Re: Info enhancements

[Robert J. Chassell]

   In this case, I like Stefan's idea of explicitly stating "line".  

Yes, this helps a great deal.

   Bob, I don't believe we can put the line numbers in front of the
   node names.  That would break existing readers.  ....

If you use `(line 999)' or `Line 999.' then the menu looks better when
the line numbers go after the node names.  The parenthetical format
looks better to me.

Will it look better if `(line 999)' is always on one line, rather than
broken over two lines?

Thus we might see

* electric-future-map:                   A Sample Variable Description. (line 
                                           999)

unless we make sure that the formatting produces:

* electric-future-map:                   A Sample Variable Description. 
                                           (line 999)

As far as I can see, using parenthetical line numbers, the node name
must end on column 65 (66 being the period), or else the line
expression should all go to the next line.  This puts the closing
parenthesis on column 78.

   I don't see the line indications have to align, ....

I think they will look better if aligned.  Many manuals, such as the
Calc manual, have lots of short node names.  The line numbers will
look better if also in a nice column -- maybe even with the numbers
themselves padded (invisibly) to four columns, so the right hand
parentheses line up.  Menu entries with longer node names push the
line numbers to the right, and that is that.

Thus a menu might look like this (which I indented to make the filling
more obvious):

    * histogram:                    Manipulating Vectors.   (line   78)
    * hms:                          Conversions.            (line   63)
    * holiday:                      Business Days.          (line  114)
    * hour:                         Date Functions.         (line   27)
    * hypot:                        Basic Arithmetic.       (line  174)
    * idiv:                         Basic Arithmetic.       (line  121)
    * idn:                          Building Vectors.       (line   44)
    * ierf:                         Other Features of Rewrite Rules.  
                                      (line   246)
    * if:                           Logical Operations.     (line   89)
    * ilog:                         Logarithmic Functions.  (line   27)

rather than:

    * histogram:                    Manipulating Vectors. (line   78)
    * hms:                          Conversions. (line   63)
    * holiday:                      Business Days. (line  114)
    * hour:                         Date Functions. (line   27)
    * hypot:                        Basic Arithmetic. (line  174)
    * idiv:                         Basic Arithmetic. (line  121)
    * idn:                          Building Vectors. (line   44)
    * ierf:                         Other Features of Rewrite Rules.  
                                      (line   246)
    * if:                           Logical Operations. (line   89)
    * ilog:                         Logarithmic Functions. (line   27)

With an alternative format a menu looks like this:

    * histogram:                    Manipulating Vectors.   Line   78.
    * hms:                          Conversions.            Line   63.
    * holiday:                      Business Days.          Line  114.
    * hour:                         Date Functions.         Line   27.
    * hypot:                        Basic Arithmetic.       Line  174.
    * idiv:                         Basic Arithmetic.       Line  121.
    * idn:                          Building Vectors.       Line   44.
    * ierf:                         Other Features of Rewrite Rules.  
                                      Line   246.
    * if:                           Logical Operations.     Line   89.
    * ilog:                         Logarithmic Functions.  Line   27.

or even

    * histogram:                    Manipulating Vectors.   Line   78
    * hms:                          Conversions.            Line   63
    * holiday:                      Business Days.          Line  114
    * hour:                         Date Functions.         Line   27
    * hypot:                        Basic Arithmetic.       Line  174
    * idiv:                         Basic Arithmetic.       Line  121
    * idn:                          Building Vectors.       Line   44
    * ierf:                         Other Features of Rewrite Rules. 
                                      Line   246
    * if:                           Logical Operations.     Line   89
    * ilog:                         Logarithmic Functions.  Line   27

rather than

    * histogram:                    Manipulating Vectors. Line   78.
    * hms:                          Conversions. Line   63.
    * holiday:                      Business Days. Line  114.
    * hour:                         Date Functions. Line   27.
    * hypot:                        Basic Arithmetic. Line  174.
    * idiv:                         Basic Arithmetic. Line  121.
    * idn:                          Building Vectors. Line   44.
    * ierf:                         Other Features of Rewrite Rules.  
                                      Line   246.
    * if:                           Logical Operations. Line   89.
    * ilog:                         Logarithmic Functions. Line   27.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                         Rattlesnake Enterprises
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.teak.cc                             address@hidden