Ralph pointed out to me, off list, that my assessment of the original man macros ("piss-poor"), could be construed as insulting to Doug, who laid out the original structure of manpages.
First off, thanks, Ralph. Secondly, Doug--no slight intended. We're discussing specifics of macro implementation and usage, not the original conception, which was forward looking and made manpages an indispensable, enduring feature of Unix computing. I hold you in the highest possible regard. Cheers. -- Peter Schaffter http://www.schaffter.ca