RE: How to make Emacs popular again.

[Drew Adams]

> >> C-h f kill-line
> >> put point somewhere on 'kill-line' in the docstring
> >> C-h S
> >>
> >> Now making that more widely known would help, I think.
> >
> > Yes.  A start is to what I do in `help-mode+.el': change the help-echo
> > on a linked symbol, so it includes mention of `C-h S'.  This trivial
> > change could be made to `help-mode.el'.
> >
> > IOW, instead of just
> >   "mouse-2, RET: describe this symbol"
> > say:
> >   "mouse-2, RET: describe, C-h S RET: check manual"
> 
> This help-echo is not present in all help buffers, I see it only in C-h m
> (describe-mode) buffers.

I see it generally.  What do you see when you
use `C-h f defcustom' or `C-h v print-circle?
Don't you see links for each of the quoted
(`...') functions and vars?

> And it is necessary to put point on the symbol
> before pressing C-h S RET.

If that's considered a big hurdle then we can
add a mouse binding for it on such links.

> Wouldn't a "See also chapter N ZZZZ in the Emacs manual." and/or "For
> programmers, see also chapter N ZZZZ in the Emacs Lisp manual." (with
> hyperlinks) at the end of ordinary help buffers be much more useful?

For which symbols?  Are you going to add such a
see-also for each quoted name in a `*Help*' buffer?

In general, that's what `C-h S' works on: each such
name.  That is, we generally put links on the names
that `C-h S' will work for.

> I can only speak for myself, but this is what I
> would have found useful when I started using Emacs.

I've long said that we need that for the thing that
is the subject of the `*Help*' buffer.  And we do
have it for some `*Help*' buffers - e.g., `C-h f
defcustom'.

But I don't think it makes sense to add that for
each quoted name that has a help link.

Inline (i.e., in-context) links are better, in
general, than a pile of see-also's at the end of
the buffer.

And we already have such links for recognized
quoted names.  What's missing is providing more
info, or additional navigation possibilities, for
such names.