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Mailing lists / fpc-pascal / 2009-03

Web link to documentation

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Graeme Geldenhuys

Hi,

I know that to find the documentation for Free Pascal, I have to go to...

http://www.freepascal.org/docs.var

...not the most intuitive URL.
Most users would try the following without browsing the website (most other website work like this).

http://www.freepascal.org/docs/
http://docs.freepascal.org

Is it possible that the above two URL's could be made to point to the [http://www.freepascal.org/docs.var] address?

Regards,
- Graeme -

_______________________________________________
fpGUI - a cross-platform Free Pascal GUI toolkit
http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/

Vincent Snijders
to Graeme Geldenhuys
Graeme Geldenhuys wrote 12 lines
Hi, I know that to find the documentation for Free Pascal, I have to go to... http://www.freepascal.org/docs.var ...not the most intuitive URL. Most users would try the following without browsing the website (most other website work like this). http://www.freepascal.org/docs/ http://docs.freepascal.org

I wonder how many entries in apache error log can be found for these links prior to your posting. IOW, I wonder how many people equals "Most users".

Vincent

Michael Van Canneyt
to Graeme Geldenhuys: I know that to find the documentation for Free Pascal, I have to go to...…
Graeme Geldenhuys wrote 15 lines
Hi, I know that to find the documentation for Free Pascal, I have to go to... http://www.freepascal.org/docs.var ...not the most intuitive URL. Most users would try the following without browsing the website (most other website work like this). http://www.freepascal.org/docs/ http://docs.freepascal.org Is it possible that the above two URL's could be made to point to the [http://www.freepascal.org/docs.var] address?

I suppose it could be done through some DNS, virtual hosts and mod_rewrite magic. Added to my Todo list. (which, meanwhile, is larger than the docs themselves, unfortunately enough)

Michael.

Graeme Geldenhuys
to Vincent Snijders: I wonder how many entries in apache error log can be found for these links prior to your…
Vincent Snijders wrote
I wonder how many entries in apache error log can be found for these links prior to your posting. IOW, I wonder how many people equals "Most users".

I'm pretty sure there must be a few... ;-)

Other website examples (just to name a few):
doc.trolltech.com/
www.wxwidgets.org/docs/
java.sun.com/docs/
httpd.apache.org/docs/
docs.rubyonrails.org
docs.joomla.org

It's not like we need a new web page or anything, it's simply a '/docs/' alias that needs to be added to the web server or a new 'virtual' host (I think) setup for docs.freepascal.org.

Regards,
- Graeme -

_______________________________________________
fpGUI - a cross-platform Free Pascal GUI toolkit
http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/

Michael Van Canneyt
to Graeme Geldenhuys
Graeme Geldenhuys wrote 19 lines
On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 10:00 AM, Vincent Snijders wrote: > > I wonder how many entries in apache error log can be found for these links > prior to your posting. IOW, I wonder how many people equals "Most users". I'm pretty sure there must be a few... ;-) Other website examples (just to name a few): doc.trolltech.com/ www.wxwidgets.org/docs/ java.sun.com/docs/ httpd.apache.org/docs/ docs.rubyonrails.org docs.joomla.org It's not like we need a new web page or anything, it's simply a '/docs/' alias that needs to be added to the web server or a new 'virtual' host (I think) setup for docs.freepascal.org.

docs.freepascal.org now points straight to the documentation page.

Michael.

Marco van de Voort
to Michael Van Canneyt

In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said:

Show quoted text 18 lines
> > I wonder how many entries in apache error log can be found for these links > > prior to your posting. IOW, I wonder how many people equals "Most users". > > I'm pretty sure there must be a few... ;-) > > Other website examples (just to name a few): > doc.trolltech.com/ > www.wxwidgets.org/docs/ > java.sun.com/docs/ > httpd.apache.org/docs/ > docs.rubyonrails.org > docs.joomla.org > > It's not like we need a new web page or anything, it's simply a > '/docs/' alias that needs to be added to the web server or a new > 'virtual' host (I think) setup for docs.freepascal.org. docs.freepascal.org now points straight to the documentation page.

