diff -r 01581e8b50f2 Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py	Mon May 07 23:50:05 2012 +0200
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py	Mon May 07 21:35:21 2012 -0500
@@ -411,6 +411,7 @@
         self.rpcclt.register("flist", self.tkconsole.flist)
         self.rpcclt.register("linecache", linecache)
         self.rpcclt.register("interp", self)
+        self.rpcclt.register("pager", self.tkconsole.pager)
         self.transfer_path(with_cwd=True)
         self.poll_subprocess()
         return self.rpcclt
@@ -857,10 +858,9 @@
             sys.stderr = self.stderr
             sys.stdin = self
         try:
-            # page help() text to shell.
+            # page help() text to a textView widget
             import pydoc # import must be done here to capture i/o rebinding.
-            # XXX KBK 27Dec07 use a textView someday, but must work w/o subproc
-            pydoc.pager = pydoc.plainpager
+            pydoc.pager = self.pager
         except:
             sys.stderr = sys.__stderr__
             raise
@@ -1245,6 +1245,28 @@
             if not use_subprocess:
                 raise KeyboardInterrupt
 
+    def pager(self, text):
+        import pydoc
+        from idlelib.textView import view_text
+        plaintext = pydoc.plain(text)
+        if self.use_help_window:
+            parent = self.top
+            rawstr = r"\AHelp on[^\n]*(?=:)"
+            m = re.search(rawstr, plaintext)
+            if m:
+                title = m.group()
+            else:
+                title = 'Help Pager'
+            view_text(parent, title, plaintext, modal=False)
+        else:
+            self.stdout.write(plaintext)
+
+    @property
+    def use_help_window(self):
+        # TODO: check option for rendering into shell or as window
+        return True
+
+
 class PseudoFile(object):
 
     def __init__(self, shell, tags, encoding=None):
diff -r 01581e8b50f2 Lib/idlelib/run.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/run.py	Mon May 07 23:50:05 2012 +0200
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/run.py	Mon May 07 21:35:21 2012 -0500
@@ -270,7 +270,9 @@
         sys.displayhook = rpc.displayhook
         # page help() text to shell.
         import pydoc # import must be done here to capture i/o binding
-        pydoc.pager = pydoc.plainpager
+        idle_pager = self.get_remote_proxy("pager")
+        pydoc.pager = lambda text: idle_pager.__call__(text)
+       
         from idlelib import IOBinding
         sys.stdin.encoding = sys.stdout.encoding = \
                              sys.stderr.encoding = IOBinding.encoding