Doc #73698 [Opn]: It's hard to find standard PHP library functions in Function Reference

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=73698&edit=1 ID: 73698 Updated by: cmb@php.net Reported by: sobak@php.net Summary: It's hard to find standard PHP library functions in Function Reference Status: Open Type: Documentation Problem Package: Documentation problem PHP Version: Irrelevant Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: > It's all about xml:id's and their hierarchy, what defines our > TOC's, right? Well, the structure is defined by manual.xml.in[1], and could be changed (or perhaps augmented). [1] <http://svn.php.net/viewvc/phpdoc/doc-base/trunk/manual.xml.in?view=markup> Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2016-12-09 07:56:23] sobak@php.net Description: ------------ Hi, I started a non-biding discussion on /r/php regarding ways we could improve PHP Manual experience. One of complaints (which I also heard before) is that it's hard to find PHP standard library functions. https://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/5h7c5w/how_can_be_the_php_manual_improved/daz2jj8/ I think that I know the reasoning behind that. Moreover, I think is valid. There is hard to define what exactly "PHP Standard Library" is (I'm talking about SPL). One version of PHP can have php-src/ext/calendar/ bundled and other can not. Extensions can also be excluded when compiling etc, etc. But let's focus on php-src/ext/standard for now. Those are basic functions which are always available, but finding them in the manual using TOC's is rather difficult. Let's take file_exists() as an example - pretty basic function. php.net/manual/en/ (or even PHP.net -> Documentation -> English) -> Function Reference -> File System Related Extensions -> Filesystem -> Filesystem Functions -> file_exists() Not only it's very long way to get there, I think that most of these people is lost on "File System Related Extensions". I doubt they treat file_extists() as any kind of an extension (once again, I do understand, why we treat it as such in terms of manual structure). So, what I would propose is either: 1) Restructure phpdoc/reference/ to contain /standard/ directory, then divided into /strings/, /array/, /filesystem/ etc. (what exactly should be included there is another part of discussion, I think). That sounds good, but I'm not even sure whether our current build system would allow that. It's all about xml:id's and their hierarchy, what defines our TOC's, right? 2) Don't change the hierarchy and structure at all but somehow hardcode URL's to them on top of "Function Reference". Something like: Function Reference - Standard library -- Arrays -- Filesystem -- Strings - Affecting PHP's Behaviour - Audio Formats Manipulation - Authentication Services [...] I'm willing to take care of implementing that, but I'd like to know opinions of more experienced Doc Team's members. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=73698&edit=1