Re: In defense of HTML

[Erik Walthinsen <omega@omegacs.net>]

(this mail is kindof a test msg, as I've been deep into tclsh code to try 
to fix a funky problem with exmh.  #include <disclaimer.h>)

> I was just thinking, "I wonder if it's possible to using HTML and lynx (or
> Netscape) as a replacement/improvement for "man pages" (and Xman) and
> "info" (and TKinfo)".

Doing just that or something very similar is what I'd like to see happen, 
though the initial design goals of xhelp (long discussions on IRC) are to 
allow you to write a module to display any format you wish.

In think that should be mentioned is DocBook.  I haven't looked carefully 
at it, but it is getting quite a bit of attention, for several reasons:

1) GNOME is planning on using it for their help browser (which xhelp should 
fold into before they get too far along, IMO)
2) the LinuxDoc DTD is being dropped by sgml-tools in favor of DocBook: all 
HOWTO's should be converted to DocBook within 6mo of sgml-tools v2.0.
3) DocBook is used by company after company to provide online (i.e. 
hyperlinked, etc.) documentation.


     Erik Walthinsen <omega@seul.org> - SEUL Project system architect
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