template for a scrolly website?
Something like one of these:
http://nuabikes.com/#/home
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/#0
http://trasmissione-energia.terna.it/?language=en-US#Travels-with-Terna
Are these kinds of websites easy to work with from gedit and gimp?
Are you asking if it's a good idea to use gedit and GIMP to make such websites? Yes, it is.
Although you don't need to use gedit or GIMP specifically. For example, other text editor can be also be used instead of gedit. I would use GNU Emacs and GIMP.
You'll also need to learn at least some HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Cool; Emacs sounds good. By chance, I installed it just before I read your post, because I needed a program that can help me wrap text at 80 columns.
I'm looking for templates for scrolly websites because I think that it may be too difficult for me to make one from scratch. I just know some basic html and css (for adjusting font type and size); I learned it by making a website based on jxself.org.
I found this template site (a fellow Trisquel user shared it a year ago or so):
http://www.freehtml5templates.co.uk/
^I used one of those templates to help a friend with her website once. No scrolly templates there though.
One thing: Emacs is brutal, the most powerful text editor I could ever dream of. But it requires learning to be able to use a fraction of its potential. I suggest you use html or CSS specific IDEs if you are in a hurry, if not, keep using and learning Emacs, it deserves it.
Still, Emacs is easy to start with, not any harder than nano for example.
And a tutorial (in the Help menu) teaches the basics in a few hours. The first weeks are tough. The user loses time because she has to look at the documentation to remember keyboard shortcuts. But that is days of her life (if not more) that are saved afterwards.
Yes, thank you for saying this, because that's exactly the type of argument I just don't agree with! :)
... because, you can type code in Emacs almost exactly like in gedit.
What keys does a basic user use in gedit and similar programs 99% of the time? Arrows for moving, Ctrl-c for copy, Ctrl-x for cut, Ctrl-v for paste, Ctrl-z for undo and maybe Ctrl-s for save. That's pretty much everything.
In Emacs you use still can use the arrow keys for moving arrow, just like gedit. So now you need to learn only 5 commands to be able to type just as fast as in gedit:
- C-w (cut)
- M-w (copy)
- C-y (paste)
- C-/ (undo)
- C-x C-s (save; but you can also use the mouse)
'C-' means 'Ctrl' and 'M-' means 'Alt' or 'Meta'.
How hard is to learn 5 commands? You learn them and gedit is pretty much useless. ;)
Emacs can do a lot more than that, but you don't need to learn more then 5 commands in order to begin using it.
You can also use a mouse and menus to do those commands, just like a complete novice user would do in other programs.
You don't need to spend weeks learning so things aren't painful. You don't need to spend hours on a tutorial before using Emacs. When you want to learn something that will help become better at typing code compared to someone who uses gedit, then you can spend some time learning about Emacs. And you can spend as much as you like, even 5 minutes at a time if you want.
Emacs is very easy to use and to start with. It may seem hard only if you start using it with the presumption that it's hard, thinking that you need to know everything first.
Yes, thank you for saying this, because that's exactly the type of argument I just don't agree with! :)
That is at least what I remember of my first weeks in Emacs... some twelve years ago.
What keys does a basic user use in gedit and similar programs 99% of the time?
Well, I might not be a "basic user" (in particular, I program) but, even before learning Emacs, I was using more keyboard shortcuts than what you listed: to select text (what is quite different in Emacs), to move word by word, to delete the previous/next word, to search a word, to replace a word, to open a new file.
How hard is to learn 5 commands?
There is learning and learning. Learning the shortcuts by heart is easy. Naturally using them, without even thinking, requires days, if not weeks. I daily use some keyboard shortcuts in Emacs but I could not easily tell you which keys I press: the gesture is natural, a reflex, I do no not think them. While your brain is busy thinking the program, the use of the editor must not be thought. And during the first days/week, the new user will type C-v, by reflex, when she wants to paste. She then has to come back to the position she was: quite a waste of time.
You don't need to spend hours on a tutorial before using Emacs.
That is true. Emacs is no vim (somebody wants to troll?). But I really think it is an excellent idea to follow the tutorial. It teaches the basics of Emacs but that is much more than the basics of GEdit. And the whole point of leaving GEdit for Emacs is to be more proficient. For instance, who ignores the tutorial may not even imagine the features behind C-l, C-u, C-h, C-x 2 (or 3) could exist in a text editor. And that is just talking about keyboard shortcuts. It is also worth understand what Emacs calls a buffer, how the undo behaves (differently from most programs), what is a mode, a sub-mode, etc.
It may seem hard only if you start using it with the presumption that it's hard, thinking that you need to know everything first.
Indeed. Even rms probably does not know everything Emacs can do! And, as you wrote, exploring the menu is a great way to discover new functionalities (especially the main ones related to a given mode).
> to select text (what is quite different in Emacs), to move word by word, to delete the previous/next word
Actually, those commands can be done in Emacs exactly the same way you would do in gedit - try them. The other three commands (search, replace, open) are different.
But I definitely agree that learning the more traditional equivalent keys of those commands is much better in the long run.
How about this? Those templates are free/libre, but you need to provide attribution.
You guys really are the best. Thank you, for html5up and also for the discussion about emacs!