minus sign by the header, which I presume is for folding:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/—Bgl0985yJw/VfKlUHCCxaI/AAAAAAAATlQ/HkDERhATMrQ/s1600/wm3.png
And it also looks like there will be some additional markup options, such as inline comments. The developer said he’s looking into CriticMarkup, which would be really great.
I can’t compare WM to Org-mode, as I’ve never tried the latter, but what’s in favour of WM is that the set-up and learning curve could probably be measured in minutes (or at most an hour or two, if you want to fiddle around with plugins and customisation) for the typical user here.
Don’t get me wrong, Org-mode sounds amazing, but the setup and learning curve just seem forbidding in my current circumstances.
Any estimate of how long it might take to go from zero to the point where you got the optimal setup and know how to use Org-mode to just get on with work?
Posted by jaslar
Dec 16, 2015 at 06:59 AM
Dr. Andus, I’ve been thinking about your question: How long does it take to get to proficient with org-mode?
The short answer is, “I don’t know. I’m not proficient yet,” and I’m at about 50 hours. And I have to agree that emacs generally is going to have a steeper learning curve than the limpid elegance of WriteMonkey (or most markdown editors). But I suspect it goes something like this, particularly for someone who hangs out on this site:
1. There’s the shallow dive, working through the built-in tutorials. Call it two-four hours. This will get you solidly comfortable with terms and text manipulation.
2. There’s the frustration of diving into major modes, and customization. You can find out that something is possible, but the steps described seem cryptic. This confusion of configuration and Lisp syntax is real. That’s another 8-16 hours, with enough success along the way to feel like you’re learning something, and getting closer to the tool you want. The default configuration for emacs is not inviting, more a programmer’s tool than a writer’s.
3. The third phase seems to be having things mostly right - good enough for serious work. Now you’re focusing more on the content than the tool. Another 8-16 hours.
4. Discovering the extraordinary richness of commands. Emacs has something like 4,000. After coasting along on the previous stage for a week, I dug into the online manuals, and found a host of new, mind-blowing commands that are just wonderful for writing and organizing. (Split screen vertically, load an org file on the left, hoist a slice of it in on the right - suddenly, a two pane outliner.) And here, I imagine, it’s effectively limitless. There are probably new levels of proficiency here. I guess I’m at intermediate, although I could be fooling myself. But as I mentioned earlier, it already has replaced several tools in the chest, and I’ve generated actual work of significant size and complexity. Moreover, it has been genuinely interesting and absorbing. This is the glory of open source. While I’ll never be a programmer, it’s fun to swim into the ocean.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Dec 16, 2015 at 11:25 AM
... and drown…
(sorry, I could not resist!)
Bill, inveterate LetterSpace and Ulysses lover
Posted by Dr Andus
Dec 16, 2015 at 04:23 PM
jaslar - many thanks for the detailed and interesting answer, much appreciated!