Infodoc HTML Post-processing

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Infodoc HTML Styling Package

Copyright © 2014-2023  
            Mahlon R. Smith, The Software Samurai

This document describes version 0.0.14 of 'infodoc-styles.css'
and version 0.0.14 of 'idpp'.

The infodoc-styles.css CSS style definitions are released under 
the GNU General Public License (GPL 3+), and 
the user documentation (this document) is released under 
the GNU Free Documentation License (FDL 1.3+):

 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
 Texts.  A copy of the license is available from the 
 Free Software Foundation: ‘http://www.gnu.org/licenses/

Infodoc CSS styles and HTML post-processor documentation.
This document describes ‘infodoc-styles.css’ version 0.0.14 and ‘idpp’ version 0.0.14.

This document is also a Texinfo source template for testing the post-processing algorithms used to process the raw HTML markup generated by ‘makeinfo’ (texi2any).

Because this is a test document and may produce some odd output at times: for ’info’ output, please open your terminal window to at least 132 columns and for HTML output, open your browser to full-screen mode.





Table of Contents


Overview

Why Are We Doing This Project?

"I know it’s only documentation, but I like it, like it, yes I do.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (with Ronnie Wood)

User-oriented documentation is the public face of any product, and serves as the primary contract between developer and customer. Documentation reflects the professionalism and reliability (or lack thereof) of the developer. Thus, when a developer creates documentation, he or she expects it to be of highest quality; and in our experience, the better the documentation is, the better the product will be.

The Texinfo ’makeinfo’ documentation system (along with TeX) is the official documentation engine for GNU/Linux, its utilities and applications. ’makeinfo’ is a great tool, but because it must serve a broad range of user needs, it is necessarily limited both in flexibility and in professional polish. This Infodoc package provides a tool for beautifying the documentation produced by the texi-to-HTML converter.



Infodoc Package Components

'infodoc-styles.css' is a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) definition file. This file may be applied to the raw HTML output generated by the Texinfo ‘makeinfo’ utility to correct and beautify the raw HTML document.
See CSS Definition File, (version: 0.0.14)

'idpp' Infodoc Post Processor is a small, console utility written in C++. 'idpp' automatically applies the CSS style definitions of 'infodoc-styles.css' as well as correcting the more outstanding errors and formatting weaknesses found in the raw HTML generated by the ‘makeinfo’ documentation engine.
See Infodoc Post-processor, (version: 0.0.14)

‘infodoc_xx.texi’ are the Texinfo source code files for the Infodoc package documentation for both 'infodoc-styles.css' and 'idpp'. Build the documentation files using the standard ‘make’/‘gmake‘ utility and the provided ‘Makefile’. (Pre-built copies are included in the package.)
See Rebuilding the info and HTML documents.

This document also includes a comprehensive test suite which exercises all the major functionality of ‘makeinfo’ which is likely to affect the quality of the HTML output, documenting its capabilities as well as its shortcommings. The test suite focues on the info-format and the HTML-format documents generated simultaneously from the ’texi’ source. Special attention is given to the similarities AND differences between the two document formats.
See Makeinfo Testing.



The ‘makeinfo’ Texi-to-HTML Converter and Why It Needs Our Help

The makeinfo utility creates HTML output when invoked with the --html option. This generates references to a large number of CSS class names; however, these classes, if defined at all, are really just stubs which need to be defined in a more meaningful way to create professional-looking HTML output.

The raw HTML output relies on browser defaults to handle the missing or incompletely-defined classes. Considering the wide variety of browsers, HTML syntax versions and rendering standards currently in use, this is a reasonable default process; however, we find it to be a bit too Wild-West for our taste.

To customize the HTML output, it is necessary to robustly define the named classes referenced in the HTML output. This is not entirely straightforward because classes are often embedded within other classes, inheriting from, or overriding definitions of the parent class.

The makeinfo texi-to-HTML converter also suffers from a number of bugs and logical inconsistencies for which the CSS definitions in conjunction with the 'idpp' post-processor attempts to compensate.




CSS Definition File

The CSS definition file, 'infodoc-styles.css' robustly defines all the CSS class definitions called out in the HTML documents generated by the Makeinfo texi-to-HTML converter. Many other class definitions and HTML tag re-definitions are also provided to rescue your lovingly-crafted documents from the often ugly, and sometimes barely-readable rendering inflicted on your document by the browser’s default settings.

The styled HTML has been functionally verified by the the test suite included in this document. The page rendering has been visually and aesthetically verified for use with reasonably up-to-date versions of Firefox(tm), Chromium(tm), Brave(tm) and Opera(tm) browsers. (Note that Internet Explorer(tm) version 11 is now obsolete, and that in our opinion only a fool would use “Edge”.)




