[boost] Re: JavaScript index?

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-10-04 13:53:20

"Paul Mensonides" <pmenso57_at_[hidden]> writes:

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: boost-bounces_at_[hidden] 
>> [mailto:boost-bounces_at_[hidden]] On Behalf Of Reece Dunn
>
>> [1] Generate XHTML documents with an XSLT stylesheet to 
>> transform them to HTML and handle an xi:include directive 
>> (within the stylesheet if the XSLT engine does not support 
>> them). This would allow the ToC to be maintained in a 
>> separate file, keeping doc bloat to a minimum.
>> 
>> This is not really a workable solution because of 
>> incompatibilities and browser support isuues. Also, you will 
>> be transforming the document at the client site each time 
>> they view a page, taking up resources on the client machine.
>
> The documentation can be built during the build process on a client
> machine--which can be parametized by the particular user's preferences--i.e.
> there can be more than one available XSLT transformation.  There are always
> going to be people that prefer fancy versions and people that prefer baseline
> versions, and there is no way to please everybody at once without having
> multiple ways to view the same docs.

If you count PDF, we already have multiple ways.  There's no way to
please _everybody_, period.  I think we need to make some judgement
about what's a reasonable level of accomodation and just stop there.
I'm not sure if you were suggesting this, but IMHO asking users to run
a build process just to look at the documentation would be a mistake.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
http://www.boost-consulting.com