Re: [Groff] Draft paper: "Writing Effective Manual Pages"

[Werner LEMBERG]

> To put it bluntly, there is no other format out there that is both
> widespread and allows both console viewing and printing from the
> same file.

This is the final word IMHO.  As long as there are TTY-like terminals,
groff won't die.

> Texinfo isn't the answer either. Certainly, it has several desirable
> qualities, such as cross-referencing and indexing capabilities. But
> I've noted my disdain, shared by many here, for the console info
> viewer before.

I use the stand-alone info program exclusively.  Where's the problem?
You need the `tab' key, the arrow keys, and C-s for incremental
searching (this is the most valuable feature for me).  Nothing else.
Well, maybe `i' to get index entries.

> Finally, some of the converters don't work too well if you don't
> stick with canonical Texinfo (try running "texi2html groff.texinfo"
> some time to see what I mean).

Don't do this.  makeinfo nowadays produces HTML, XML, and DocBook, all
of which has been improved considerably in the latest release -- which
unfortunately has some other bugs.


    Werner