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From: Tom Melly
Subject: The docs stink.
Date: 5 Feb 2002 06:29:58
Message: <3c5fc236@news.povray.org>
No, really. They smell of limburgh.

Actually, I do have some serious comments (3.5 docs specifically, but iirc most
of these comments can be applied to 3.1 docs).

The indexing and searching can be a little counter-intuitive. For example:

Look for cylinder in the index, and "cylinder object" is returned as the second
choice. However, look for sphere, and no "sphere object" is listed. It would be
nice to be able to quickly know which listing, when multiple listings are
returned, will take you to the basic syntax for a feature (e.g. "cylinder
syntax", although "cylinder object" seems fine if it was used consistently)

Also, if you search for cylinder, "cylinder object" (the cylinder syntax) is
ranked 15, with the rather unhelpful finite solid primitives (6.5.1) returned as
rank 1. IMHO when searching for keywords, it would be better if the syntax was
always returned as rank 1.

2. I sometimes wonder if the docs would be better split into two seperate help
files - a syntax and include file help and a tutorial help. I dunno, just an
idea. I'm probably being a bit lame, but, when I need to quickly check the
syntax of an object/feature, it sometimes takes me a couple of goes, and a shift
in concentration, before I can find it in the docs.

This would also allow the tutorial help to be updated with new tutorials etc.
without having to muck around with the unchanging SDL docs.

Just my two aromas worth....
--
#macro G(D,E,F)#local I=array[3]{D,E,F}#local B=0;triangle{#while(
B<3)#while(I[B])A[mod(I[B],10)]+#local I[B]=div(I[B],10);#end<-5,-
2,9>#local B=B+1;#end}#end #local A=array[7]{x,x*2,x*4,y,y*2,y*4,z
}light_source{-x*6-z*9,1}mesh{G(105,10,146)G(105,246,10)G(105,56,
146)G(105,1256,246)G(1256,126,220)G(22156,2216,201)pigment{rgb 1}}//TM


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From: Thorsten Froehlich
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 5 Feb 2002 08:35:31
Message: <3c5fdfa3@news.povray.org>
In article <3c5fc236@news.povray.org> , "Tom Melly" <tom### [at] tomandlucouk> 
wrote:

> Also, if you search for cylinder, "cylinder object" (the cylinder syntax) is
> ranked 15, with the rather unhelpful finite solid primitives (6.5.1) returned
> as rank 1. IMHO when searching for keywords, it would be better if the syntax
> was always returned as rank 1.

The "ranking" is done by the help system of your operating system, so
complaints regarding ranking problems should be directed to the the company
you got the operating system from.

    Thorsten


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From:
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 5 Feb 2002 08:48:13
Message: <4bov5ucqh7oa254ai8mlg9ndqmb59c5afq@4ax.com>
On Tue, 05 Feb 2002 14:35:25 +0100, "Thorsten Froehlich" <tho### [at] trfde>
wrote:
> The "ranking" is done by the help system of your operating system, so
> complaints regarding ranking problems should be directed to the the company
> you got the operating system from.

Perhaps there are some documented rules for this "ranking"? Perhaps some
additional parameter to style, tag or whatever makes more points for ranking?
Perhaps some changes invisible for reader could make this ranking more usefull ?
Was this somehow investigated ?

ABX


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From: Tom Melly
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 5 Feb 2002 09:42:29
Message: <3c5fef55$1@news.povray.org>
"Thorsten Froehlich" <tho### [at] trfde> wrote in message
news:3c5fdfa3@news.povray.org...
> In article <3c5fc236@news.povray.org> , "Tom Melly" <tom### [at] tomandlucouk>
> wrote:
>
> The "ranking" is done by the help system of your operating system, so
> complaints regarding ranking problems should be directed to the the company
> you got the operating system from.
>

Do you mean that the help-author gets no control over it at all?


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From: Ben Chambers
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 5 Feb 2002 21:41:38
Message: <3c6097e2@news.povray.org>
"Tom Melly" <tom### [at] tomandlucouk> wrote in message
news:3c5fc236@news.povray.org...
> No, really. They smell of limburgh.

<snip>

Have you tried the context help (if you're using win pov)?  Hmm, I like
you're idea of two separate help files - how about a 'light' one with just
syntax, and a 'verbose' one with all the other stuff you might not
necessarily want for a quick refresh of the mind?  Of course, then new users
wouldn't want to read the complete docs, just the light one, and would get
annoyed by the docs not saying enough...

...Chambers


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From: Tom Melly
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 6 Feb 2002 04:54:42
Message: <3c60fd62$1@news.povray.org>
"Ben Chambers" <bdc### [at] yahoocom> wrote in message
news:3c6097e2@news.povray.org...
>
> Have you tried the context help (if you're using win pov)?

Yes - it tends to suffer from the same problem IIRC, in that it doesn't
necesserily take you to the basic syntax for the keyword.

>  Hmm, I like
> you're idea of two separate help files - how about a 'light' one with just
> syntax, and a 'verbose' one with all the other stuff you might not
> necessarily want for a quick refresh of the mind?  Of course, then new users
> wouldn't want to read the complete docs, just the light one, and would get
> annoyed by the docs not saying enough...

Ah, those lamers will always find something to bitch about ;)

Actually, I was thinking partly of the n.users, but it's true that there is
always a downside....


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From: Chris Cason
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 8 Feb 2002 22:43:26
Message: <3c649ade@news.povray.org>
"Tom Melly" <tom### [at] tomandlucouk> wrote in message news:3c5fef55$1@news.povray.org...

> Do you mean that the help-author gets no control over it at all?

correct (at least for windows HTML help).


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From: Thorsten Froehlich
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 9 Feb 2002 14:47:10
Message: <3c657cbe@news.povray.org>
In article <3c649ade@news.povray.org> , "Chris Cason" 
<newsadmin-despam-@povray-no-spam.org> wrote:

> "Tom Melly" <tom### [at] tomandlucouk> wrote in message
news:3c5fef55$1@news.povray.org...
>
>> Do you mean that the help-author gets no control over it at all?
>
> correct (at least for windows HTML help).

On Mac OS (also using HTML based help), the author has no control either :-(

    Thorsten

____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich, Duisburg, Germany
e-mail: tho### [at] trfde

Visit POV-Ray on the web: http://mac.povray.org


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From: Bill DeWitt
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 9 Feb 2002 18:51:15
Message: <3c65b5f3$1@news.povray.org>
"Thorsten Froehlich" <tho### [at] trfde> wrote :
> >
> >> Do you mean that the help-author gets no control over it at all?
> >
> > correct (at least for windows HTML help).
>
> On Mac OS (also using HTML based help), the author has no control either
:-(

    Not even by weighting the items with keywords?


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From: Pabs
Subject: Re: The docs stink.
Date: 11 Feb 2002 02:28:17
Message: <3c677291@news.povray.org>
>     Not even by weighting the items with keywords?
for WinHelp (not HTMLHelp) you can add keywords to each topic (one page)


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