Summary of CSS Definitions

The CSS definitions in 'infodoc-styles.css' fall into the following broad categories.

  1. Whole-document (<body>) Definitions
  2. CSS Class Definitions
  3. Sub-class Tag Definitions
  4. Redefinition of Inadequate or Deprecated HTML Tags


Basic Document Style

Every HTML document needs certain style definitions. Often, the browser’s default definition for an object is quite acceptable. At other times, the various browsers can’t agree on how to render an object, so it may look great in one browser/version and nasty in another browser/version. Your customer will immediately assume that this is your fault. Applying CSS style gives you greater control over how your document will be displayed to the user.

The following table shows the 'infodoc-styles.css' style definitions which apply to the entire document.
Please see (see Adjusting Style Definitions) for a detailed description of each of these style elements.

FUNCTIONHTML/CSS OBJECTSTYLE ELEMENT
 Background Color <body>background-color:
 Text Color <body>color:
 Font Size <body>font-size:
 Font Family <body>font-family:
 Container Width ’infodoc_container’ classmax-width:, padding-right:, padding-left:


Matching Your Texinfo Commands to CSS Definitions

This table describes the relationship between your '.texi' source code commands and the HTML output generated from them when using the makeinfo texi-to-HTML converter.

TEXINFO COMMANDHTML OBJECTEXAMPLES AND TESTS
 ♦♦♦ Block Environments ♦♦♦
 @quotation’quotation’ class, <blockquote> tagsee Quotation Commands
 @smallquotation’smallquotation’ class
 @indentedblock’indentedblock’ classsee Indentedblock Commands
 @smallindentedblock’smallindentedblock’ class
 @example’example’ class, ’example.pre’ classsee Example Commands
 @smallexample’smallexample’ class,
’smallexample.pre’ class
 @lisp’lisp’ class,
’lisp.pre’ class
see Example Commands
 @smalllisp’smalllisp’ class,
’smalllisp.pre’ class
 @display’display’ class, ’display.pre’ classsee Display Commands
 @smalldisplay’smalldisplay’ class,
’smalldisplay.pre’ class
 @format’format’ class, ’format.pre’ classsee Format Commands
 @smallformat’smallformat’ class,
’smallformat.pre’ class
 @verbatim<pre> tag,
’pre.verbatim’ class
see Verbatim Commands

 
 ♦♦♦ Block Modifiers ♦♦♦
 @flushleft<p align="left">see Misc Block Modifiers
 @flushright<p align="right">
 @raggedright(not supported in HTML)
 @cartouche’table.cartouche’ class
 @allowcodebreaks’nocodebreak’ class
 @w{}’nolinebreak’ class, ’&nbsp’
 @exdent
 
 ♦♦♦ Lists ♦♦♦
 @itemize<ul>...</ul>
’no-bullet’ class
’disc-bullet’ class
’circle-bullet’ class
’square-bullet’ class
’custom-bullet’ class
see Itemized Lists
 @enumerate<ol>...</ol>
’enum-decimal’ class
’enum-decimal-zero’ class
’enum-lower-alpha’ class
’enum-upper-alpha’ class
’enum-lower-roman’ class
’enum-upper-roman’ class
’enum-lower-greek’ class
’enum-cjk-decimal’ class
’enum-katakana’ class
’enum-hebrew’ class
’enum-arabic-indic’ class
’enum-custom’ class
see Enumeration Lists
 
 ♦♦♦ Tables ♦♦♦
 @multitable<table> tag, plus <thead>, <th>,
<tr>, <td>, ’table.bordered’ class
and its subclasses
see Table and Multitable
 @table<dl> tag, plus <dl>, <dt>, <dd>
 
 ♦♦♦ Font Modifiers ♦♦♦
 @sc (smallcaps)<small> tagsee Font Modification
 @emph (emphasis)<em> tag
 @strong<strong> tag
 @b (bold)<b> tag
 @i (italic)<i> tag
 @r (roman)’roman’ class
 @t (typewriter)<tt> tag (redefined)
 @sansserif’sansserif’ class
 @slanted<i> tag
 
 ♦♦♦ Object Indicators ♦♦♦
 @code<code> tagsee Object Indicators
 @samp<samp> tag
 @var<var> tag
 @cite<cite> tag
 @abbr<abbr> tag
 @kbd<kbd> tag,
’kbd’ class(discarded)
 @env<code> tag
 @file<samp> tag
 @command<code> tag
 @option<samp> tag
 @dfn<em> tag
 @verb<tt> tag
 @key<tt> tag,
’key’ class(discarded)
 @acronyn<acronym> tag (redefined)
 @indicateurl<p> tag
 @url<a href="xxxx">
 @email<a href="mailto:xxxx">
 
