Re: [Boost-docs] The beauty of LATEX

Subject: Re: [Boost-docs] The beauty of LATEX
From: Paul A. Bristow (pbristow_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-10-28 10:21:42

> -----Original Message-----
> From: boost-docs-bounces_at_[hidden] [mailto:boost-docs-bounces_at_[hidden]] On Behalf Of
> Matias Capeletto
> Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 9:58 AM
> To: Discussion of Boost Documentation
> Subject: Re: [Boost-docs] The beauty of LATEX

<snip>
> > Another example is footnotes, for docbook they're easy - you just
> > write them inline. But when generating html for the web you have to
> > place the footnotes in the correct location. To find the correct
> > location you need to know about the structure.
> 
> Indeed, but supporting this kind of things in HTML requires a bigger beast. Indexing, paging,
footnotes... all
> these goodies requires a full knowledge of the document and a heavy processing of it. To make a
good job
> we will need to replicate something like LaTeX. While this maybe a really good project, I think it
is a lot
> better to rely on it or on Docbook and leave them handle these tasks.

I think handling Indexing (including C++ items that can only come from parsing the C++ code),
paging, footnotes - is *really* important for good docs. Having these now is a big advance and I
find myself using all of them even for libraries that I know well (may have written some part).

It is nice to have beauty, but as a writer and reader IMO, these aspects are all essential to
produce effective documentation.

Paul

---
Paul A. Bristow,
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[phone]  07714330204
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