Features? When to use Views, when Vocabulary Index? [documentation]

You will understand Vocabulary Index's use best if you actually try the module, but I'll try to give a brief description:

Vocabindex allows you to create pages or blocks listing the terms within a vocabulary with just a few clicks. Those lists are no ordinary flat lists, although these are possible in one case if you haven't got a hierarchical vocabulary. Possible options are the alphabetical view (view as in 'display mode', don't confuse with the views Views module produces) where terms are sorted by their first letter. There is a subpage for every letter (or other character) listing only the terms starting with that letter. Another view are term trees, where terms are nested. Optionally you may enable the shipped JavaScript file to expand and collapse these trees. The third and last view is the browsable view, that allows you to browse through a vocabulary exactly like you would browse through directories on your hard drive.

There are other modules that offer similar functionaly, but they are hard to manage (like creating browsable vocabularies with Views), are rather limited or don't offer the same user experience. Taxonomy Browser, for instance, offers more powerful ways to select terms, but it is less usable for ordinary users. That's the power of Vocabulary Index: it's easy to setup and use.

I hope I have answered your question to satisfaction. Please try the module and create an issue if you think something can be done better.

By the way: Most features I described above are present in version 2 only. The beta and since a few days the dev version are very stable, so I suggest you give them a try. A final version will come out within a few weeks and it will be followed by a backport to Drupal 5.

I'm nearly finished with verison 2 and after I have released the RC I will do another documentation round, rewriting existing texts where necessary or add new ones. I'll hijack this issue as a reminder. Thanks a lot for the idea!

Views is the Swiss pocket knife for creating your own 'lists' of taxonomy data (and users, nodes, comments, etc.), but it cannot do what Vocabulary Index does. If you want to browse through a vocabulary's hierarchy, view its terms as a nested tree or browse terms by letter, then Vocabulary Index is the right tool for the job. If you want plain lists with lots of filters, custom sorting and limits, for instance, then you should use Views.

This is what I just came up with and it is intended to be put on the vocabindex project page. I would very much like your opinion.