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Re: Latest texi/info to www


From: Robert J. Chassell
Subject: Re: Latest texi/info to www
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 21:33:14 +0000 (UTC)

   > > No, AFAIK, this feature was never considered for inclusion, or even 
   > > discussed.
   > 
   > Is that because of the information loss you cite, or are there other
   > things that make it a bad idea?

It was because of the information loss.  Texinfo is the source; HTML
is not as good a source format as Texinfo, but it is better than Info
and its features should be used.  Going from Info to HTML means you
are not using HTML features.  

Going from Texinfo to HTML means you lose the ability to navigate
throughout a multi-page document, but not other things.  You lose the
ability to navigate efficiently because of a fundamental deficiency in
HTML, which is that it does not distinguish between `own' and `other'
documents.  This is why Info is still the most efficient on-line
documentation system.

All this is a real pity.  But Berners-Lee was thinking only of single
pages when he designed the protocol.  And he thought of pictures,
since he was working in a wealthy environment (CERN) of sighted people
with fast Internet connections: it was the pictures that made HTML
such a success.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                  address@hidden
    Rattlesnake Enterprises             http://www.rattlesnake.com

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                  address@hidden
    Rattlesnake Enterprises             http://www.rattlesnake.com



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