Re: Index entry for Object Replacement Character

[Xue Fuqiao]

On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 1:59 AM, Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> wrote:
> I don't understand why you added an index entry for this.  Can you
> explain?
>
> Here's my take on this: Index entries exist to make it easier for the
> reader to find the description/discussion of a subject.  In this case,
> the subject of the text where the Object Replacement Character is
> reordering of display properties in bidirectional text.  The fact that
> the Emacs implementation treats text covered by a display property as
> if it were a single character with the bidirectional properties of
> u+FFFC is an implementation detail, mentioned by the way for those who
> are interested enough to look up that character.  The text does not
> explain anything about that character, and doesn't say why it was
> chosen for this role.  The character is mentioned once, and that's it.
>
> Therefore, I find it hard to believe that any reader will thing about
> this character's name as a good string to try at the prompt of the
> Info's 'i' command.  Likewise, I see no reason why someone who wants
> to know about this character will look for its description in the ELisp
> manual.  So having this index entry there is not useful.
>
> More generally, not every term you see in a manual deserves an index
> entry.  It only does deserve an entry if (a) the term is described and
> explained at that place, and (b) there's a high probability that
> readers will think about the phrase you put in an index entry when
> they are looking for the subject described at that place.

Thanks, I agree with you.  Sorry for the noise commit and I'll note that
in the future.

(I've reverted the change as trunk revision 115004.)

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