[h-e-w] Newbie - initial config

[Tomas Valusek]

Hello,

I'm about to become an Emacs user, so sorry for non-emacs terminology, I 
just have to get used to it.

I'm visually impaired, but don't use screenreaders nor "heavy-duty" 
magnifiers yet, I prefer to rely on features provided by apps. I prefer 
to read variable-width fonts on screen, and my font size for conmoftable 
reading is about 30pt.

I have just downloaded Emacs 22.3 for Windows and I'd like to create an 
initial config for it. I reviewed a tutorial, but it is focused on 
platform independent basics. To be able to read docs comfortably with 
Emacs, I need some customizations:

1. I'd like to be able to swetch between fixed-width and variable-width 
font. As I said earlier, variable-width font is much easier for me to 
read, but some texts are optimized for fixed-width fonts, so that's why 
I need that.

2. On Windows, ctrl+wheel controls zoom factor in many apps, including 
open-source ones like Firefox, Scintilla-based editors etc. I'd like to 
have this ability in Emacs too.

3. In Appendix G.9, I've found a useful tip to use system caret instead 
of default Emacs cursor. Since there's no .emacs file on my system yet, 
I don't know how to apply this change.

4. On Windows, moving by words places point at the beginning of the word 
regardless of direction of movement. Emacs' behavior is confusing for 
me. This applies for paragraphs and other objects too.

Thanks for help.

Tomas Valusek