On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 3:29 PM, ral <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, > > I for one really Hate the new format of php.net. In the old days when I > wanted to look up the proper usage of a function (or other code) I could go > to php.net and on the main page type the function name into the search > field and instantly got links to the documentation I needed. Now after > clicking on several links I still have not found the information I need. I > am simply looking for the syntax of the explode command. In the old days > this was a simple task, now it is an arduous, grueling journey through > pages of useless links. The new format simply sucks. > > -- > PHP Webmaster List Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > >
Actually the search functionality for php.net has been significantly improved in the new version with autocomplete available for all functions/classes/extensions in the manual. You get instant autocomplete suggestions as you type in the search box. This is an improvement from the old version, which did not offer this feature. I will submit that searching for things like language constructs, or dubious search phrases, which do not directly yield a function/class/extension name as a result, may lead to a search page of potential candidate function names.There will be the added option of a full web-search (to the right-hand margin of the page), which requires an extra step to get to the results. However, this is not typically a problem for most people since much of what you are searching for on php.net is usually searched using a function/class/method/extension name as the search query. Most language constructs like if,elseif,else,foreach,for,switch,echo,eval,etc.., and even some magic variables like $php_errormsg, and many predefined constants should also yield a direct result. This eliminates the extra step of first arriving at a search result page and then forcing the user to chose a link to the desired page in the manual. This was the old behavior.
