Post by @bignose@fosstodon.org
My brain leads me down unexpected rabbit holes fairly often. Today is the turn of #emacs, which I suspect is going to be a lengthy, but hopefully rewarding, rabbit hole.
I've opted to start with the GUI client, mostly because I have a horrible time remembering new shortcuts / commands (thanks to both ADHD and menopause, my memory is shite). Any tips from anyone familiar with it? I'm going to go through the official tutorials etc, but if there are better resources I should know about, I'd be glad to hear them!
First: congratulations @jac, this is a very rich ecosystem and community you're entering, I really hope you find #Emacs rewarding.
It's been a long time since I learned, so I learned from the built-in tutorial (`C-h t`) which is friendly enough but requires you to maintain interest.
Also, no shade at all using the GUI, the fact Emacs works the same in a text terminal is a great benefit but not a requirement. GUI is my primary Emacs, I hardly ever need the text-only Emacs.
With that said, for recommendations @jac
I strongly recommend having a project or some other ongoing work, that you are *independently* motivated to press forward; commit to using #Emacs for that.
When you need to do something and you don't yet know how to get Emacs to do it, that's when you learn something new in Emacs.
You'll need that independent motivation for when learning the complex new thing gets difficult, which it will, multiple times.
@bignose@fosstodon.org Good advice, and I agree. Learning by doing is often the best way. That said, I don't have anything specific in mind as such, though I do a fair amount of journalling / writing, so probably will see how it fits for that. I use Obsidian a lot, but this might fit certain things better.
I'm also in need of something for simple task management, so I might just start out with that until I get a feel for it. Though I see it can also act as an RSS reader, I'll definitely give that a go!
Many people find that #Emacs is attractive for the bundled #OrgMode, an excellent system both for outlining in a text document and for tracking and organising your life.
You @jac might decide to pick an aspect of your work, hobby, home life, something bounded; and learn Org Mode to track it, and branch out from there.
@bignose@fosstodon.org Yep, I'm definitely going to dive into that fairly soon. It looks exactly like something I'd love.
@jac @bignose If you get some memorizing troubles, you should take a took to some emacs distributions like spacemacs or doom. They come with some helpers. Both of them let you hit space key to navigate between emacs actions menu. I don't know how to configure vanilla emacs to do that. Someone would say it's better to start from vanilla emacs to learn emacs. By the way, it's a long learning pathway. Here, using emacs daily for more than 10 years and still learning. Let enjoy this pathway !
@amelliug@mastodon.social @bignose@fosstodon.org Oh, they both look good. So many options, I love it!