Re: info invisible changes

[Robert J. Chassell]

    BTW, I was asked to implement image support in Info mode.  Has
    anyone done some thoughts on how that should work ....

As a first step, please display the images in the Info file in the
places corresponding to their locations in the Texinfo source, rather
than in some other place.  W3 mode, for example, puts images from the
beginning of an HTML file at the end of the buffer, and vice-versa;
and it drops some images.

Also, when you implement images, please consider additions that may be
made later:

  * An option to present the alternative text rather than the image so
    that the blind can listen to it.  (By blind, I mean people who
    listen to Info as they drive a car, the `situationally blind', as
    well as the permanently blind).

    Note that Emacspeak works well and no longer requires special
    text-to-speech hardware.  I run Emacspeak on this computer on
    which I am writing this using its built-in audio device and free
    software (the Debian `flite', `eflite', and `emacspeak' packages).

    The alternative text will come from the Texinfo source.  Such text
    is already an optional argument to the @image command.

  * The caption text and figure reference for the image.  The TeX for
    this could be taken from the botex.tex sources from 1985, since
    that (print-only) predecessor to Texinfo possessed images with
    captions and cross references to them.  But makeinfo and Info will
    need new code to handle these features, and the @image command
    will need additional options to hold them.

  * An option to put a user-inspired border around images, with a
    local variable, so you can specify it on a per-info file basis.
  
    Many images are plain and look terrible if shown flat against
    whatever background your instance of Emacs is using.  (For
    example, my current background is "DodgerBlue4"; to look good,
    most images need to be set off from that background a little by
    `picture frames' or borders.)

  * An option to load a background as you might for HTML.  Although
    people have complained heavily about Web pages that are unreadable
    because of their backgrounds, some backgrounds do nicely and
    should become a part of Emacs.  

    For examples, look at my Web site

        http://www.teak.cc

    [note the .cc extension] and at my neice's Web site

        http://www.goldenhillfarm.com

    in a Web browser, such as galeon, that shows backgrounds.

    In any event, I presume that Texinfo will eventually support
    backgrounds for its HTML output; Info might as well be ready to do
    the same.

  * An option to increase or decrease the size of the image.
    Different instances of Emacs use different resolution screens.  On
    a high resolution screen, for example, it is hard to read a font
    that is big enough on a low resolution screen.  It is the same
    with images.  An image that looks great on a generic personal
    computer screen looks too small on a high resolution personal
    computer screen.

    Obviously, Info is not bothered by the font size problem, since
    that issue is already solved; but will suffer an image size
    problem.

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