Re: On being web-friendly and why info must die

[David Kastrup]

Drew Adams <address@hidden> writes:

>> > Probably what I should do is write an Emacs command that does
>> > all of that from an Info node: grab the URL to that same manual
>> > node on the web.  But it's so quick to get it manually that I
>> > haven't bothered, so far.
>> 
>> To make that work reliably it might be reasonable to create a
>> Texinfo command to specify the "canonical" web location and have
>> this converted into something in Info that the info reader can
>> recognize and interpret.
>> 
>> This should actually even be workable for the standalone Info
>> reader.  Of course it relies on the HTML node name generation
>> being the same as the Info reader can readily guess.
>
> I would use such an Emacs command, if available.
>
> Would you like to put this in the form of an enhancement request
> (`M-x report-emacs-bug')?

Actually, that's ultimately more like a Texinfo enhancement.  Without
putting this information into the Info file, it would need to get
provided manually for each of the Info manuals you want to be using that
command on.

> If not, I will do so, but for the additional information you offered I
> can only point to what you said - I'm no expert on it.

Well, I can try passing the longterm request to Texinfo and it will take
some time to trickle down into both the sources of people's manuals as
well as into the Info file.  But if Emacs info already provides the
necessary functionality for manually provided information (customization
and prompt, likely), that would already be a benefit.  Even though the
full benefit with Texinfo help will probably take years to materialize
to significant degree.

So feel free to file the Emacs functionality request.

-- 
David Kastrup