Re: The minibuffer vs. Dialog Boxes (Re: Making XEmacs be more up-to-date)

[Eli Zaretskii]

On 20 Apr 2002, Brady Montz wrote:

>    For example, I often find functions by searching the lisp code for
>    certain strings, or following the chain of functions/variables from
>    a likely starting point, or searching through the info pages,
>    searching through keymaps. Basically, grepping and reverse
>    engineering. Could be a lot more automated.

Would be nice to have that, but it's a non-trivial project, I think.  The 
rules for such reverse engineering are most of the time fuzzy, so it's 
not easy to program.

> 2. Once I've found a reference to it (an info page, the doc string,
>    the customize gunk), I want better cross referencing.
> 
>    We're not too far off here. A "see also" section to the doc strings
>    could be nice.

Are you familiar with the cross-references in GNU Emacs doc strings?  
(I'm not sure if that feature exists in XEmacs.)  They are displayed in a 
different face, and you can click on them (or type RET with point on 
them) to follow the reference.  These references are used for related 
variables and functions and for showing the function's source, for 
example.

>    But, the interface for this cross referencing is
>    cumbersome. I can fire up info, describe variable, customize in
>    their own seperate ways, but it would be nicer for a beginner to
>    presented with a single buffer with everything you might want to
>    read or modify or use regarding that item.

I'm afraid ``everything'' would take so much space that users will be 
unwilling to wade through all that stuff...