Hi!
I have some plans regarding the CHM version of the PHP manual.
Some our feature request (eg. include notes), some our from my
mind. Anybody with a Windows box can see a pre-proto version
here: http://www.goba.hu/chm_proto.chm
This is a small presentation of some features and designs
I would like to incorporate. Many things are not there
from my plan.
So go through what I would like to achieve:
- Much more powefull design (as we are hosting this
help file for an "enterprise quality product" - PHP,
and so the big mans there like good looking things,
and me too :) I am not a designer, so it would be
better, if some designer can come up with better
graphics, than I have done, but it is certainly better
in the file mentioned above, than now.
- More information on the pages:
+ including user notes in the CHM file. it hardens
the build process, but makes the CHM much more useful.
this is not shown in the file posted above
+ boxing warnings, notes, see alsos (the last one is
the hardest, as we have no <seealsoblock> kind
of tag, while we have <warning> and <note> block
tags, so these blocks are easy to identfy.
+ tagging of inside and outside links with small
images, opening outside links in a separate window.
this eases the distinction between the outside
and inside links, and moves outside links to a more
suitable browser environment
+ drop out redundant "Description" header from function
pages, make the PHP compatibility numbers more clear
with placing and color
+ "links on this page" feature. collecting, categorizing,
and presenting unique links on the page shown in
a separate dropdown menu (outside links, links to
functions, etc.) this eases the reach of connected
pages
- User preferences
+ let the user set, what mirror site he/she would like to
use for the online functions mentioned below
(also not working at this time on the above page)
+ maybe more in the future
- Online functions
+ "see this page online" - on the user selected mirror,
or one random choosen one
+ "report docbug on this page" - eases docbug reporting,
directs bug reports to the proper destination
+ "check for newer version" - simple newer CHM download
check, eases the update of the CHM file (can simply
call php.net/download-docs.php?chm-update=2001-09-29,
and if that script finds newer CHM file than this
date given, then the download is offered)
There are some ideas in my mind, I don't currently
know how to implement, (eg. personal note additions
to pages offline), but to implement the things above
is just a matter of time, as they are not too hard
to program.
I am really open for other useful tips, and feature
requests, and better graphics than mine :))
Note, that the icon files used for the note and
see also sections are made by Copland [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
and I currently have no permission to include it
in the php doc CHM as I have not asked for any...
Goba
