You'll probably hate it less, if you start to use vi commands for searching.
G -- to go to the end of the document Capital-G / -- To find a word use /, n, N (slash followed by search word, n for next, N for previous) e.g. $ man ls /color<enter> > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Ralph Shumaker > Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 12:33 PM > To: Main Discussion List for KPLUG > Subject: I hate "info" (and "man") (and love them too) > > > I hate "info". I like how much information is there. I guess I just > hate it because I haven't yet figured out how to navigate through it. > I've tried to figure it out. (There's a lot of info in "info info".) > Usually, I just use the space bar to go through it a page at a time. > Using any other keys I usually end up in places totally unrelated. And > even using the space bar, in some topics it gets to a certain place > where it just starts looping through the same series of pages. Did I > mention that I hate "info"? I think at this point, I would prefer to > have everything in html pages, particularly if I can modify them easily > to correct the myriad mistakes I find (usually the grammar of someone > whose english is not their first language, secondly mistakes that happen > when one goes back and edits text without properly proofreading > afterwards, but thirdly sometimes mistakes in instructions or examples > (info tar has quite a few of these. (in rh9 (Worry not. I'm in the > process of moving up to fc3. (I tried fc4 but it wouldn't work on my > PC.)))). Assuming the html pages are simply black on white with links > in blue, I would like to change previous text to a strikeout font, add > my changes in green (links still blue but enclosed by green "<>"), and > any mistakes that I cannot figure out what they intended to say, just > change them to red. Hopefully, the authors would be interested in my > efforts. > > I hate "man" for its lack of clear examples. For those who a well > versed in such mystic chants, the examples couldn't be clearer. I can > never think of nor find good examples when I want them, but in "man ls" > is this: > --backup[=CONTROL] > make a backup of each existing destination file > > Now, those of you who understand this without further explanation > perhaps cannot comprehend why those like me just don't get it. There is > no explanation of what CONTROL is. Now I *do* understand that =CONTROL > is an option because I understand that the brackets signify this. > > In many places in "man", I find myself reading through a whole bunch of > explanation that I'm just not picturing, and find myself *craving* an > example. But, that being said, an example by itself is never enough. I > also want to see (with the example) actual output of what that example > does. With html, it would be easy to have a link (_example_) which can > be ignored by anyone who doesn't need it. > > I like info more than man in that it gives more information including > examples and such. > > I like man more than info in that it has nowhere near as much to plod > through when I want something simple and specific. > > On the subject of liking and hating things, one thing I hate about html > (and several others, including man (but *not* info)) is how page-down > works when you hit the last page. In man, most of the time that I hit > page-down, I resume reading at the very top line (very consistent) until > the last page comes up. The bottom of the text does a hard stop at the > bottom of the screen giving me whiplash of the brain. At this point, I > have to tell the reading center of my brain "Ahem! Experiencing > technical difficulties. Please stand by while I scan the page for the > last words I was reading. Once I find them, I will back up to the > beginning of the thought that was so brutally interrupted and restart > reading from that point. Please stand by. I'm sure I will find that > stupid text I was just reading any moment now. Please stand by. ... > ... ... Erm, what was I just reading? Crap!!~! Please stand by > while I go back to the top of the man page, hit page down until I find > myself back to where I was before I hit that infernally stoopid > page-down button. Please stand by. Almost there. Almost there. Hey, > this damn page is a lot longer than I thought it was. Shit, I'm nowhere > near the end yet. Please stand by. Please stand by. Aah, I think > we're here. Damn. False alarm. Please stand by. Please stand... > SHIT!!! I hit the damned end again. Here we go again." (Yes, I'm > exagerating the process, but not the emotions.) Why the hell can't all > pagers (including html) remain consistent between ALL pages, including > the last one!?! I think all html pages should have as their last line > "No more after this." and followed by about a hundred newlines. Same > goes for all man pages (either that or change the default-installation > page-down-default to mimick ESC-spacebar.) > > Speaking of default-installation defaults, is there any reason for the > seemingly-insane default of Num-Lock being disabled? > > > > -- > [email protected] > http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
