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http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=16579 documentation page layout/style breaks wrapping to fit browser window Summary: documentation page layout/style breaks wrapping to fit browser window Product: Tomcat 4 Version: 4.0 Final Platform: All URL: http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-4.0-doc/jndi- resources-howto.html OS/Version: All Status: NEW Severity: Normal Priority: Other Component: Unknown AssignedTo: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ReportedBy: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Could the page layout for Tomcat documentation please be reconsidered? It stops _all_ regular text from wrapping to fit the window when _any_ line of fixed-width text is wider than the window. Specifically, using an HTML table to put navigation links to the left of the main page text forces the browser to ignore the width of the browser window and wrap wrappable text to match the width of the longest fixed-width line. Then, when the user uses a window that is not as wide as the longest line, the user must scroll horizontally to read _every_ line. (If the browser weren't constrained by the table, it could wrap all the wrappable text to fit the window, and only the long, fixed-width lines would require horizontal scrolling to see.) I realize that avoiding putting the body text inside a table may prevent having a list of navigation links on the left. However, PLEASE re-consider the layout. One option is to put navigation elements at the top of the page. (You don't need a table to do that, so the body text doesn't need to be in a table, so wrappable text can still wrap to fit the browser window.) Another thing to consider is whether every detail page really needs a list of links to every sibling page. (Books don't have a copy of the table of contents at the start of each chapter.) Each detail page needs only an up link to one common index page that lists the various detail pages. (Of course, you'd probably have more links that just that absolute minimum.)) Consider some precedents: Sun's JavaDoc layout for a class: - Class description text and member description text wraps to fit even very narrow windows, even if summary tables don't fit within the window. (Also, notice that each summary table is independent. If one is too wide and requires horizontal scrolling, the others can still fit.) - The page for one class is not cluttered with links to a bunch of sibling classes. - The page has an up link to the page for the containing package, which does list the sibling classes of the given class. - The navigation is on the top, not the left. (That allows most of the text to wrap to fit within the window width.) Linux HOW-TO documents in HTML generated from DocBook: - Wrappable text wraps to fit the browser window, even if some fixed-width text or images are wider. - There are some basic Next/Previous/section number links at the top. - The pages are not cluttered with multiple links to sibling documents, just a simple up link or two. Relatedly, when thinking about page widths, please don't assume that all readers use full-screen browser windows. Especially for technical documentation, readers are likely to be reading documentation in one window and using it (e.g., editing code, running some tool) in another window. Also note how wide pages such as http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-4.0-doc/jndi-resources-howto.html are. On my system, that page requires a 1086-pixel-wide browser window to display the entire width! Display just the body does fit in 800 pixels, but you'd need 1600 pixels across to see the text without scrolling on one side of your screen and edit something in a same-sized window on the other side. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
