Or both the short and and the long term won't happen. On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 12:24 PM, Duncan Murdoch <murd...@stats.uwo.ca> wrote: > On 28/02/2010 12:04 PM, Gabor Grothendieck wrote: >> >> 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. > > That's one argument. Another is that the more of an annoyance it is, the > more likely someone will be motivated to fix it. If we do a partial job to > remove the annoyance, the long term improvement might never happen. > > Duncan Murdoch >
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