Re: customizing a variable named in Info

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 21:34:28 -0400
> From: Peter S Galbraith <address@hidden>
> 
> It would be nice to have a way to identity an Emacs variable in texinfo
> sources such that when Emacs Info renders the page it can make the
> variable name clickable in order to customize it.

I think this is a good idea, but it needs to be elaborated a bit in
order to discuss its merits.

For example, do you want _every_ instance of a variable's name in the
manual to be clickable like that?  That could be a bit annoying.  If
only some instances should be clickable, how do we tell Info which
ones?

Also, how would Info know which symbol is a variable?  Variable names
have the @code markup, which they share with all other symbols:
functions, commands, X resources, environment variable names, etc.  I
think we might need a new Texinfo directive for this.  Or we could
have makeinfo generate something special for a variable mentioned in
a paragraph that has a @vindex entry before it.

> I know I can put point on the string, do `C-h v' and then click on
> customize, but such a feature would make customizable variables stand
> out and the documentation would therefore render the information in a
> more efficient way (specially for new users).

Perhaps some shorter procedure, like a key binding for "customize the
variable at point", would do?