Re: On being web-friendly and why info must die

[Stefan Monnier]

>> @node Abbrevs
>> @chapter Abbrevs
> Nodes and sections typically go together but not always.
> It is true we could make the usual case simpler by changing the
> defaults.

Further than that I think it would be worth analyzing the cases where
the @nodes can't be automatically inferred from the @chapters/@sections,
and try and figure out how to handle them (or whether it's worth the
trouble) without using an explicit @node.

>> @menu
>> * Abbrev Concepts::   Fundamentals of defined abbrevs.
>> * Defining Abbrevs::  Defining an abbrev, so it will expand when typed.
>> @end menu
> This is like the above issue: in the usual case, the node names in the menu
> can be deduced from the rest of the document, but there are menus which
> differ from that.

Here as well, I think it'd would be worthwhile to analyze the existing
cases where the node names in the menu can't be deduced from the rest of
the document, and try to see how we could handle them without having to
have explicit menus or even if it's worth the trouble supporting those
at all.

> However, the second part of each line (the text like "Fundamentals of
> defined abbrevs") can't be found anywhere else.

Here, rather than suggest to analyze the existing cases, I'll just point
out that pretty much the rest of the world lives happily without being
able to use two different texts, so I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

> section structure.  But where would it get that added text from?

If we really want to have 2 different ways to describe the node in the
menu, we could use "the node name" and "the section title".
Currently, Texinfo has typically 3 different descriptions for every
node:

   @menu
   * <NodeName>::        <MenuDescription>
   @end menu

   ...

   @node <NodeName>
   @section <SectionTitle>

in 99% of the cases, we could use the exact same text for <NodeName>,
<MenuDescription>, and <SectionTitle>.  But in 100% of the cases, we
could at least drop one of the three.


        Stefan