From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Eli Zaretskii" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Enhancements to options menu (was Re: Reveal mode) Date: Tue, 07 May 2002 22:22:11 +0300 Sender: emacs-devel-admin@gnu.org Message-ID: <3277-Tue07May2002222211+0300-eliz@is.elta.co.il> References: <200205071830.g47IUWG07141@f7.net> Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost.gmane.org X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1020800397 15044 127.0.0.1 (7 May 2002 19:39:57 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 19:39:57 +0000 (UTC) Cc: jas@extundo.com, ttn@glug.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1 (Debian)) id 175AoX-0003uX-00 for ; Tue, 07 May 2002 21:39:57 +0200 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([199.232.76.164]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 175AwJ-0005vI-00 for ; Tue, 07 May 2002 21:47:59 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1 (Debian)) id 175Ad9-0004RB-00; Tue, 07 May 2002 15:28:11 -0400 Original-Received: from freya.inter.net.il ([192.114.186.14]) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1 (Debian)) id 175AYb-0003y4-00 for ; Tue, 07 May 2002 15:23:29 -0400 Original-Received: from Zaretsky ([80.230.2.40]) by freya.inter.net.il (Mirapoint Messaging Server MOS 2.9.3.2) with ESMTP id BKC06262; Tue, 7 May 2002 22:23:02 +0300 (IDT) Original-To: karl@freefriends.org X-Mailer: emacs 21.2.50 (via feedmail 8 I) and Blat ver 1.8.9 In-Reply-To: <200205071830.g47IUWG07141@f7.net> (karl@freefriends.org) Errors-To: emacs-devel-admin@gnu.org X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.9 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:3679 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:3679 > Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 14:30:32 -0400 > From: karl@freefriends.org > > How can the Info format support images? If the Info file is read in Emacs, the image can be displayed. In the stand-alone reader, some text could be available instead, perhaps an ASCII-art equivalent if possible, or a text description if not, just like with text-mode HTML browers. > If you make an ASCII drawing picture.txt, the @image command will read it. Right. But I think there should be some means of actually displaying the image if the browser can handle that. > There are no directives to describe a sequence of menu selections, > > Why not just use arrows? > start -> next -> next -> command It's a possibility, but not the prettiest one, I think. (I'm thinking about the printed version, mainly, not about plain-ASCII readers such as the stand-alone Info.) Most books I've seen that document GUI software have special glyphs to typeset this. > no way to typeset dialog boxes and other simple widgets, > > How can such things be represented in text-based Info? Similar to @image, with some ASCII art, I guess. > They're usually screen shots in other formats, which is probably what's > most useful to users. I'm not sure there's much point in > transliterating fancy gui stuff into text? Well, we do have @cartouche, for example. Isn't it possible to typeset a dialog box with a caption, a few buttons, etc., along the same lines? In other words, we don't need to confine ourselves to screen shots (those are not easy to create to begin with). The idea is to have special directives to typeset popular widgets where we nowadays use verbal descriptions. Again, I'm thinking primarily about the printed version, not about what the stand-alone Info will display. Many books about GUI programs use something like this, I'm sure you will find many examples in your favorite bookstore. (We even talked with you about this some time ago.) > Can ghostscript create ascii from .eps? I don't know. Anybody?