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Re: Ultimate book questions [message #29621 is a reply to message #29619]

Thu, 04 November 2010 13:14

dolik.rce
Messages: 1791
Registered: August 2008
Location: Czech Republic

Ultimate Contributor

gprentice wrote on Thu, 04 November 2010 11:48

I think there should be a left hand pane with a tree showing the contents and the right hand pane with the text. Possibly even a standalone app or a separate window so you can view code and the help at the same time if you want.

Isn't that what is in theide right now? Left panel with help contents arranged into chapters, one chapter for each package, right panel with the actual text. There is even a search box, to help you find what you are looking for. I don't say the help is perfect, but IMHO it gives you very similar possibilities as traditional windows help browser. The rest is a question of what the help contents should look like... (And is to be discussed in the other thread you mentioned)

Having help in separate window might be nice feature, but I personally would not use it much, simply because I don't need to. I commonly use the help for two things: 1) I need just a quick glimpse into the reference to get a meaning of some argument or something similar, or 2) I am studying something more complex, e.g. trying to understand a whole class. In either case I don't need to see the code at the same time, because in 1) I can keep it my memory for the short period of switch and in 2) I write code after I finish reading.

BTW: For 1) I often use Alt+J to get to the definition of whatever I need to see reference and point the mouse on the green square which shows the reference as tooltip, and then just Alt-Left arrow to get back to wherever I was before. That is IMHO the fastest way to use the reference Wink

Honza

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