Add usage section

docs/source/usage/introduction.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+.. _docs_usage:
+
+************
+Introduction
+************
+
+.. _Markdown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown
+
+In a nutshell, novelWriter is a plain text editor that lets you organise one or more novels and
+associated notes as many smaller documents. You can at any time generate standard document formats
+from these plain text documents. Whether it is an outline of your story, a draft, a complete
+manuscript, or even a collection of your character notes or other notes.
+
+
+Why Plain Text?
+===============
+
+The idea is to let you be creative without having to deal with formatting while you are writing, or
+be distracted by it.
+
+Of course, you probably need *some* form of minimal formatting for your text. At the very least you
+need emphasis. Most people are familiar with adding emphasis using ``_underscores_`` and
+``**asterisks**``. This formatting standard comes from Markdown_ and is supported by novelWriter.
+It also uses Markdown formatting for defining document headings, which is how you distinguish
+between chapters and scenes.
+
+For those special cases where you need more complex formatting, a set of shortcodes are available.
+To make them easier to use, a dropdown button bar is available in the editor panel with standard
+format buttons. So don't worry. You don't have to learn any codes.
+
+
+Adding Meta Data
+================
+
+In addition to the body text of your story, novelWriter allows you to enter some additional meta
+data into your text documents to indicate things like which characters are present in a chapter or
+scene, whose point of view we're seeing, what location the events take place in, and so on.
+
+Since the editor is plain text, this is done on special lines of text starting with an ``@``
+character. The editor will show an auto-complete menu when to help you write these lines. We will
+talk more about this later.
+
+You can also add your own author's comments in your text, without these comments becoming a part of
+the story itself. A comment line starts with a ``%`` character. There are different types of
+comments too, and an auto-complete menu has suggestions here too. More about this later as well.
+
+.. admonition:: Limitations
+
+   Please keep in mind that novelWriter is designed for writing fiction, so the formatting features
+   available are limited to those relevant for this purpose. It is *not* suitable for technical
+   writing. It is also *not* a full-featured Markdown editor.
+
+   It is also not intended as a tool for organising research for writing, and therefore lacks
+   formatting features you may need for this purpose. The notes feature in novelWriter is mainly
+   intended for character profiles and plot outlines. It is recommended to use a proper note taking
+   tool for research. This is anyway more practical as you may use the same research for multiple
+   projects.