[Rd] RFC: allow packages to advertise vignettes on Windows

[Simon Urbanek]

Seth,

we already *have* vignette registration in place [vignette()] and we  
already *have* support in the GUIs (I'm talking e.g. about the Mac  
GUI here which uses vignette() to build a vignettes browser).

What you propose circumvents all the mechanisms already in place and  
adds replicates the same functionality. I'll repeat my question: what  
is wrong with the current approach? Why do you want to add a parallel  
approach?

Cheers,
Simon

On May 15, 2007, at 6:59 PM, Seth Falcon wrote:

> Simon Urbanek <simon.urbanek at r-project.org> writes:
>
>> On May 15, 2007, at 1:57 PM, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, 14 May 2007, Seth Falcon wrote:
>>>
>>>> Duncan Murdoch <murdoch at stats.uwo.ca> writes:
>>>>> I'm interested in making vignettes more visible.  Putting them on
>>>>> the
>>>>> menu is not the only way, but since you're offering to do the
>>>>> work, I
>>>>> think it's a good idea :-).
>>>>
>>>> Excellent :-)
>>>>
>>>>> A few questions:
>>>>>
>>>>>  - Should packages need to take any action to register their
>>>>> vignettes, or should this happen automatically for anything  
>>>>> that the
>>>>> vignette() function would recognize as a vignette?
>>>
>>> I do think this should be optional, and preferably an option that
>>> people have to opt in for.
>
> Just to make sure we are on the same page: you are advocating for an
> option that would be used by package developers to opt-in for their
> vignette to be registered.
>
>>> Some sort of vignette browser that packages can register with would
>>> in my view be better, and that could have a single menu entry.
>>> Menus can easily get swamped.
>>>
>>
>> I agree entirely.
>>
>> What puzzles me: why do we need yet another way to register
>> vignettes? What is wrong with vignette()?
>
> Vignettes are a great form of documentation for new users.  These
> users are more likely to be most comfortable in the GUI environment
> and providing access to the vignettes via the GUI(s) seems like it
> adds a lot of value.
>
> I don't disagree with the assessment that a menu list isn't the worlds
> best vignette browser interface.  But this approach has been
> reasonably successful for the Bioconductor project to make things
> easier for our Windows users.  Perhaps most importantly, we have code
> that would require little modification to allow package authors to
> register vignettes in a Vignettes menu on Windows.  I think this would
> be an improvement over what is available now.
>
> It would be great if this discussion generates interest in a more
> robust solution; my offer of help may be limited to polishing what
> we've been using in BioC.
>
> Cheers,
>
> + seth
>
> -- 
> Seth Falcon | Computational Biology | Fred Hutchinson Cancer  
> Research Center
> http://bioconductor.org
>
>