Re: [StrongED] StrongED Primer, help wanted

[Fred Graute <fjgraute@xxxxxxxxx>]

In message <mpro.mnriss0fogcg6007n.tim@xxxxxxxxx>
          Tim Powys-Lybbe <tim@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On 1 Jun at 21:42, Fred Graute <fjgraute@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > In an attempt to improve things I've
> > started putting together a simply primer that should explain the first
> > steps. Just enough to help users install StrongED and to start using
> > it at a basic level.
>
> How basic is basic?

Well, that's up to you - the users - to decide.

The attempts to teach users completely new to RISC OS shows how easy it
is to assume that certain knowledge is present. Not surprising as most
of us have used RO for yonks but it does make it difficult to explain
things in a way that newbies can understand.

My familiarity with StrongED puts me in a similar position. It's not so
easy to determine how detailed the information in the primer should be.

I'm therefore hoping that some of you are willing to help by reading the
primer and providing suggestions as to how it can be improved. The end
result is likely to be much better than if it's left entirely up to me.

> My thought is that the explanations about Modes are not basic.

No, they aren't. The latest release - the one that's listed first on the
website - will always be shipped with BaseMode only. Anyone downloading
such a release will need to be told how they can add extra modes.

To that end they need to have some idea what modes are and why we have
them. Basically, that modes provide special facilities for particular
types of file.

> Personally I use StrongEd quite a lot, just to make simple text files
> about all the web sites I log into and need to retain information about.
>  So I would only need a "Get Started" section to tell me where to put
> !StrongEd and !StrEdCfg and then double click to start, click on the
> iconbar icon to create a new document and click on any text document to
> read it in StrongEd.

If that's all you need then fine but remember that StrongED is more than
just a text editor. It's a programmer's editor and anyone wanting to use
it to write code would want to know there's more than just BaseMode.

> Then there might be a section on setting it to auto-start on Power On.
>
> Then there might be pointers to further facilities in the User Manual:
> Choices, editing special format texts with the Modes facility, etc.

The primer already provides pointers to where more information can be
found.

> Or is this too simple for the average user?

Well, I'm not really an average user so it's best if others decide the
level of detail that the primer should provide.

Cheers,
Fred.

-- 
StrongED Developer
http://www.stronged.iconbar.com/

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