Re: Different types of link

[karderio <karderio gmail com>]

> The downside of using LINK, as Shaun pointed out in
> IRC, is that it won't appear at all in the printed
> version of the manual.
> In HTML & CSS, there's a neat technique to get round
> this problem of the location a link points to being
> hidden in print. You use CSS in a print-only
> stylesheet to generate text after the link element
> (see http://www.alistapart.com/stories/goingtoprint/ )
> We could use the same idea here, so we'd get:
> screen:  'The [resize pointer] is shown when the mouse
> is on the border.' 
> print:  'The resize pointer (section 2.2.2) is shown
> when the mouse is on the border.' 
> I mentioned this to Shaun yesterday, and he seemed to
> think it was doable.

This sounds like a neat idea, it would certainly let us exploit
functionality in the online docs to make the users life easier.

Would the excessive use of this type of link not make the printed
documentation less readable ? How about just ignoring them for the
printed docs, as in a book the user would have allready read the section
referenced.

> The third type of link is one to a different document.
> I have no idea if this is possible, but I think it is
> needed.
> An example: we recently had a patch for the manuals of
> two panel applets. The patch update the explanation of
> how to add the applet to the panel. The extra material
> was the same for both documents.
> The method of adding an applet to the panel is also
> explained in the desktop guide (or it should be).
> If the help for each panel applet could link to that
> section of the desktop guide,  we'd only have one
> piece of text to maintain when it changes in the
> future. Users wouldn't notice the difference; if
> anything, it would be better for users because there
> is less risk of some applets' helpfiles having out of
> date instructions.
> 
> What do you all think?
> Should I file an enhancement request for generating
> section numbers on link in print?
> What about making links to other documents?

Is it not allready possible to link between different documents ? I will
look in to it...