From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Tim X Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: My emacs was upgraded and I am a novice again Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:54:16 +1000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <87wsuf9lc7.fsf@lion.rapttech.com.au> References: <46F2BA57.3060604@gmail.com> <711a73df0709212204r65af300cr37aab355f244176e@mail.gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1190713251 10122 80.91.229.12 (25 Sep 2007 09:40:51 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:40:51 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Sep 25 11:40:47 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1Ia6uJ-0002m5-Jk for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:40:43 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Ia6uG-0007Hm-D6 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:40:40 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!newsfeed.freenet.de!xlned.com!feeder1.xlned.com!feeder2.cambrium.nl!feeder1.cambrium.nl!feed.tweaknews.nl!138.199.65.86.MISMATCH!sn-xt-ams-06!sn-xt-ams-03!sn-post-ams-01!sn-post-sjc-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.1.50 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:T74lE6/SDCt/CmNBh1u2rJT4S3A= Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Original-Lines: 31 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:152324 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:47832 Archived-At: Eli Zaretskii writes: >> From: Tom Tromey >> Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 10:14:04 -0600 >> >> The fundamental discoverability problem with Emacs isn't that the >> documentation is missing -- it never is. The problem is, if you want >> to find something by keyword, first you must guess the keyword that >> the original author used. >> >> I don't know a good way to solve this problem. > > Well, we could add a feature whereby documentation search commands > will suggest to look for alternative keywords. This feature could use > a database of synonyms for computer-related terminology, as well as > popular alternatives for certain Emacs parlance (such as "yank" etc.). > > This way, if you didn't find what you wanted, you'd be presented with > a list of additional words or phrases to search for. > I think this is a good idea. What strikes me about all of this is that most of the terminology people find difficult is actually due to the evolving nature of language. For example, cut and paste are the common terms and many find 'yank' odd. However, back when I started, 'yank' was more common. Tim -- tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au