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Re: "What's This?" in Describe submenu


From: Eli Zaretskii
Subject: Re: "What's This?" in Describe submenu
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 23:04:38 +0300

> Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 23:30:48 -0500 (CDT)
> From: Luc Teirlinck <address@hidden>
> CC: address@hidden, address@hidden
> 
> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> 
>    > That thread was mainly concerned with other stuff, but I believe the
>    > only real problem was that "Describe Key" did not make it clear that
>    > it also applies to menu items.
> 
>    The tooltip that pops up for that menu item does make this clear.
> 
> In my previous reply I misread this.  The tooltip does make _that_
> clear.  But it does not clear up any of the misunderstandings caused
> by two menu items that do exactly the same thing, but whose names (as
> well as the mere fact that they are different menu items) suggest that
> they do different things.

Does it also confuse you that C-h and F1, which are 2 differently
named keys, both produce the same result?  This analogy may be a bit
far-fetched (and deliberately so), but it is not nonsensical: the F1
binding was added to Emacs for similar reasons: because some users
_expected_ F1 to bring help, while C-h was something they would not
consider trying.

Similarly, the purpose of adding "What's This?" was, AFAIU, that
newbies might not realize that a click on a tool-bar button or the
mode line or the fringe, or selection of a menu item---that all these
are key bindings, and that therefore "Describe Key" is the way to go
to get help about them.  "What's That?" was added in the hope that the
menu item's name, and the name alone, will tell those newbies how to
learn about the functionality of these UI features.

In other words, that item was added for people who never in their
dreams could confuse a key with a click on the fringe, say.  For those
users, this is by no means a duplication.




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