Re: using @titleplage in every format

[Gavin Smith]

On 2/18/19, Patrice Dumas <address@hidden> wrote:
> The typical document would become

> @titlepage
> @title Texinfo
> @subtitle The GNU Documentation Format
> @subtitle for Texinfo version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
>
> @author Robert J. Chassell
> @author Richard M. Stallman
>
> @page
> @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
> @insertcopying
>
> @sp 1
> @end titlepage

Thinking about this again, if @titlepage were to be used for all
formats, it should be purged of all presentational or non-semantic
content. The @page, @vskip and @sp commands there are specific to TeX.

How about adding a new command, something like

@documentinfo
@title Texinfo
@subtitle The GNU Documentation Format
@subtitle for Texinfo version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}

@author Robert J. Chassell
@author Richard M. Stallman

@end documentinfo

which would automatically be converted into @titlepage with the
@insertcopying etc. on a second page, and inserted in the @top node
for Info/HTML/other output. @titlepage would be left for precisely
describing the layout of a printed titlepage and other frontmatter.

Regarding whether @top gets an argument, I found that even an empty
@top followed by a @chapter creates a blank page as well an entry in
the table of contents. This is something that could be changed in
texinfo.tex, of course. A document using @documentinfo (or whatever
better interface we devise) along with an empty "@top" wouldn't work
with older versions of texinfo.tex anyway.