Not working yet here, but that could be dns propagation time. Anyway, I like this, I already had a button added to the firefox buttonbar.

Problem is only that it won't work for mirrors.

P.s. Speaking about docs: I saw the current documentation is still badly linked. (the next/prev links) I also retried myself using the most recent tex4ht updates (januari 2009), and failed again, the links are still borked, though i have a feeling they are slightly better.

Michael Van Canneyt
to Marco van de Voort: In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said: Not working yet here, but that could…
Marco van de Voort wrote 22 lines
In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said: > > > I wonder how many entries in apache error log can be found for these links > > > prior to your posting. IOW, I wonder how many people equals "Most users". > > > > I'm pretty sure there must be a few... ;-) > > > > Other website examples (just to name a few): > > doc.trolltech.com/ > > www.wxwidgets.org/docs/ > > java.sun.com/docs/ > > httpd.apache.org/docs/ > > docs.rubyonrails.org > > docs.joomla.org > > > > It's not like we need a new web page or anything, it's simply a > > '/docs/' alias that needs to be added to the web server or a new > > 'virtual' host (I think) setup for docs.freepascal.org. > > docs.freepascal.org now points straight to the documentation page. Not working yet here, but that could be dns propagation time. Anyway, I like this, I already had a button added to the firefox buttonbar.

I didn't update the zone version number yet, I'll do this.

Problem is only that it won't work for mirrors.

This is so, but unfortunately that can't be helped easily.

Show quoted text 5 lines
P.s. Speaking about docs: I saw the current documentation is still badly linked. (the next/prev links) I also retried myself using the most recent tex4ht updates (januari 2009), and failed again, the links are still borked, though i have a feeling they are slightly better.

I'm happy that you think they are better :-)

But as far as I'm concerned, this is a non-issue.
The HTML version of the docs is still only a courtesy.

Michael.

Marco van de Voort
to Michael Van Canneyt

In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said:

Show quoted text 9 lines
> P.s. Speaking about docs: I saw the current documentation is still badly linked. > (the next/prev links) I also retried myself using the most recent tex4ht > updates (januari 2009), and failed again, the links are still borked, though > i have a feeling they are slightly better. I'm happy that you think they are better :-) But as far as I'm concerned, this is a non-issue. The HTML version of the docs is still only a courtesy.

I don't agree that the fact that HTML docs is secondary makes it automatically a non-issue :-) A "lesser" issue of course, but OTOH we have been messing with it for over ten years (I started with Latex2html 96) now, and it is still borked.

I'm thinking of trying to create an html fixer app. I know, that wouldn't be the first too, but at least it would be better than this.

Michael Van Canneyt
to Marco van de Voort
Marco van de Voort wrote 19 lines
In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said: > > P.s. Speaking about docs: I saw the current documentation is still badly linked. > > (the next/prev links) I also retried myself using the most recent tex4ht > > updates (januari 2009), and failed again, the links are still borked, though > > i have a feeling they are slightly better. > > I'm happy that you think they are better :-) > > But as far as I'm concerned, this is a non-issue. > The HTML version of the docs is still only a courtesy. I don't agree that the fact that HTML docs is secondary makes it automatically a non-issue :-) A "lesser" issue of course, but OTOH we have been messing with it for over ten years (I started with Latex2html 96) now, and it is still borked. I'm thinking of trying to create an html fixer app. I know, that wouldn't be the first too, but at least it would be better than this.

Feel free to do so... I will not stop anyone from doing so.

Although it might be better to try and fix tex4ht, more people will benefit from that :-)

Michael.

