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Getting started growing pains for non-Git user #2814

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@EagerOptions

New to GitUp and Git. Non-programmer; power-user of other complex software.

GitUp was recommended to me because I'm a non-programmer and it's supposed to be simple. But if I wasn't already a power user, I would have stalled during setup.

Since GitUp is SUCH a cool program, and because GitUp can solve so many problems for AI users generating lots of files, writers, and other non-programmers, I'm making you aware of some pitfalls that may be stopping users who would otherwise be happy to adopt.

Issues thus far:

  1. Documentation (https://github.com/git-up/GitUp/wiki) doesn't have an obvious section for "you are absolutely brand new to GitUp and Git and here's how to get started."
  2. To a GitUp + Git newbie like me, basics are not obvious. Some I've run across so far:
    • Where in my file hierarchy should I create a new repository? (Inside the folder I want to do version control for? Seemed obvious, but wrong. Ah, create a new folder and import the contents I want to version control.)
    • How do I configure Git when I get an error message "config value 'user.name' was not found" but the Repository > Edit Git Configuration... option is grayed out? (I suspect the problem was that the menu item is grayed out in Commit view, but it didn't occur to me to check other views to enable it, because who would gray out a menu in the very context where that function was needed? Instead, web search found Config value 'user.name' was not found #131, which linked to https://help.github.com/articles/setting-your-username-in-git/, and I did the setup using Terminal — something lots of non-coder newbies wouldn't do. Once I could Commit, I did and switched to Map view, where the menu was enabled.)
    • Where does the Git repository live? Obvious to you; less obvious to me.
    • A simple introductory page could probably fix all this. (Also, fix the disabled Edit Git Configuration... issue, or add to the error message "Switch to Map view and use 'Repository > Edit Git Configuration...' to fix.")

It's possible the yellow-background banner text mentioned setup info I needed to know, but my eyes don't read text that small easily anymore, and I dismissed it rather than reading carefully.

That said, once I figured it out, GitUp setup was super-easy and now I've got version control, so thank you! I'm looking forward to learning Git using GitUp.

Mac M3, MacOS 15 Sequoia

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