[LON-CAPA-dev] Help text

Thu, 9 May 2002 15:11:13 -0400 (EDT)

Scott, et al.

> worm-can #1: where in /home/httpd/html do the documents reside?
> and where in CVS?

home/httpd/html/adm/help/ and loncom/html/adm/help/ make sense to me

> worm-can #2: what do the help pages look like?
>
>And the vision was that every help page have the following
>template of beginning html code.
>
><body bgcolor='#ffffff'>
><a name='helptop' />
><img align='right' src='/adm/lonIcons/lonhelplogos.gif' />
><h1>Search Catalog</h1>
><hr />
><form>
><input type='button' onClick='self.close()' value='Close this help
>window' />
></form>

This looks good.  However I do not like the lonhelplogos.gif.  I would
prefer to minimize the footprint of the help pages.  I envision people
having the pages open in a second (third, counting the remote) window
as they write problems.  A smaller (nonexistant?) icon would be nice.
Or a nifty header image.

>worm-can #3: It would be nice to automagically construct
>indexes of the help pages, not just for the interface, but
>also for the underyling code documentation.
>I do have some code which does this nicely for
>POD sets, but have yet to incorporate.

Well, I doubt there will be so many help pages at first that we cannot
easily add in any tags needed for indexing.  I think it is more valuable
at this time to actually have help pages.  What metadata do these pages
need to have in order to be indexed automagically?

I envision the pages being linked to in the problem editor.  See the
plot editing interface for my version.

>(Ideally, the interface help pages would streamline nicely
>down the vertical partition toward the actual documented
>code base.  But...priorities...priorities..)
I have no idea what that means :)

>I remember a little debate and indecision regarding
>creating httpd/html/adm/help versus
>httpd/html/res/help versus httpd/html/help etc.
>
>There was even the discussion and undecided issue as to
>whether or not the public should be able to look at the
>interface help screens.  Or, should only the LON-CAPA login
>users see the help screens

Matthew

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Matthew Hall           LON-CAPA developer         hallmat3@msu.edu
123 North Kedzie Hall                    Michigan State University
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