Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Thu, 23 Jan 2014 11:32:45 -0500
From:      Thomas Hoffmann <trh411@gmail.com>
To:        freebsd-doc@freebsd.org
Cc:        Glen Barber <gjb@freebsd.org>, Gabor Kovesdan <gabor@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: docs/144515: [handbook] Expand handbook Table of contents
Message-ID:  <CAB7-odmvtQqOt6B5u9AzPZh8dRkfgEc5oGnKhUyGeNBQ7CiHfw@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <52E140D1.5090809@FreeBSD.org>
References:  <201401221442.s0MEgd2o082802@freefall.freebsd.org> <52E075F7.7020105@a1poweruser.com> <20140123020029.GE52955@glenbarber.us> <52E1053A.8000608@a1poweruser.com> <834FD10A-0519-42F1-B804-DCE7428A863F@FreeBSD.org> <CAB7-odngKOODXCtD2NsxzG-8v5y5TFtxe-SRTSUujZ7wesy%2BrA@mail.gmail.com> <52E13ACC.2020005@FreeBSD.org> <CAB7-odk36PQawmUG=LyDu1wXcnSVqmxtT7n1AkFL4T19rC_=_Q@mail.gmail.com> <52E140D1.5090809@FreeBSD.org>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Gabor Kovesdan <gabor@freebsd.org> wrote:

> On 2014.01.23. 16:59, Thomas Hoffmann wrote:
>
>> I agree, the TOC is already too long vertically. Adding subsections would
>> exacerbate the problem.
>>
>> By "horizontal page" I mean taking advantage of the full screen width,
>> for example, by using multi-columns or similar technique. That would get
>> more info on each screen page. Compare the TOC with the x-config.html page
>> ( http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x-config.html),
>> which uses the full page width.
>>
> The problem with this is that TOC is a multiple level enumeration by
> nature, which is conventionally listed vertically in order. Using two
> columns may be confusing for people since it is not conventional. And if we
> use 2 columns, what order would it follow? Like this:
>
> 1        2
> 1.1    2.1
> 1.2    2.2
> 1.3    2.3
>
> Or this:
>
> 1
> 1.1        1.2
> 1.3        1.4
>
> And what to do on smaller screens if the two columns do not fit?
>
> I believe that a collapsible tree list would be the best option but that
> requires JavaScript, which we prefer to avoid...
>
> Gabor
>

Top to bottom, left to right would be the normal "western" approach, no?

Personally, I would have no problem with a TOC that only listed the major
chapters. If you want the details sections/subsections) you would drill
(click) down as required:
1.        6.
2.        7.
3         8.
4.        9.
5.       10.

or even

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
etc.

It would require less scrolling, but this might be objectionable to many.

I understand completely your desire to avoid JS.

This may simply be an intractable problem.

-Tom



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?CAB7-odmvtQqOt6B5u9AzPZh8dRkfgEc5oGnKhUyGeNBQ7CiHfw>