certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
(Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
-some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
-to customize Gnus.
+some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{~/.gnus.el}
+file to customize Gnus. (You can also use the @file{~/.emacs} file, but
+in order to set things of Gnus up, it is much better to use the
+@file{~/.gnus.el} file, @xref{Startup Files}.)
If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
write the following:
This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
-you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
-how Gnus works.
+you can go and fill your @file{~/.gnus.el} file with lots of these to
+change how Gnus works.
-If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
-and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
-start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
+If you have put that thing in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, it will be
+read and @code{eval}ed (which is Lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
+start Gnus. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
@kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.