 ♦♦♦ Headings ♦♦♦
 Document Title<h1> tag (redefined)
 Chapter Titles<h2> tag (redefined)
 @section<h3> tagsee Basic Tests
 @heading<h3> tag
 @subsection<h4> tag
 @subheading<h4> tag
 @subsubsection’h4.subsubsection’ class
 @subsubheading’h4.subsubheading’ class
 Level-5 Heading<h5> tag
redefined, but not used
by texi-to-HTML converter
 
 ♦♦♦ Miscellaneous ♦♦♦
Table of Contents’contents’ classsee InfoTOC Structure
 Texinfo Menus’menu’ class plussee InfoMenu Structure
 Index’index-cp’ class,
’jumpto’ class
see Index Notes
 Paragraph Text<p> tag (redefined)
Note that each block
environment defines
it own <p> tag.
see Basic Tests


Normally, it is not necessary to worry about the exact HTML/CSS construct being generated for a given sequence of source commands because the post-processor is designed to handle it transparently; however, if a problem arises, then the table above will help you to find the offending sequence.

Please note that this list is not exhaustive. Many Texinfo commands which have little or no effect on the HTML output are not listed. However, we have carefully documented all the Texinfo constructs which the texi-to-HTML converter references and/or which have a significant effect on documents in HTML format.

Some Texinfo HTML-only commands, variables and build options are not considered here. Instead we rely on the defaults for these modifiers in order to simplify testing. Some examples of these are: 'DOCTYPE', 'BODYTEXT', 'TEXI2HTML', 'simple_menu', the variables listed in Texinfo Chapter 22.5.3, ‘HTML Customization Variables’, and others. If you find that 'idpp' has trouble handling documents that uses these modifiers, please send us a note describing the problem (see Technical Support).




Applying the CSS Definitions

Applying the CSS definitions in 'infodoc-styles.css' to your HTML document can be done using the 'idpp' Infodoc Post Processor, or may be done by manually editing your HTML document. We recommend using 'idpp' to style your documents. Not only will it save time and effort, it will help to avoid introducing markup errors. Any additional manual processing may then be done after the CSS styles have been applied. For instructions on both automatic and manual application of CSS style, please refer to the chapter on post-processing your HTML documentation:
See HTML Post-processing. .

Painless CSS Style

If you are having issues converting your own ‘texi’ source documents to an acceptable HTML format, or if you are having to perform significant post-processing on the HTML to get the desired appearance, then we believe that the CSS styles defined in 'infodoc-styles.css' may ease your burden.

It is hoped that the application of these styles:

  a) will create better consistency across object blocks
  b) will provide firmer control over the generated HTML output, and
  c) will give you the flexibility customize the output for your needs.



Adjusting Style Definitions

The CSS style definition file 'infodoc-styles.css' contains a large number of style definitions for the various constructs that may be generated by the Texinfo texi-to-HTML converter. Please feel free to experiment with these definitions to find out what CSS can do for you.

Important Note:
         Always make a backup copy of the definition file 
             in case you decide to undo your changes.

Whole-document Definitions

The CSS definitions which apply to the whole document are located near the top of the file inside the definition of the <body> tag.

  • Background Color: ’background-color: #66FF99;’
    The background color is a hexadecimal number which contains two digits (256 possibilities each) for Red, Green and Blue respectively. Any Red/Green/Blue combination may be specified, but in general it is best to use one of the "standard" combinations for consistency across browsers. For a list of the "standard" colors, please visit the author’s web-color description page: http://www.softwaresam.us/docs/html_doc/web-safe_color.html

    or visit: http://w3.org/

  • Text Color: ’color: #000000;’
    The foreground (text) color is also a hexadecimal number, and is initially set to #000000; i.e. Black. Again, any Red/Green/Blue combination may be specified, but should contrast clearly with the specified background color.
  • Base Font Size: ’font-size: 18px;’
    The base font size indicates the size of the text rendered within a set of plain paragraph <p> ... </p> tags. The size of the text in all other constructs is calculated as a percentage of the base font. What this means is that if you change the base ’font-size’, then the size of all text in the document will be calculated from this specified size.

    Note that changing the ’font-size’ value in any of the other definitions is not recommended. In the words of Chandler Bing,
    "Can open... worms, everywhere!"

  • Font Family: ’font-family: sans-serif;’
    The ’font-family’ specification takes an arbitrary number of font-family names, allowing the browser to use the leftmost name if available. If the leftmost name is not available to the browser, then the next name to the right is used, and so on. Good programming style dictates that the last (rightmost) name be ’sans-serif’ which is available to all browsers. Example:
    font-family: Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif;
  • Container Dimensions:
    The ’.infodoc_container’ class defines the horizontal dimensions for the active area of the browser window. This is the area within which data may be written. This dimension is important because text that ’flows’ will wrap to the next line at the edge of the active space.

