63317 - Maintain docs for "Internet Keywords"

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(www.mozilla.org :: General, defect)

Description

[Tobias Burnus]

Hi, clicking on "more information" in the preferences of internet keywords
should open a window (loaded from the harddisk not from the net, as it is done
for cookies and internetsecurity) which explains how to use them (go keyword
syntax as I learned from bug 58141).
Presently www.mozilla.org is opened which isn't really a help.
(I dislike (a) that there is no explanation and (b) that it accesses the net.)

Comment 1

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

The current "explanation" is definitely unenlightening.  status -> new

Comment 2

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

Clicking on "More Information" makes it pretty hard to find the preferences
window after reading the page - the browser window hides the preferences window.
Futhermore, after closing the window you can see the preferences window with a
window in the back - the one you just closed???

And when choosing Edit/Preferences in the "explanation window" again, the
preferences don't appear, and you can't do anything w/ Mozilla, at least not
with the current window.

Comment 3

[Keyser Sose]

Triaging the Most doomed (which Happens to Ben right now :)

Adding polish keyword.

Comment 4

[Blake Ross]

-> UI Design for wording/best help

Comment 5

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Internet Keywords are Netscape, not Mozilla, right? (And if not, why not?) So 
what does it have to do with me?

See also bug 52372, which (IMO) hasn't been properly fixed yet.

Comment 6

[Claudius Gayle]

not exactly. Keywords are built-in to the browser. Netscape makes more open use of them by
including a keyword dropdown next to the url bar  - but that doesn't mean they don't still work
just fine. In the NS build, clicking 'more info' opens up a new browser window connected to a page
that amazingly enough, contains more information.

So, if the summary of this bug is the true goal - then your more info is available. You could
point to the page(I guess) or host a similar version, or do this like all the other prefs and simply
load a static page that is shipped with the browser.

Comment 7

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Well, I don't see why:
*   opening a browser window, in which the menus appear enabled but cannot be
    clicked, can possibly be acceptable (no matter what page the browser
    opens);
*   a feature should exist in a non-commercial build of Mozilla which exists
    solely to take you to pages on Netscape.com (blocks bug 14532);
*   a feature should exist in Mozilla at all where typing `quote Shakespeare'
    in the address field will result in something different from a Web search
    for Shakespeare quotes.

So I think Internet Keywords should go away. But while they're in Mozilla, the 
proper place to provide help for them is in the online help, not in a browser 
window. --> Help

Comment 8

[Blake Ross]

--> Ian

Comment 9

[rudman]

Setting to Moz 1.0.

Comment 10

[benc]

The mozilla default was changed to:

http://www.mozilla.org/docs/end-user/internet-keywords.html

in another bug, where I asked to change the default to "off" and then provide
better documentation.

http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=100412

I'm currently re-writing the documentation for that page, because the initial
write up was not as oriented to the mozilla community as I would have liked.

So, I guess you could legitimately assign this bug to me.

I've put my latest draft in the URL field.
http://www.packetgram.com/pktg/mozilla/bugzilla/63317/InternetKeywords.html

Comment 11

[benc]

-> docs. This is a web page, not in-line documentation.

Comment 12

[benc]

I've re-written the draft in the URL, and checked it into mozilla.org

Once it appears, I'm going to resolve this bug.

I am considering creating a "feedback:" bug for that document, and link the
document to the feedback bug, but nobody seems to use that on my other pages.

If you have immediate feedback, please let me know here.

Comment 13

[benc]

This is done.

Terri, if you are not the QA of this feature, please re-assign to the component
tester.

Also, there are problems with where the links should go in the doc structure,
see bug 186031.

Comment 14

[Brant Gurganus]

V

Comment 15

[benc]

Updated docs:

Removed or updated Netscape, Phoenix references. Changed examples b/c we now use
google. Explained changes to google, and how it will work.

Comment 16

[benc]

Need to add a "IK != search" paragraph, and a "IK server examples" section would
be nice too.

