From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 4255 invoked from network); 31 Jan 1997 18:47:43 -0000 Received: from euclid.skiles.gatech.edu (list@130.207.146.50) by coral.primenet.com.au with SMTP; 31 Jan 1997 18:47:43 -0000 Received: (from list@localhost) by euclid.skiles.gatech.edu (8.7.3/8.7.3) id NAA25535; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 13:36:00 -0500 (EST) Resent-Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 13:31:53 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 19:33:36 +0100 Message-Id: <199701311833.AA21049@mail2.gmd.de> From: Juergen Christoffel To: zefram@dcs.warwick.ac.uk Cc: zsh-users@math.gatech.edu In-Reply-To: <13089.199701311251@stone.dcs.warwick.ac.uk> (message from Zefram on Fri, 31 Jan 1997 12:51:15 +0000 (GMT)) Subject: Re: Man pages missing Resent-Message-ID: <"KYOZC3.0.4A6.PgZyo"@euclid> Resent-From: zsh-users@math.gatech.edu X-Mailing-List: archive/latest/664 X-Loop: zsh-users@math.gatech.edu X-Loop: zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu Precedence: list Resent-Sender: zsh-workers-request@math.gatech.edu From: Zefram Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 12:51:15 +0000 (GMT) >There's no need to print out a manual if you don't want to. Today a >hypertext approach would work for me due to tools like lynx (the vt100 Actually lynx uses curses; it's not limited to vt100s. Usually I use "vt100" as a synonym when I mean character-based displays; I should have been more careful here. And I use curses too sometimes, but they don't work as good today as they did in the dark ages ;-) >based web browser, so you wouldn't need Netscape or its ilk) or Emacs' >info mode. For me it's much more effective to browse through a well >organized manual with lynx or emacs than it is to page through 60+ >pages of man pages with less. For me, it's much more effective to have all the documentation in one place, and browse it with my preferred pager. Hypertext just gets in the way of the information, and there still isn't a hypertext system that formats to look as good as man pages. Hmm, I don't see such a great difference between lynx output and man output. (And have you ever tried to read `all the documentation' on some subject, when said documentation is arranged as an arbitrary directed graph of fifty nodes of two pages each?) It's easy to run down a concept by giving worst case scenarios. But if you re-read my message, you'll note that I said "well organized manual" and it is possible to create a document which follows a rather linear structure _and_ offers links for fast cross-references to other parts of the documentation and a good index with links. If you have a chance to take a look at a Macintosh where MacPerl is installed, you might want to take a look at the fine integration Matthias Neeracher did between MacPerl, the perl man pages and browsers like Netscape or Matthias' own lightweight pod viewer Shuck. Cheers, JC -- E-Mail: christoffel@gmd.de or one of {ftp,news,web}master@gmd.de GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology GMD pays for my technical expertise. My opinions probably scare them...