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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: About the KDE help facilities.
From:       Steve Dunham <dunham () lambvindaloo ! org>
Date:       2003-04-14 4:44:18
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Maurizio Colucci wrote:
> Hello again, I am using kde 3.1.1.
> 
> 1. In the KDE help center, I should be able to increase the font size!
> Rationale: on my 1400x1050 laptop it is unusable.
> 
> 2. The quick help feature (i.e. when you click on the question mark on
> the window frame and then on the widget whose purpose you want to
> know) doesn't work for all widgets. Are you aware of that? Example, I
> was trying to know what the "bounce key" feature does, but the help is
> silent.
> 
> 3. Again on the KDE help center, I need to do a global search for a
> word. I mean, on the whole documentation, not just on the current
> page.

I'd like something like this too, at least for within a document  I often
find myself prefering the curses interface to "info" documents because
I can do global searches with "/" in the curses client.

Also, "info:" can't handle documents in subdirs.  Debian has some
info files in subdirs (e.g. /usr/share/info/xemacs21) with the dir
file in the parent directory pointing at them, e.g.

   * XEmacs21: (xemacs21/xemacs21).                     Documentation for XEmacs

KHelpcenter gets confused following the link, which it translates to:

   info:/xemacs21/xemacs21/Top

because it breaks the filename at the wrong slash.  Breaking the name at the
last slash may solve the problem (dunno if info nodes can have slashes in the
names), as would changing the uri format to one of:
   info:(xemacs21/xemacs21)Top
   info:xemacs21/xemacs21(Top)
   info:xemacs21/xemacs21#Top


One final issue (aside from frequent crashes) in khelpcenter is that when
you go to a help document from an application, the tree on the left side
doesn't select the document that your are reading.  This would improve
the usability a bit: unfold the tree and highlight the node you are on,
tracking changes when the user clicks through links, if possible.  I'd
point to acroread as an example of the desired behaviour.

-- 
Steve Dunham
http://www.cse.msu.edu/~dunham

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