as i rust new comer, i find that docs.rs is one of the most, and efficient api documentation out there. there are a list of tweaks and ideas that i believe once added they may improve accessibility and may help beginners like me better use docs.rs
and decrease the number of time we switch between tabs, which is quite anoying to be honest.
Simple and easy to implement
a button to copy crate version
i find my self many times in a crate doc, and i need to copy its version, so i need to switch crates.io locate the library and copy the version, as a beginner i find this to be very annoying
a page that index api required by a feature
its not clear when i browse an api, what feature should be enabled, and its painful, because i need to use eather google and if i am lucky ill find it, or try to look for hints, it could be helpful if the feature required by the api is under its declaration, or just a page that indexes all the api and there features, i prefer the first one.
improve search
the search as is (fuzzy) is good, but not enough, sometimes i want to search for exact word, but i don't know how i should do it. for now i clone the repo, and using vim+fzf i search for the exact api name, but it could be good if its builtin in docs.rs
Probably difficult and requires time
history of navigation
when i am browsing api, i tend to click so i can follow the return type, some times the return types are deep, it will be helpful if there is a sidebar, that keep track of the history of clicks, so once i reach a level deep, i can click on any parent and go back to it.
tree
this one is probably more difticult to implement, but imagine if we could have a page like the introduction page that contains a tree representation of all the api in the crate, which one called which, and you can simply click on the one we want and go to it, or even better, the tree will filtered down by a search key, that will leave only the path that contains the result of the search key, i have many ideas about this tree, but i am sure it will make rust developers easier, especially if a developer can see the whole picture instead of keeping track of api in a notepad, or a papier and pencil like i do.
i am not talking about the uml representation, simply using the data already exist, api
-> return type
because i guess (at least for me) these are the most important piece of information i need when using a crate, so if they are easily accessible, they can help making sense of the crate