Assume you want to enter some text and save it away in a file, use:
qed
The editor will load from disk, clear your screen, then present a screen that consists of a status line at the top:
last=0 (0 ,1) a+ b- c- d- f- i- j- l- m+ n+ s- t+ w+
a line below it for command entry, and a large text area below that.
The top line of the screen is the status line and provides information about the size of your file, where in the file you are currently located, and what editing options you have selected. This line is kept up to date by the editor. You may not enter text into this area.
The second line of the screen is the command line. It is the area where you may type editor commands which are to be executed. On a monochrome display, a solid line appears after this line. On a color display, the command line will appear in a different color than the rest of the screen.
The rest of the screen is for text. If your text is longer than or wider than the screen, then this space represents a window into your text. As you progress, you will quickly learn how to position your window to view and/or modify any part of your file.
If you wish to exit from the editor, you can quit by typing a q followed by a carriage return on the command line. If you try this later (after some text has been entered), you may be greeted with a message indicating that you have changed some text but have not saved it away. You can force an exit without saving your text by typing a carriage return to clear the error and a qq followed by a carriage return. We mention quitting here to rescue those people who jump in and then get called away before they can read the rest of the manual.
Now that we have our bearings, let's look a little closer at these three areas.