Re: How to set up gnus email for novices with little mastery.

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Wed, 29 Sep 2004, timmcn@bitstream.net wrote:

> Users migrating to Gnus and Emacs from other Unix applications might
> have an easier time than those of us coming from Windows or Mac OS/OS
> X since we don't edit preference files directly and aren't used to
> doing this.  For GUI-babies like me, whose first computer was a Mac
> 512Ke bought in 1986, having a nice little window (buffer) in which to
> enter the relevant server and user information, which would then write
> to .gnus, would make things much simpler.  I would think that the
> Customize menu would be able to accommodate this.  BTW, it should be
> easier to navigate to the Gnus customization group with the Options
> menu- perhaps the menu should automatically display a "Customize
> <active mode>" item?  This would prevent having to hunt through the
> various Customize groups hierarchies.

That's a good idea, but it would require a lot of work.  How do you
synchronize variable groups with buffers that use those variables?
Manual synchronization is very tedious; automatic synchronization will
probably miss many groups.

> If this isn't possible, I would think that one could set up a sample
> .gnus for new users to edit, using nnmail (or nnimap, as the case may
> be).  This would get them started quickly with a backend that's
> pretty easy to use.

This is exactly what the Gnus assistants are supposed to do - anyone
interested in helping new users is more than welcome to contribute.

Ted