Comment 17

[Jonathan Nieder]

Attachment: Suggestions about grammar, usage, and the use of the H2 tag

I have attached a patch with my nitpicks about grammar, usage, and HTML.  Note
that I am not a developer, and so I do not know of any style guidelines or
things like that I should be following.  I simply wish
http://www.mozilla.org/docs/end-user/internet-keywords.html to be more
readable.

Comment 18

[Jonathan Nieder]

Sorry for the spam-like double post.

I have done a little more research, and I found two pages with
documentation already written that are as readable as I would
like.  One is the basis of the second part of the end-user docs
we already have:

http://www.packetgram.com/pktg/mozilla/bugzilla/63317/InternetKeywords.html

However, it has a coherence that was lost with revision (probably
to avoid alienating end-users who are not developers, as well as
to add mention of the change to Google's I'm Feeling Lucky as a
keyword server).  Another of its features lost in the mists of
time is its link to the second well-written page I mentioned:

http://wp.netscape.com/escapes/keywords/index.html

Netscape's documentation of Internet Keywords is very well made,
useful for end-users, and useful for developers.  As it is not
under the control of mozilla.org, to use it in the current Mozilla
doc's stead would require getting AOL to release their copyright
on it to mozilla.org (or FDL it, etc).  I don't know how difficult
that would be.

I suggest that http://www.mozilla.org/docs/end-user/internet-keywords.html
be replaced with a short page containing:
 * a paragraph explaining Internet Keywords' default behavior in Firefox
    (Internet Keywords allows you to access a page without knowing its
     address by sending unresolved requests in the location bar to
     Google's I'm Feeling Lucky service.)
 * a link to Netscape's page for novice users, and information on Netscape's
keyword server
 * a link to a local copy of [e-mail]'s page at packetgram.com for
experienced users, or those wondering about internals

Comment 19

[benc]

REOPEN: 
boy I'm in trouble, because, I wrote the mozilla page to replace the other two
pages!

I will look at the suggestions you made. The document was targeted to an
audience that wanted more explaination than the usual online help, but might
need some updating now that we have Moz + FF.

Comment 20

[benc]

I'm doing my annual doc review... does this doc need to be re-written to be
FF-centric? Or do we need a separate doc for FF?

Comment 21

[benc]

Should we add more comments about other keyword servers, like Bug 258838?

Comment 22

[Daniel Wang]

> NOTE: The change was made in "all.js", which means each installed version
> carries its own default value. Unless you changed keyword.url in your profile,
> the newer versions will use Google.

can be reduced to "The change should take effect on upgrade unless you have
customized the server setting"

The page should link to http://dev.skamp.net/keyword/

Comment 23

[Anne (:annevk)]

Jonathan, could perhaps update the patch and request review from the owner of
the document or someone else capable of reviewing the document?

Comment 24

[benc]

I re-wrote a lot of the context of this document to reflect the state-of-the-world, (aka Firefox 2.0). I'm mostly interested in working on fixing/improving core features, so I will not be contributing FF-only docs. Someone is welcome to make a shorter version, and I would be happy to review it and help out.

Checking in mozilla-org/html/docs/end-user/internet-keywords.html;
/www/mozilla-org/html/docs/end-user/internet-keywords.html,v  <--  internet-keywords.html
new revision: 1.14; previous revision: 1.13
done

- did not use  http://dev.skamp.net/keyword/, b/c it seems to be gone.
- sometime in the next year, www.packetgram.com will probably go away too (my domain).

Comment 25

[benc]

Jonathan,

I tried to follow your patch, but then CVS doctor died on me.

Your html suggestions should be followed in my change above (to the best of my ability).

I'm going to do another edit to pick up the glaring grammatical errors, but it would be nice if you reviewed the new document. Rather than a patch, I suggest making numbered suggestions in a bug comment, b/c I can check them off one-by-one.

Comment 26

[benc]

->fixed.