Re: Adding the "links" text mode web browser to the base system

[der Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>>> I second that.  HTML manual pages have no benefit.
>> Actually, they do.  Cross-references can be followed in a much more
>> natural way.

Natural?  To whom?  Joerg makes a good point, albeit indirectly:
whatever "more natural" way you're imagining is not a property of the
storage format but a property of the user interaction tool.  I have no
trouble imagining a program that displayed catpages but allowed
following cross-references as easily as, say, lynx allows following
HTML links.

> That's more a reason to provide a smarter frontend than catpages.  I
> should say that I would like the latter to go once the remaining main
> issues with mdocml are fixed.  Supporting e.g. cross-references in a
> curses frontend would be much easier to do then.

Perhaps, but I for one would really really resist anything that means I
can't use my $PAGER of choice to read manpages.  I actually would
resist it to the point of rolling a historical man command forward, or
using $PAGER on the nroff source if the roll-forward turns out to be
difficult, rather than use the curses thing you're envisioning.

GNU tried basically that with info.  Despite having a horde of kool-aid
drinkers pushing it, it still hasn't taken over the world, by storm or
otherwise, a lesson I think anyone contemplating breaking traditional
manpage reading should take to heart.

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