RE: [External] : Re: Would you say this information window is well designed?

[Drew Adams]

> Yes, making symbols into links that go nowhere is an awful
> design, so the lookup has to be done before the buttonizing.

No, not necessarily; not IMHO.  There is no such
"has to be done".  _That_ is "an awful design",
AFAICT.

Users should themselves be able to decide this.
They're the ones who should decide what "has to
be done", and when.

In the design I use (one example; I don't claim
there is no better approach):

* A user can choose to never provide such links.

* Otherwise:

  . If a user doesn't want to pay a time penalty
    of finding out beforehand whether a given
    symbol is actually covered in (some set of)
    manuals (the set being decidable by the user),
    the action of the link is called out as
    _checking_ for the symbol in the manuals.
    IOW, the link is, in effect, a _search_ link.

  . If a user wants to pay a penalty of checking
    beforehand, a link is created only if a target
    is known.

Your "has to" approach seems to amount to that
last possibility: no link unless we're sure it
can take you to a relevant node of a manual.

IMHO, that's the _least_ useful of all the
possibilities we can (and I do) offer users.