Re: A Roadmap for TexInfo without Info

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Assaf Gordon <address@hidden>
> Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2016 14:55:05 -0500
> Cc: Texinfo <address@hidden>
> 
> >> Its weakness is the “info” file format
> > 
> > Why is that a weakness? Surely people can ignore the "info" file
> > format if they want to and focus on the HTML, DocBook and/or printed
> > (TeX) output?
> > 
> one minor annoyance that stems from the "info" format: the references 
> (@ref/@xref/@pxref).
> 
> When writing a manual and using references, they are rendered differently in 
> each format (info/html/pdf).

It doesn't stem from the Info format, it stems from the different ways
cross-references are formatted in the printed version.  The on-line
formats use a special typeface to express that some phrase is a
hyperlink, something that is not possible in a printed book.

> I would like to be able to write texinfo such as:
> 
>     The @option{-E} option turns on @ref{extended regular expression} mode.
> 
> And have useful generated output in HTML and Online PDF (meaning PDF viewed 
> on screen, where links should work and jump to a different page). For printed 
> material, perhaps an new @ref command should be invented? or wrap every new 
> command with @iftex ?

There's no problem with the above in Info and HTML, the problem is in
the printed output.  What would you want to be produced from the above
in a book?

> I guess one can always ignore the generated "info" format, and just ensure it 
> looks good on HTML/PDF - but is that a valid approach? e.g. I'm working on 
> improving sed's manual - would it be acceptable to say that sed-4.3's manual 
> doesn't work with "info" ?

Once again, the problematic output is the printed one, not the on-line
ones.