GNU bug report logs - #32950
27.0.50; Strange display bug in *Help* buffer

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From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Filipp Gunbin <fgunbin <at> fastmail.fm>
Cc: 32950 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#32950: 27.0.50; Strange display bug in *Help* buffer
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2018 23:00:52 +0300

> From: Filipp Gunbin <fgunbin <at> fastmail.fm>
> Cc: 32950 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2018 18:28:55 +0300
> 
> > Yes.  This is the intended behavior.  Go to that black line and type
> > "M-x describe-text-properties RET": you will see what it tries to do.
> > Also try the same on a GUI frame.
> 
> I see these text props there:
> 
>   face                 (:height 0.1 :inverse-video t)
> 
> Yes, it's inverse-video, but it does not provide an explanation.

I'm not sure I follow: explanation for what?  The ":height 0.1" part
is supposed to explain that the intent is to display a thin horizontal
line, except that TTY frames don't support variable-height lines, so
you see a normal-height line there in inverse video.

> Anyway, it looks somewhat scary for an unprepared user.  Why don't we
> just show usual help for variable/function separately, and make this
> "list"?

I'm sure that whoever coded this thought it to be a very coll feature,
so all I can advise is to get used to it.

> I doubt that even experienced users know about this feature.

Well, I, for one, do.

Not every surprising feature should be an immediate candidate for
removal.

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