Thanks for the background info Geert, I recall a discussion some time ago about the tools and methods used to generate the documentation, and I think based on that thread and the info you’ve just provided that the solution lies in a new method entirely. (frames aren’t really the best option as you noted)
I’ll try to dig up that old thread, but is there a list of ’needs’ of the developers to use when evaluating methods? The only thing I can find recently is that the intended approach was to create an “O’Reilly” style book, (just a goal or hard and fast requirement?) and I recall there needed to be a means to generate PDF, .mobi, and .epub versions. As for the current method, I see docbook has something called docbook-xslt which is a stylesheet approach to layout and other visuals. It seems geared more toward print than web, but I supposed it could be used for such. This strikes me though as trying to find a means to keep using the proverbial hammer rather than a more appropriate tool. Though, I do see Gnome is still using Docbook and their user help is well integrated into their website as individual web pages, (breadcrumbs and all) and not anything resembling a printed page. Regards, Adrien > On Aug 21, 2018, at 2:46 AM, Geert Janssens <geert.gnuc...@kobaltwit.be> > wrote: > > Op dinsdag 21 augustus 2018 02:44:59 CEST schreef Adrien Monteleone: >> David C, >> >> So for clarification this is the first link you posted about: >>> https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-guide/txns-register-oview.html#t >>> xns-regstyle1 >> Notice this is in the folder /docs/v3/C/gnucash-guide/ >> >> But the link on the Documentation page and the link you included (both in > that first post and in the last one) that said how you got there was this: >>> https://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=3&lang=C&doc=help >> >> So yes, that IS version 3 (listed here as ‘rev=3’) but that’s not the same >> link as above. (though it might be the exact same content, I didn’t check) >> >> I can’t find any way, other than typing it in directly, to get to the >> /docs/v3/C/ directory wherein lies the /gnucash-guide/ and /gnucash-help/ >> folders and contents. All of the links on the documentation page seem to >> point instead to the /viewdoc.phtml which never changes the URL as you >> navigate the document. (my guess is the viewdoc.phtml template is serving >> the pages physically located in /docs/v3/C/, we just can’t see the real >> URL) > > The viewdoc.phtml page is a first and imperfect attempt to integrate the > documentation in the website. > > It ensures that while presenting the documentation the main website's > navigation menus and style are still visible. Before that page existed > clicking on a documentation link would suddenly remove all website > decorations > and just show you the documentation on a plain white page with no option to > navigate to other parts of the main website. > > viewdoc.phtml is just a wrapper that opens the actual documentation in a > separate frame. If you ask your browser to open that frame in its own window > you'll see the direct links David posted here. > > The use of a frame is old-fashioned and has indeed many limitations. It was > the only option at the time that could be implemented with reasonable effort. > > Of course it would be much nicer to have bread crumbs and clear links for > each > page. And a documentation navigation menu integrated in the website's main > decorations. > > However from how I understand this would mean to create a specialized docbook > style used exclusively to generate the documentation section of our website. > I > believe the way we currently generate the gnucash html documentation is not > fit for integration. Writing such a specialized docbook style is possible, > but > I never found time to dig in. > > Regards, > > Geert _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list gnucash-devel@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel