On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 11:52 AM, Duncan Murdoch <murd...@stats.uwo.ca> wrote: > Gabor Grothendieck wrote: >> >> On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 9:43 AM, Duncan Murdoch <murd...@stats.uwo.ca> >> wrote: >> >>> >>> On 28/02/2010 9:08 AM, Gabor Grothendieck wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 8:59 AM, Duncan Murdoch <murd...@stats.uwo.ca> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 28/02/2010 7:19 AM, Gabor Grothendieck wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> The name of the package is at the top of each help page and then >>>>>> library(help = myPackage) would get you the maintainer info. Or in >>>>>> place of the last step googling for CRAN myPackage would get to a page >>>>>> like this: >>>>>> http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/zoo/index.html >>>>>> so it could be done in two steps. >>>>>> >>>>>> What would be nice would be if the R help systems HTML help page for >>>>>> each command had a link to a local version of the above page for the >>>>>> associated package (and perhaps the HTML Index page for the package >>>>>> would also link to it). Then it would just be a matter of bringing up >>>>>> the help page and clicking on the package name at the top. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Not all of the information on that page would make sense locally. Some >>>>> of >>>>> it is there to help you decide whether to download the package, or to >>>>> actually download it. >>>>> >>>>> The things I see that aren't available in the package index page in >>>>> R-devel: >>>>> >>>>> - CRAN checks >>>>> - download links >>>>> - reverse dependencies >>>>> >>>>> Am I missing something? None of those seem like they'd be sensible >>>>> locally. >>>>> >>>> >>>> By Index page I was referring to the page you get when you click Index >>>> at the bottom of any HTML help file. After clicking Index you get an >>>> HTML page that gives a clickable list of help pages for that package. >>>> You don`t get the description of the package, the name and contact >>>> info to the maintainer, or a link to such info. For the >>>> helloJavaWorld package this is what you get (where I have added a star >>>> after each link): >>>> >>>> Hello Java World >>>> Documentation for package ‘helloJavaWorld’ version 0.0-6 >>>> User Guides and Package Vignettes >>>> >>>> Read overview* or browse directory*. >>>> >>>> Help Pages >>>> >>>> helloJavaWorld* Function to say hello from a Java class >>>> >>> >>> That looks like 2.10.x or earlier. In R-devel (to be 2.11.0) you get: >>> >>> Documentation for package ‘helloJavaWorld’ version 0.0-7 >>> >>> * DESCRIPTION file. >>> * Overview of user guides and package vignettes; browse directory. >>> >>> Help Pages >>> helloJavaWorld Function to say hello from a Java class >>> >>> The only addition for that particular package is the link to the >>> DESCRIPTION >>> file, which contains most of the additional information that's on the >>> CRAN >>> page. Other pages will also show links to demos and package NEWS. >>> >>> >> >> That's great. Looks like you have already anticipated this. >> >> Would still be nice to have >> >> - a second link to the Index at the top of each help page since its >> typically off the screen otherwise. >> > > Yes, I agree. In fact, I think the whole system needs to be updated. > Anyone like doing HTML design? >> >> - also if the DESCRIPTION could be HTMLized with links that would be >> nice. The software that puts the DESCRIPTION file info up onto CRAN >> already can do that so the capability seems to exist. >> > > Sure, but remember that CRAN is not part of R, so the code needs to be > extracted from the CRAN code (which I don't have a copy of), and rewritten > to suit the new context. It may not be any easier to do that than to redo > it from scratch, but in any case, it needs someone to volunteer to do it > (and I think it should be part of the HTML design mentioned above. >> >> - a link from the Index or possibly right from each help page to the >> help.start() page so that once you are in HTML you can just click >> about rather than having to go back to R and then back into help. >> Its normal in web pages that there is a link on every one of them back >> to the home page. Typically clicking the site name or logo at the top >> gets you there. > > Currently from any help page you can get there in two clicks: the "Index" > link at the bottom of the page takes you to the package index, the up arrow > on the package index takes you to the help.start() page. But I agree this > could be improved: see above. > > Duncan Murdoch >
Couldn't this be separated into short term and long term. Surely its trivial to add a second link to the Index at the top of every help page and that is the most important of all the wish list items. That shouldn't have to wait for a redesign (which could take some time) since its such an annoyance. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
