On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 1:11 PM, Edward K. Ream <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 11:02 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> What I had in mind, however, would not be limited to a single file >> (quickstart). Rather, it would be a simplified mode of operation across the >> program. I am not clear if what you are saying is similar to this. > > > I understand the difference, but there is no way Leo is going to support a > beginner's mode *directly*, that is, with switches within Leo. > > However, Leo's configuration machinery is easily up to the task of creating > any desired user experience. > > One way would be to put a complete set (disabled) settings in > LeoSettings.leo for beginners. Like this: > > @settings (normal, enabled settings) > > @@settings (disabled, beginners settings) > > Yes, we could enable the beginners settings by default in leoSettings.leo, > but this creates difficulties for all existing users. I'm not going to do > that. > > Perhaps we could have a --simplified command-line option, that would search > for @simplified-settings instead of @settings everywhere. > > That would work, and would hardly change Leo's core code at all. Otoh, it's > just one more thing to document. Distributing a simplified set of settings > in leoSettings.leo seems like the simplest thing that could possibly work. > > Your comments please. > > Edward >
Using the two different setting files can be a solution, of course, but it does not help much in the way of simplicity and user friendliness. That's because even with a simplified settings file, the user will still have to go through most of those (daunting) settings. A friendlier user interface would be one that relieves the user from having to go through things that he mostly does not even understand. Come to think of it, Leo as it is now operates by default in "very advanced user mode", as it assumes advanced programming skills and some in-depth knowledge of Leo internals. Changing even the simplest of the settings (e.g. the font size or color) requires advanced knowledge of Leo's settings. From my experience I can say that even changing the font size was a challenge. Also, look at the recent posts related to font size -- a user with average IT savvy will hardly know how to handle with those settings. I am not trying to force the issue here, but just to make myself clear: the user interface needs to be made more user-friendly, which requires implementing some straightforward way to set at least the most common configuration parameters. If Leo were meant to be used only by Python programmers, all would be well and good as it is now. Otoh, if Leo is to serve some wider purpose, e.g. as a PIM and authoring tool, we have to consider that many people interested in the latter functionality of Leo will not have Python skills and will be put off by having to deal with the intricacies of Leo's settings. Myself I am interested mostly in Leo as a PIM and authoring tool. While I do want to learn some Python, and I am already studying the Leo documentation, hoping to be able to write some Leo scripts in the near future, I would really appreciate something like a Basic/Beginner Mode with a more user-friendly interface. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "leo-editor" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/leo-editor. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
