Re: Changes in the menu bar

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Jason Rumney <address@hidden>
> Date: 27 Nov 2001 20:53:26 +0000
> 
> >   (defvar menu-bar-apropos-menu (make-sparse-keymap "Apropos"))
> 
> >   (define-key menu-bar-apropos-menu [apropos-documentation]
> > !   '(menu-item "Lookup by Documentation Text..." apropos-documentation
> > !               :help
> > !         "Find functions and variables whose doc strings match a regexp"))
> 
> I think this is backwards. If you want the word "Apropos" displayed,
> it should be in the menu item names, with something more obvious (to
> new users) for the name of the apropos submenu.  Otherwise new users
> will not know to look inside the "Apropos" submenu when they want to
> "Lookup by Documentation Text...", and might miss it.

But I do _not_ want "Apropos" to be displayed, except in that one
place--the top-level Help menu item.  (In non-toolkit version of the
menus, it also appears as the header of the submenu.)  That's why I
removed "Apropos" from all the submenu items.

My experience strongly suggests that "Apropos" is a word that is
unknown to many new users, especially if English is not their first
language.  Thus the effort to explain what these items do without
using that word.

> My suggestion would be to call the submenu "Search for Documentation"

That's not right: this function doesn't search _for_ documentation, it
finds all functions and variables which have a match for a regexp _in_
their documentation.

The challenge I tried to solve was to tell clearly what do the items
do, and at the same time to preserve some commonality between them.
For example, "Find Matching ..." would be good for apropos-variable,
apropos-value and apropos-command, but it didn't go well with
apropos-documentation ("Find Matching DOcumentation" is misleading).

> I am not sure "Lookup" is right

Please suggest a better name that wouldn't break the commonality or
the clarity of the description.

> either call the menu items "Apropos Documentation Text..."

I think "Apropos Documentation Text" is a confusing name; more
confusing, in fact, than the original "Apropos Documentation".

> >   (define-key menu-bar-manuals-menu [command]
> >     '(menu-item "Find Command in Manual" Info-goto-emacs-command-node
> >           :help "Display manual section that describes a command"))
> 
> I think this should go in both the manuals menu and the apropos menu

I don't mind to repeat this item if others think it would be useful.