Marco van de Voort
to Michael Van Canneyt

In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said:

Show quoted text 12 lines
> I don't agree that the fact that HTML docs is secondary makes it > automatically a non-issue :-) A "lesser" issue of course, but OTOH we have > been messing with it for over ten years (I started with Latex2html 96) now, > and it is still borked. > > I'm thinking of trying to create an html fixer app. I know, that wouldn't be > the first too, but at least it would be better than this. Feel free to do so... I will not stop anyone from doing so. Although it might be better to try and fix tex4ht, more people will benefit from that :-)

Yes, that is what you said with latex2html too. Hacking in that 1.5 MB perl script is the worst programming experience I ever had :-)

Michael Van Canneyt
to Marco van de Voort
Marco van de Voort wrote 16 lines
In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said: > > I don't agree that the fact that HTML docs is secondary makes it > > automatically a non-issue :-) A "lesser" issue of course, but OTOH we have > > been messing with it for over ten years (I started with Latex2html 96) now, > > and it is still borked. > > > > I'm thinking of trying to create an html fixer app. I know, that wouldn't be > > the first too, but at least it would be better than this. > > Feel free to do so... I will not stop anyone from doing so. > > Although it might be better to try and fix tex4ht, more people will benefit > from that :-) Yes, that is what you said with latex2html too. Hacking in that 1.5 MB perl script is the worst programming experience I ever had :-)

In the end, there will be nothing for it but to write our own latex2html. If it can convert the docs, it'll convert most latex out there... =)

Michael.

Marco van de Voort
to Michael Van Canneyt

In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said:

Show quoted text 13 lines
> > > I'm thinking of trying to create an html fixer app. I know, that wouldn't be > > > the first too, but at least it would be better than this. > > > > Feel free to do so... I will not stop anyone from doing so. > > > > Although it might be better to try and fix tex4ht, more people will benefit > > from that :-) > > Yes, that is what you said with latex2html too. Hacking in that 1.5 MB perl > script is the worst programming experience I ever had :-) In the end, there will be nothing for it but to write our own latex2html. If it can convert the docs, it'll convert most latex out there... =)

Wouldn't it be simpler to take the fpdoc approach? Something alternately generating latex or html? You could cut out half of the latex macro usage since you would simply expand them when writing the latex code in pascal.

It also isolates us from the latex<->external plugin bond which is apparantly fragile, since nobody seems to be able with a good converter in ten years.

Michael Van Canneyt
to Marco van de Voort
Marco van de Voort wrote 22 lines
In our previous episode, Michael Van Canneyt said: > > > > I'm thinking of trying to create an html fixer app. I know, that wouldn't be > > > > the first too, but at least it would be better than this. > > > > > > Feel free to do so... I will not stop anyone from doing so. > > > > > > Although it might be better to try and fix tex4ht, more people will benefit > > > from that :-) > > > > Yes, that is what you said with latex2html too. Hacking in that 1.5 MB perl > > script is the worst programming experience I ever had :-) > > In the end, there will be nothing for it but to write our own latex2html. > If it can convert the docs, it'll convert most latex out there... =) Wouldn't it be simpler to take the fpdoc approach? Something alternately generating latex or html? You could cut out half of the latex macro usage since you would simply expand them when writing the latex code in pascal. It also isolates us from the latex<->external plugin bond which is apparantly fragile, since nobody seems to be able with a good converter in ten years.

No, because I want to have available the full power of LaTeX. I tried docbook once, but that was a real pain.

Everything I write (also my day-time job documents) is in LaTeX, so switching is not an option.

Michael.

Tom Verhoeff
to Graeme Geldenhuys: I know that to find the documentation for Free Pascal, I have to go to...…
Graeme Geldenhuys wrote 11 lines
I know that to find the documentation for Free Pascal, I have to go to... http://www.freepascal.org/docs.var ...not the most intuitive URL. Most users would try the following without browsing the website (most other website work like this). http://www.freepascal.org/docs/ http://docs.freepascal.org

Personally, I just go to the relevant home page and expect a naviation link with anchor text Documentation. For FPC that exists (and works :-).

Tom

E-MAIL: T.Verhoeff @ TUE.NL | Dept. of Math. & Comp. Science PHONE: +31 40 247 41 25 | Technische Universiteit Eindhoven FAX: +31 40 247 54 04 | PO Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven http://www.win.tue.nl/~wstomv/ | The Netherlands