Free Deluxe Doclet - alternative Javadoc design

[Roedy Green]

You have a serious problem with deprecated methods. You can't even tell
that they are deprecated at all until you click on them. This makes it
even harder than usual to use the API docs for java.util.Date, for
example.

Maybe you can paint them in brown.

 

[Kari Ikonen]

For a more luxurious Java API experience.
http://www.ida.liu.se/~eribe/deluxe

Sadly my experience was far from luxurious.
(1) Requires far too much clicking
(2) Hides too much information.
(3) Expanding nodes cause content to shift constantly; requiring
more memory load just to refocus eyes.

Finding relevant part of API with standard javadoc is much easier, since,
(a) less clicking, works with keyboard much better
(b) scanning of text is faster, since spec is directly visible
(c) search functionality works

 

[eribe]

A matter of taste, I suspect. My research indicates that the
reorganisation and compact design with expandable sections is the
desired design. But it doesn't mean that other designs isn't better
for other purposes. I see the Deluxe Doclet as an alternative for the
Standard Doclet, built for speed and focusing on putting the most
frequently used information closest to the user for users that work
with Javadoc documentation when they program. The Standard Doclet is
out there for the ones that read classes once and then use more code
completion systems in IDEs to find methods and so forth when
programming. You should pick what you like.

 

[Roedy Green]

A matter of taste, I suspect.

It also depends what you doing. If you are reading about the class for
the first time, you want to read everything top to bottom. If you are
looking for something you know must be in there and you know roughly
its name or signature, the one liner lets you find it by rapid scan.

 

[Chris Uppal]

I see the Deluxe Doclet as an alternative for the
Standard Doclet, built for speed and focusing on putting the most
frequently used information closest to the user [...]
. The Standard Doclet is
out there for the ones that read classes once and then use more code
completion systems in IDEs to find methods and so forth when
programming.

Perhaps you could have an "expand all" link/option on the page for use when
someone wants to see the documentation as a text rather than as a map.

(BTW, I like your doclet format)

-- chris

 

[eribe]

An idea is to double the pages, run the Standard Doclet and the Deluxe
Doclet in parallell and then alow for switching like you say.

-- Erik