From: "John W. Long" <ng@...>
Date: 2005-06-21T14:13:06+09:00
Subject: Re: [ANN] Frameless RDoc template ('technology preview')

Ben Giddings wrote:
> Hey John, lovely design as usual.
> 
> The problem I see isn't so much "framed" vs "frameless" but more the 
> contents of the boxes.
> 
> The files box: Most of the time, I don't care...
> 
> The classes box: This is useful, until...
> 
> The methods box: Whoa...
> 
> I still think the original pickaxe online documentation has the easiest to 
> navigate interface to the core api:
> 
> http://www.rubycentral.com/book/builtins.html
>
 > . . .
> 
> I wonder, is RDoc flexible enough to allow someone to generate a page like 
> the above?

I'm sure it is. It might take a little hacking, but I'm sure you could 
get it to do that.

Did you notice that the list boxes are linked in my first link:

 > http://johnwlong.com/downloads/rubyred-rdoc-template-test-1.html

Clicking one of the items in the list narrows the amount of items 
displayed in the list next to it on the right. Do you think this 
improves on the current framed/frameless approaches?

If you don't mind a robust Javascript approach, you could even build a 
search box right into the page to make it easier to filter the lists for 
the method you are looking for.

Here's another idea: why not use Ajax combined with a small servlet to 
pull in user comments about the page that you are on? This would make it 
easier for users to note changes that need to be made in the 
documentation, offer tips, etc...

--
John