[R] help.start() works with Mozilla, but nont with ESS

[A.J. Rossini]

>>>>> "JB" == Jonathan Baron <baron at cattell.psych.upenn.edu> writes:

    >> From rossini at blindglobe.net Wed Nov 14 19:50:05 2001
    >> 
    >>>>>>> "JB" == Jonathan Baron <baron at cattell.psych.upenn.edu>
    >>>>>>> writes:
    >>
    JB> I haven't looked yet at the code for ESS.  I'm hoping that
    JB> someone can suggest a workaround.  The browser is really much
    JB> better than ESS's way of displaying help.  (But not enough
    JB> better for me to give up ESS.)
    >> This is actually on purpose.  We grab all help requests and
    >> work from there.  So what does the WWW browser do better?
    >> (you'll have to tell

    JB> 1. It allows you to go to related topics by clicking links.
    JB> This is VERY convenient and important.

True -- the closest we've got is to place the cursor on the point and
hit C-c C-v <return>.  So instead of one click, around 5-6
keystrokes/clicks ("s s" to "see-also", a bit of movement, and
then...).

Probably worth just linking to w3-fetch, and using remote html viewer
if configured...

I'm sure we could figure this out (the option to not snarf help) in
the next release, though it will probably continue to be an option,
and not a default (though we probably could use a prefix, i.e. 
C-u C-c C-v prompts for help in the browser...

    JB> 2 (less important).  It opens in a separate window so that you
    JB> can use alt-tab or something like that rather than having it
    JB> obscure half your R work space on the screen.

Sure, we could bring up a separate Emacs window similar to a browser
:-).

Seriously, it's probably a good  point, we just need someone (or us)
to change the code :-).  On a more serious note, it probably won't be
me soon, cc'ing ess-bugs on this one :-(.

best,
-tony

-- 
A.J. Rossini				Rsrch. Asst. Prof. of Biostatistics
U. of Washington Biostatistics		rossini at u.washington.edu	
FHCRC/SCHARP/HIV Vaccine Trials Net	rossini at scharp.org
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