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Thoughts about the man page

Thoughts about the man page

From:
Adam Vandenberg
Date:
2011-05-28 @ 05:06
The man page currently lists brew subcommands in rough order of
usefulness / usage.

While I like having the most used stuff on the top, it also bugs me
that the list isn't alphabetized, since that makes it easier to scan
for certain commands.

Does anyone of a strong opinion on this?

Re: [homebrew] Thoughts about the man page

From:
Mike McQuaid
Date:
2011-05-28 @ 08:49
On 28 May 2011, at 06:06, Adam Vandenberg wrote:

> The man page currently lists brew subcommands in rough order of
> usefulness / usage.
> 
> While I like having the most used stuff on the top, it also bugs me
> that the list isn't alphabetized, since that makes it easier to scan
> for certain commands.
> 
> Does anyone of a strong opinion on this?

I've read studies (that I can't remember the source for) that indicate 
that non-alphabetical ordering is no easier to search than random for most
people. As a result, I'm strongly favour of alphabetical :)

--
Mike McQuaid
http://mikemcquaid.com

Re: [homebrew] Thoughts about the man page

From:
Birger J. Nordølum
Date:
2011-05-28 @ 11:50
Count me in for alphabetical order. I have been thinking about the same 
issue, regarding the messy man page.

Good catch! :)

-- 
Birger J. Nordølum
Sent with Sparrow (http://bit.ly/sigsprw)

On Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 10:49 AM, Mike McQuaid wrote:

> 
> On 28 May 2011, at 06:06, Adam Vandenberg wrote:
> 
> > The man page currently lists brew subcommands in rough order of
> > usefulness / usage.
> > 
> > While I like having the most used stuff on the top, it also bugs me
> > that the list isn't alphabetized, since that makes it easier to scan
> > for certain commands.
> > 
> > Does anyone of a strong opinion on this?
> 
> I've read studies (that I can't remember the source for) that indicate 
that non-alphabetical ordering is no easier to search than random for most
people. As a result, I'm strongly favour of alphabetical :)
> 
> --
> Mike McQuaid
> http://mikemcquaid.com

Re: [homebrew] Thoughts about the man page

From:
Andre Arko
Date:
2011-05-28 @ 05:26
On May 27, 2011, at 10:06 PM, Adam Vandenberg wrote:

> While I like having the most used stuff on the top, it also bugs me
> that the list isn't alphabetized, since that makes it easier to scan
> for certain commands.
> 
> Does anyone of a strong opinion on this?

I'm not sure if this counts as a strong opinion, but what we did for 
Bundler's man page was create a (very short) list of "core" commands, and 
put those first. I don't think we alphabetized, though. 
http://gembundler.com/man/bundle.1.html

Re: [homebrew] Thoughts about the man page

From:
Dreamcat4
Date:
2011-05-28 @ 08:39
On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 6:26 AM, Andre Arko <andre@arko.net> wrote:
> On May 27, 2011, at 10:06 PM, Adam Vandenberg wrote:
>
>> While I like having the most used stuff on the top, it also bugs me
>> that the list isn't alphabetized, since that makes it easier to scan
>> for certain commands.
>>
>> Does anyone of a strong opinion on this?
>
> I'm not sure if this counts as a strong opinion, but what we did for 
Bundler's man page was create a (very short) list of "core" commands, and 
put those first. I don't think we alphabetized, though. 
http://gembundler.com/man/bundle.1.html
>

Or you can do both: alphabetize the core list. Then alphabetize the remaining.

>