You're right, I'm relatively new to node. This is exactly why I have been reading the manuals of various packages. Apparently, I'm the only that does here.

You are just flat out wrong to say that projects don't say to install globally. Just after a super fast search of some well known packages:

Express npm install -g express-generator@3 https://www.npmjs.org/package/express

Mocha $ npm install -g mocha http://visionmedia.github.io/mocha/#installation

node jslint npm install jslint -g https://github.com/reid/node-jslint

Yeoman npm install -g yo http://yeoman.io/

Bower npm install -g bower http://bower.io/

JSHint $ npm install jshint -g http://www.jshint.com/docs/

Grunt npm install -g grunt-cli http://gruntjs.com/getting-started