Re: Possible change to startup.el

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

   From: Miles Bader <address@hidden>
   Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:40:05 +0900

   So what exactly is that patch supposed to do?

here is a suitable ChangeLog entry:

        * startup.el (fancy-splash-text): For tutorial line, consult
        language environment and display accordingly, in format:
        TITLE, tab, EN-PREFIX*, LIST-OF-AVAILABLE-TUTORIALS.
        (fancy-splash-insert): If arg is a thunk, call it for a string.

the asterisk after EN-PREFIX means that it may be omitted if there is no
need for it.  (arguably there is no need for it in any case.)

   I'm not sure it's a good idea to take the description `first sentence
   in the tutorial' literally; a sentence may not be the best unit to
   use, as something that sounds natural when inserted into the splash
   page may look odd as a standalone first sentence in the tutorial.

in this context, i interpret sentence as "text followed by period".
something like "Emacs Tutorial." (with period), in which case TITLE is
taken to be "Emacs Tutorial" (without the period).  thus, this is not a
"normal" sentence w/ verbs and other words.  the current standalone
first sentence is normal but will need to be changed (w/ the help of
translators) from:

BLAH BLAH BLAH.  ETC ETC

to the stylized:

TITLE.  BLAH BLAH BLAH.  ETC ETC.

translators are encouraged to reduce awkwardness (w/ the advent of
TITLE) in the BLAH part, perhaps by reworking or eliminating it
entirely.

   It seem better to do as I suggested earlier, and structure it more as
   a `title' in the actual tutorial file (that is, simply the words
   "Emacs Tutorial" or equivalent, on a line by themselves, possibly
   centered on the first line, followed by a blank line).

this is the same as rms' design, except that TITLE is delimited by first
newline instead of first period.  initially, i thought newline delim was
better since it could be added simply (w/o changing current text) and,
just as simply, be removed upon presentation.  however, i suppose that
violates the "one source for data" principle, so i can see value in
using period delim and reworking the BLAH part.

thi