Get formatted man pages

[#1]

See http://tips4linux.com/easily-read-man-pages-in-firefox/
This will require man2html and creates (if necessary) an Apache server for localhost.
Just type "man whatever" in the firefox toolbar to get a man page as a web page.
I've only tried it on Ubuntu (of course :)) - but it should work on anything as it's ancient software.

[#2]

I'm probably displaying my ignorance by asking this, but doesn't Ubuntu include a GUI-based application that does this for you?
I use Opensuse, where the help system, based on 'khelpcenter', does something similar without having to resort to running a web server and using a web browser. It also pulls together other sources of information in a single application window, which can all be searched, though the search feature is not as flexible as the 'apropos' command is for man pages. Khelpcenter is a KDE program, but Opensuse also makes it available to Gnome users too.

[#3]

I have a very basic graphical help facility - the yelp program, but it's far short of a full man page.

[#4]

I see what you mean, I've just searched for images of yelp and it looks very basic. It does display GNU Info pages though, which khelpcenter doesn't do, or at least not in my distro.