On 1/21/19 8:46 AM, Chapman Flack wrote:
On 01/21/19 09:12, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
(thinks to self half-seriously about an XSL transform for generating
printed output that could preserve link-texted links, add raised numbers,
and produce a numbered URLs section at the back)
Well, if you have the time and inclination, and you think such changes
are improvements, feel free to propose them. Do keep in mind we have a
number of outputs that would be good to keep consistent.
Well, "consistent" what I was half-thinking about, FSVO "consistent".
For me, if I'm looking at an online document, I would prefer to see
the descriptive text of the link, rather than a long jaggy URL. If I
want to see the URL, I can hover over it, and if I want to go there,
I can click it.
But the point's well taken that in /printed output/, that's of no use.
Which is, in a sense, an inconsistency: in one format, you can follow the
links, while in another, you're out of luck.
Maybe a simpler transform for printed output, rather than collecting
all URLs into one section at the back, would just be to follow any
<ulink> that has link text with a <footnote> containing the same ulink
without the link text, so it shows the URL, and that would be right at
the bottom of the same 'page'.
That'd be an introductory XSL exercise....
In practice, applying such a transform "for printed output" would
probably mean applying it when generating PDF output, which of course
can also be viewed online (and probably most often is, these days).
I don't think that is a good idea. PDFs have had the ability to embed
hyperlinks under descriptive text for years. If we are going to expand
links for printed output, we should have a specific build / modification
to the make file for printed output. I also wonder if we are trying to
solve the 1% problem here. Who is really going to "print" our docs? If
they do print the docs, they are likely not going to "type in" a long
URL. They are going to go online (or to the PDF) and click the link that
they saw within the printed page.
JD
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