Re: Info enhancements (was: Re: HTML as info format)

[Juri Linkov <juri@jurta.org>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@elta.co.il> writes:
> [I have no idea why mailman sent me this message from 2 weeks ago.]
>> From: Juri Linkov <juri@jurta.org>
>> Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:29:54 +0200
>> 
>> Current Info format can't make a link to another part of the same
>> Info node.
>
> I think you miss the @anchor directive, introduced in Texinfo 4.x.
>
>> The same problem appears in the Glossary node of the Emacs manual,
>> where links to the same node are marked by the "(q.v.)".
>
> Arguably, we could modify the Glossary by using anchors in the online
> formats.

Yes, using anchors might be a more clean solution, but it has one
drawback: it will generate too many excessive references in the tag
table for its Info file.  And these references will be mixed up with
node names, e.g. in the completion list of `Info-goto-node'.  Maybe
this is not too bad to jump directly to the glossary term definition
by `Info-goto-node', but seems that its disadvantages outweigh a
little convenience it provides.

I solved this problem by using reference names for finding correct
position within an Info node by calling the function `Info-find-index-name'
with reference name after selecting an Info node.  For example,
instead of the text "is shared by an indirect buffer (q.v.@:)" the text
"is shared by an @ref{Glossary,indirect buffer}" could be used.

But I just noticed one problem with using it in the Glossary node.
If some glossary term coincides with the node name then Info jumps to
this node instead of finding a term in the some Glossary node.  It's
because the function `Info-follow-reference' always selects the first
occurrence of the "*Note:" text within one Info node.  For example, if
Glossary node has two following references:

     *Note Input Methods::.
     *Note input method: Glossary.

it will always jump to the first reference even if point was on second
before calling the `Info-follow-reference' function.  I hope this
should be fixed somehow in this function.

>> There are other problems with the current Info format.  For example,
>> currently there is no way to hide the address part of the link without
>> corrupting the paragraph formatting.
>
> IMHO, the current way to hide the address of the link is still
> experimental and needs further work.

I already fixed some its deficiencies, so now it looks quite good.
It don't cause too long lines, but still don't fix too short lines.
But I think too short lines is not a big problem.  Long lines were
much worse, because they became partially invisible when truncated.

>> After hiding the address part of
>> the link lines become either too short or too long.  For example, lines:
>> 
>>    See *Note Customizing Indentation: (ccmode)Customizing Indentation, for
>> more information on customizing indentation for C and related modes,
>> 
>> in Info the first line becomes too short:
>> 
>>    See Customizing Indentation for
>> more information on customizing indentation for C and related modes,
>
> Doing this in some other way, like physically erasing the text we now
> hide and then re-filling the paragraph, would solve this.  In any
> case, this problem is not relevant to Info format per se, it is due to
> the way the Emacs Info reader renders an Info document.

The proper refilling in the Emacs Info reader is impossible because
Info file format loses some information about formatting presented in
a source Texinfo file, like @*, @w{...}, etc.

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