Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help'

[Howard Melman <hmelman@gmail.com>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> >> 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.

FWIW I don't think the current description is accurate. At
least for me in Emacs 27, C-h i is bound to the command
info.

If there is no *info* buffer it opens info showing what it
calls the Info Directory which (again in info terminology,
for better or worse) is "a menu which leads to all the nodes
that exist" and which "lists all the manuals and other Info
documents that are, or could be, installed on your system".

But if there is a buffer showing an info node, C-h i will
take you to that buffer and not to the list of all manuals.
And I don't believe the command even takes any kind of
argument to take you to the info directory if a node is
open.  (I use d after C-h i if that's what I want.)

I think these are more accurate options:

i	Open Info (read all manuals)
i	Show Info documentation (read all manuals)
i	Show Info documentation (read installed manuals)
i	Show Info documentation browser (read all manuals)

I'm not sure which of these I prefer but I think they're all
better than what you currently have.  They include the
mnemonic "info", accurately describe what the command does
in all circumstances, and are understandable in plain
language for the newbie.

-- 

Howard