I'm new to Tinderbox and am really struggling to get traction doing basic things. Having worked with all types of software over the years, I'm amazed by its potential power. But I'm finding it difficult to leverage my past experience with other software to master Tinderbox features and conventions. Reviewing online help, the Tinderbox Way and various videos, I find that they assume I know more about the program than a novice should.

One striking thing about Tinderbox is that any new user is confronted by its complexity from the very beginning. Just opening an inspector displays numerous attribute and other settings. Without a clear vision of the Tinderbox landscape to build on, I can see new users like myself feeling lost quite quickly. Perhaps everyone goes through this phase as I am. Or perhaps I'm simply dense.

Does anyone on this forum know of learning materials or tutorials pitched specifically to new users? I've sketched an outline of what an introduction to Tinderbox could include and the outline alone comes to about 11 pages.

Clearly, I'd need to limit coverage of various topics. I'd want readers to be able to see through the numerous details to perform some basic tasks with confidence. To get something useful done on their first sitting. A list of basic objectives might include:
•      Create a new Tinderbox document with a dozen notes
•      Identify and adjust the basic features of notes
•      Create links between related notes
•      Use prototypes to speed note creation
•      Effectively use the Map and Outline views of notes
•      Output a document as a Web page or text document

Any suggestions on items to add to or omit from this list?  

I learned it by reading the Tinderbox Way, and going through the tutorials. I do have a software development background.

I think it is important for Tinderbox to reach a wider user base because it is truly great software, and this would likely lead to more resources being applied to its advancement. It is also hard to get one's arms around. Right now, information about Tinderbox is on a rather disparate collection of websites (about half a dozen), most – but not all – maintained by Eastgate (but not updated in awhile), plus the book that does not come with the software.

Organizing information for Tinderbox 6 into one central location that gets regular updates would be a good step forward. I know the resources are now on programming Tinderbox 6, and probably rightly so. I do think this investment would pay dividends for Eastgate. I do think to do it "right" is a large scale endeavor.

We're very interested in explaining Tinderbox to novices!  The introductory suggestions in the background of an empty map or outline, and the ubiquitous tooltips, are just the beginning.

It's going to be Fall before we're really ready for novices, but waiting months longer would have kept the Tinderbox Six upgrade from people who need it now.

Great suggestions in this thread!

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I'll reconsider purchasing the tutorials. I'll also move forward with my own novice-centered guide, which will assume nothing about the user's experience. In particular, I intend to create in-context explanations that compare a given feature with other features that could be confused with it, or used for a similar purpose.

For example, a topic about Adornments would include subtopics such as:
- Defining Adornments
- Adornments Summary
   - Locking -
   - Smart
   - Sticky
   - Image
   - Locking
- Adornments Compared to Agents
- Adornments Compared to Containers
- Procedures – Creating Adornments

I like Mark Anderson's points, especially the first three. With a program as versatile as TB, I wouldn't expect there to be one right way to do something.

Tinderbox has been the most frustrating and difficult software program that I have ever attempted to learn.  I say attempted to learn because I am still very much a novice.  However, I am still hanging in there because it is the most unique and exciting applications I have ever used.  It is packed with so much potential because it allows the user to be involved in deciding how it will be used, adapted, and implemented.  This is also the reason why the application is so complex.

At the risk of some overlap with the posters above, here are some of my thoughts:

- don't be in a hurry to use the application for things that are mission critical or time sensitive.  This will add an enormous amount of stress to the learning process.  Allow yourself to experiment and play with the app before using it to organize Project X that you need to release to the world in two weeks.

- Mark Bernstein's Tinderbox Way is a must.  It keeps me excited about the program, about organizing ideas,  and it gives many hints about implementing the application.

- Mark Anderson:  I wouldn't still be here without him.  His answers are incredibly generous and useful.  He maintains http://www.acrobatfaq.com/atbref5/ and has documented many solutions.

- This is one of the most helpful tutorials I have seen:  http://decafbad.com/2010/06/tinderbox-article-tutorial/article.html#section-30.  

I definitely think Tinderbox would benefit from more tutorials that have been written for novices.  I bought the tutorials from Tinderbox and there were things that were helpful, but there were also things that were outdated and confusing.  

Good luck.