Ask not what Tinderbox can do for you; ask what you can do with Tinderbox
Yet that line of thinking is, unintentionally, setting ourselves up to fail. What those users I see struggling to use the app tend to in common is to have no clear purpose as to what purpose they have for the app. They are trying to ‘use’ the app rather than do something with the app. I’ve used the app since 2003 (v2.3.4) when the app still ran on System or OS X. I have been writing aTbRef since 2005 and Tinderbox has been central to my daily work ever since†. Indeed, part of the impetus of writing the TBX that creates aTbRef was simply to explore and to learn how to use Tinderbox’s HTML export features effectively (q.v. have point to your learning). More accurately, today’s aTbRef was the accidental outcome for exploring how HTML export worked … after which I kept on exploring all aspects of the app—partly so others don’t have to!
Tinderbox’s self-description as a ‘toolbox for notes’ is correct. Going and buying a set of woodwork tools doesn’t make us a cabinet maker, but gives us the potential to be one. Still, we might just use those same tools to make the simplest of bookshelves … and that is OK—if that is our need and intent. It’s no use fretting at what others have and fear we are missing out: our neighbour drives a sports car because they are a racing driver, our car get the kids to school and us to work—it suits our need.
If we do want what someone else has (or a similar thing) then we don’t so much need their TBX as to understand how the later was constructed. What subset of tools in the toolbox are most used, and in what manner? Pursued thus the learning becomes easier—or at least more tractable. The oft perceived ‘difficulty’ is we don’t know what to learn as we don’t know what we are trying to learn (so can’t gauge our progress).
The Tinderbox community, to my observation of 20+ years of it, is that it is very open-handed with its insight and assistance. The community can help best if asked questions that allow transfer of expertise. So, “What’s the best sort of bookcase” merely trawls opinion. “How do I make a bookcase?” or “What are the gotchas for a novice building a bookcase?” unlock a wealth of experience and insight. For instance, which tools in the toolbox get used most, and in what order. So, for the new user, this indicates which parts of the app’s toolbox to engage with first. Others don’t necessarily care about your bookshelf’s details but can share insights about the making of their own bookshelf in a manner that will help you with your own work. Understanding that latter point helps when asking for (free [sic]) assistance.
Above, I use a woodworking metaphor deliberately—I’m not referring to making digital bookshelves!—to emphasise the point that most of us will never (need to) use every tool in the toolbox, yet at outset the choice of tools can be overwhelming. a chisel is a chisel and does what a chisel does. It gains real purpose when used to make a particular joint for a particular purpose.
Clicking File ▸ New simply opens an empty design space. Its value—and the app’s value— arises from our intent as to what we then put in that space.
@PaulWalters kindly mentions aTbRef and I’d agree the advice of ‘slowly’. The resource is very deliberately not a how-to. Rather it explains what the tools in the toolbox do: what they are for, how they expect to be told. In the woodworking context above, it might explain that you hold the wooden end and the sharp end is used for precise cuts to the wood by striking the wooden end. The latter is obvious once you know, not if you don’t. At the same time it may inform you that you’re never going to need (to use) that tool, which is OK.
Good luck with your Tinderbox journey.
†. That said, much of my daily work is early-stage analysis, i.e. knowledge/sense-making, where such a toolbox app is a real boon. Were I an accountant or a fishmonger, I might use it less often but still find it useful. YMMV.