*Below is a short excerpt of my notes from when I first started using 
TiddlyWiki.*

*----- begin -----*

When I was brand new to TiddlyWiki, one of the first things I did was to 
add some tiddlers with a few notes from my extensive personal notes text 
file. Just Tiddler Titles, and a sentence or two of text in each tiddler. 
Once I had done a few of those and saved the file, I wanted to know how to 
find them easily again. The "Recent" tab did not seem the right way. I 
wanted a "Contents" tab like on the TW5 home page <https://tiddlywiki.com/>, 
and I wondered why there wasn't one. After all, the TiddlyWiki homepage had 
a Contents tab - why was mine missing this? And why was it missing that 
<more-actions> icon? "Strange", I thought.


I typed "Contents" into the search bar of my TW - but nothing.
Then , I typed "Contents" into the search bar on the TiddlyWiki home page, 
and opened the tiddler named "*Contents*"
This was not useful. In fact it caused a lot of confusion as it was full of 
strange Latin writing, and led onwards to "*Table-of-Contents Macros 
(Examples)*".

Next from the search box I clicked on "*Adding a table of contents to the 
sidebar*". I read this but found it confusing. What was the "sidebar"? What 
did "Give it the tag $:/tags/SideBar" mean? What was a "tag?" How did one 
"give the tag?" (Some days later, when I had figured these out, even when I 
made the " TableOfContents" tiddler, nothing showed up.)

On the last line of the "*Adding a table of contents to the sidebar*" 
tiddler, it says: 
"Add entries to the table of contents by creating tiddlers tagged 
TableOfContents. An easy way is to choose < new-here icon> new here from 
the tiddler toolbar. To create sub-entries, tag them with the name of the 
parent entry."

There was no <new-here icon> on the tiddler toolbar. Without clear 
instructions, it was not "intuitive" to find this by clicking the 
<more-actions icon> on the upper right of the tiddler.

Nor was it clear what "creating sub entries" meant. How did one "create sub 
entries?" More confusing was "tag them with the name of the parent entry." 
What was a "tag?" How did one tag? What was a "parent entry?"

On the top line of the tiddler - *Adding a table of contents to the sidebar* 
- is the following line:
A customisable *table of contents* can be added to the sidebar with the 
following steps:

Clicking the link: *table of contents* : takes on the the tiddler: 
*Table-of-Contents 
Macros*
What is a Macro? How does one use these? : *toc toc-expandable 
toc-selective-expandable toc-tabbed-internal-nav and 
toc-tabbed-external-nav* 
More confusion.

A little too advanced flow for the beginner. As a first step, I just want a 
table of contents that shows the few new tiddlers I have just made. That 
would make me so happy. Later, I can figure out how to do more, but right 
now, at the beginning, when I am just starting, I want it simple and easy, 
and to be able to see some result immediately.

*----- end -----*

Making the layout of the empty TW similar to the what is on tiddlywiki.com 
could be beneficial. It avoids the initial confusion of "why are these 
missing?"
That would mean having a "Contents" tab, and also displaying the 
"More-actions" icon. 

The challenge might be - WHAT tiddler(s) are included in the empty.html 
that will be tagged with "TableOfContents" so that they show up in the 
newly included "*TableOfContents*" tiddler? What will they refer to? A few 
basic help tiddlers? An empty Journal entry?

I imagine the LESS clutter in the empty.html the better, so what is the 
right balance? 


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