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Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help'
From: |
Eli Zaretskii |
Subject: |
Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help' |
Date: |
Thu, 08 Apr 2021 18:34:30 +0300 |
> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
> Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2021 08:27:02 -0700
> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
>
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>
> >> >> + '(("Getting Help"
> >> >
> >> > I'd use something like "Describe and Find Commands, Keys, Functions".
> >>
> >> That's fine, but it is a bit long.
> >
> > Why is it a problem to be long?
>
> Keeping it short is in line with common recommendations in UIX design,
> which strongly favours simplicity, in order not to burden the mental
> bandwidth of users with irrelevant detail.
We are talking about short but inaccurate vs longer but more
accurate. I agree that, all the rest being equal, the shorter the
better, but that's not our case here.
> Having a long headline here weighs the entire screen down, makes it
> harder to read and more intimidating.
I think you exaggerate here a bit.
> > Both "getting Help" and "Basic Help" is too general to be useful, IMO.
>
> Things will be clear from context. No one risks being confused by
> "Basic Help" or "Getting Help".
If they will be clear from context, then they are redundant, IMO.
> The main purpose is to give a quick overview of the most commonly used
> commands.
Exactly. And too-general headings aren't useful for the overview,
because they require one to read what's under them to understand.
> >> Do we need to speak of "top-level menu", or can we get away with the
> >> shorter "Show all installed manuals"?
> >
> > But "show a manual" could be interpreted as displaying the contents of
> > that manual, in which case "show all manuals" makes no sense.
>
> I don't see how anyone could take "show all manuals" as meaning anything
> other than some kind of _list_ of manuals.
Well, I did.
> How else would they be shown?
"They" being the manuals? The top-level Info menu doesn't show any
manuals, it only shows their names.
> That said, this is not something I feel is very important. We can go
> with your preference if you feel strongly about it.
I don't feel strong about it. You asked for a review, and I provided
one.
Thanks.
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Stefan Kangas, 2021/04/07
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/04/07
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Stefan Kangas, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Stefan Kangas, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help',
Eli Zaretskii <=
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Howard Melman, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Stefan Kangas, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/04/09
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Alan Mackenzie, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Dmitry Gutov, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Alan Mackenzie, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Alan Mackenzie, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/04/08
- Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help', Howard Melman, 2021/04/08