I think that some tweaking to the ranking of documentation search
results would help.
Oftentimes, I find that I have to scan down the search result list
looking at the small text at end end of each search result line to find
an appropriate manual, and only then look to the left at the titles.
Here's an example...
file:///home/neil/.racket/5.0.2/doc/search/index.html?q=port
(rnrs io ports (6)): I/O: Ports in r6rs
Attaching Documentation to Exports in syntax
clear-output-ports (method of text:ports<%>) provided from framework
Creating Ports in reference
Custom Ports in reference
Default Ports in guide
Exports: provide in guide
File Ports in reference
Fine-Grained Control Over Package Imports in planet
Garbage Collector Exports in plai
gunzip-through-ports provided from file/gunzip
gzip-through-ports provided from file/gzip
Imports: require in guide
input ports, pattern matching in reference
Managing Ports in reference
module->exports provided from racket/base, racket
module->imports provided from racket/base, racket
module-compiled-exports provided from racket/base, racket
module-compiled-imports provided from racket/base, racket
modules, imports in reference
In this particular case, I would've preferred to see the hits in the
"guide" and "reference" manuals ranked higher than "syntax",
"framework", and "r6rs" ones.
As a simple improvement, perhaps, for example, "guide" and "reference"
should be weighted more than "r6rs", in addition to whatever other
ranking is used, like TFIDF and whether there is an exact match for a
language identifier. This weighting by manual could be dependent on a
"context" query in the URL, which, when invoked from DrRacket, could
depend on the "#lang" line. (Looking at all the "require"s in effect
would be a lot trickier, but the "#lang" line is easy.) There could be
a little selection box beside the search text field, so that the user
could see the context bias and control it.
--
http://www.neilvandyke.org/
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