On 2016-01-11 17:42, Paul A. Bristow wrote:
I use the PDF version regularly when updating Boost.Math - mainly to find things that I know are there (because I wrote them!) but can't find where.
It's the find/search power that is the killer application. (And it is portable of course).
And all this discussion focussing on the *look* of documentation is ignoring our main weakness -
how to FIND what you want to know???
Personally, I never search for anything in html. This is just nearly useless because even if I find what I'm looking for the result is difficult to read (in a text viewer, which for me is mc in 99% of cases and far in the other 1%). That is assuming my search doesn't produce a lot of noise results due to html markup. I've never seriously used pdf docs for Boost. I understand that it should be better in terms of noise results, but it just too inconvenient and heavy for me to use. Since most of the work I do is done from mc or a code editor like QtCreator, the pdf viewer feels like a fifth wheel (with a flat tire). So, when I search for something, I search in either the source code or the docs sources. Which is why I like QuickBook - it is perfectly readable in the source form and doesn't clutter the content with the markup. I'll emphasize that the above is written from the perspective of looking for something. When I want to learn something, i.e. read a considerable amount of text, possibly following links, I use html. It beats pdf as navigation is much easier.