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- From: mforget@elfhaven.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Michel Forget)
- Subject: Re: Wholemeal Digestive [avg][7 Jun 94]
- Date: Sat, 4 Jun 1994 01:32:56 -0600
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Precedence: bulk
-
- In <9406070944.AA12643=avg@mijt.cwi.nl>, Annius Groenink writes:
- [Subject: Re: Wholemeal Digestive [avg][7 Jun 94]]
-
-
- [> I'll be straight. I don't like it at all. Having code numbers is
- [> trouble, as someone will need to keep track of the codes. It is much
- [> better to prefix special new codes with the name of the application (as
- [> suggested above) in order to make the standard much more freely useable.
- [> We simply add the clause that if field number 1 is not either empty or
- [> equal to the name of your application or your application class, you
- [> must ignore it. (Precisely as in .Xdefaults plus the extra bit for
- [> application classes.)
-
- Well, this does seem like a better idea than having to request a series
- of codes from a central authority. The main advantage of this method
- would be expandability; on the other hand, the user could still mess
- everything up by changing the wording of one of the data lines or
- adding a space somewhere. A utility would be needed for users (no matter
- which data file format is used).
-
- [> Annius:
- [> Just in case you might find it interesting, future versions of Edith
- [> will have a similar feature. Edith will read MANPATH for WHATIS files,
- [> and use the information in those files to INTELLIGENTLY derive a
- [> hypertext based click-and-browse manual page system. The big difference
- [> is it will work with plain ASCII files (with special meaning attached to
- [> phrases in boldface, Esc p, q), i.e. no need to write dedicated
- [> hypertext files.
-
- Why strictly ASCII files? The main advantage of using a program like
- ST-Guide is that you can have images, diagrams, boxes, circles, text
- effects, and other features to make your online help presentable. Since
- it is an external program, it also does not add to the size of your
- application.
-
- [> Access will also provided by Gemini command line message (VA_START) in
- [> the accessory version. Perhaps it would be possible to adopt ST-Guide's
- [> message format? (what is its format?)
-
- ST-Guide uses VA_START, yes.
-
- [> Not at all! It would be a way to move all your help files to the f:\
- [> disk for example.
-
- Er, what? I'm not sure I follow this point. Is there any particular
- reason why you would not want your data files in the same directory
- as your program?
-
- [> --
- [> Annius V. Groenink | E-mail: avg@cwi.nl | Private & ZFC:
- [> CWI, Kruislaan 413 | Room: M233 | P.O. Box 12079
- [> 1098 SJ Amsterdam | Ext: 4077 | NL 1100 AB Amsterdam
- [> Netherland | Phone: +31 20 592 4077 | Phone: +31 20 695 9901
-
-
- --
- () ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ () ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ()
- () Michel Forget / Electric Storm Software () My cat stole my ()
- () mforget@elfhaven.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca () opinions, and pawned ()
- () ess@tibalt.supernet.ab.ca () them off for milk. ()
- () ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ () ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ()
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