    The current dimensions are specified by three (3) elements within the ’.infodoc_container’ class:

      max-width: 1170px;
      padding-right: 15px;
      padding-left: 15px;
    

    These specify the width of the container (in display pixels), and the padding (unused space) inside the right and left margins of the container. The container is defined to fit quite comfortably within a 1280-pixel screen width. Because your Texinfo source document is probably defined to fit within a width of 80 characters or less, 1280 pixels is much wider than the console window in which the ’info-format’ document is displayed. Display resolution, base font size, kerning and other factors all contribute to selection of the container width.

    Optionally, a border around the container may be enabled and styled. This is controlled by the following style element which is commented out by default:
           border: 1px solid blue;



Adjusting Individual Styles

If a particular block or other construct in the HTML document is not being displayed as you would like, then you can adjust the definition associated with its HTML tag or CSS class definition. These modifications will require at least a basic understanding of CSS syntax and the style elements and values available for the target construct.

To match the visual display to its styling, open the HTML document for editing and search for the displayed text. Note the environment(s) within which the text lives (paragraph, div, class, span, etc.), then find its definition in the 'infodoc-styles.css' definition file.

Example: 
The HTML mark-up for THIS paragraph looks like the following:
<div class="example"><pre class="example"> ... </pre></div>

To modify the definition for this paragraph, open 'infodoc-styles.css' 
and go to the definition for the '.example' class, which will look 
something like this:
.example
{
  font-family: monospace;
  font-size: inherit;
  font-style: inherit;
  font-weight: inherit;
  color: inherit;
  white-space: pre;
  margin-left: 3.2em;
}
.example pre
{
  font-family: inherit;
  font-size: inherit;
  font-style: inherit;
  font-weight: inherit;
  color: inherit;
  white-space: inherit;
  margin-left: 0;
}

For a smooth introduction to CSS please visit the Mozilla Developer Network which is maintained by the Mozilla Project:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference


Use care when adjusting individual style definitions because inheritance of style elements is an important issue in HTML documents generated from Texinfo source data. Any changes you make may affect more than just the bit of text you’re viewing at the moment.

In summary, have fun! The worst you can do is to bend an electron too far and cause worldwide nuclear annihilation. :-)




HTML Post-processing

Automatic post-processing can be performed on your HTML documents using the 'idpp' Infodoc Post Processor utility. For the tweakers in the crowd, the steps performed by 'idpp' may also be performed manually




Infodoc Post-processor

Automatically perform post-processing on HTML documents generated from Texinfo source. We hope that this simple utility will help you to create professionally styled HTML documentation for your project. Enjoy!

Software Sam



Post-processor Overview

The Infodoc Post-processor automatically applies CSS style to the raw HTML generated by the ’makeinfo’ utility. If you write HTML documentation using Texinfo, but don’t have time to learn HTML markup and CSS style, then this post-processing utility is for you.


What the Post-processor Does

This section describes the modifications made to the source document if no process-modification switches are specified on the command line.
See see Invoking idpp for information on command-line switches.

For a more detailed explanation of the changes made, please refer to the chapter on making manual modifications to the source document. The automatic modifications closely mirror the descriptions in
see Manual Post-processing.

  • Update the <!DOCTYPE> declaration. If no DOCTYPE declaration found, insert one AND replace the <html ...> tag with a plain <html> tag.
  • Discard everything inside the <head>...</head> block except the <title>.
    For more information on controlling the contents of the <head>...</head> section, please see Texinfo Build Options.
  • At the top of the <head> block, insert a link to the external CSS definition file. This is 'infodoc-styles.css' unless otherwise specified.
  • Replace the complex <body ...> tag with a plain <body> tag.
  • Just below the <body> tag, insert three lines that establish the container class.
  • Modify the "Up: (dir)" target link in the Main Menu page so that if the user clicks it, it won’t generate a "target-not-found" message.
  • For enumeration lists, “<ol>”, optionally modify or expand the the enumeration type and initial value for the list.
  • For itemized (bullet) lists, optionally specify an alternate bullet character. In addition, reformat “embedded” bullet items the correct errors in the horizontal offset.
  • Eliminate the unnecessary (and annoying) extra whitespace above all instances of the following block types:
    'format' class        '@format' command
    'smallformat' class   '@smallformat' command
    'display' class       '@display' command
    'smalldisplay' class  '@smalldisplay' command
    'example' class       '@example' command
    'smallexample' class  '@smallexample' command
    'lisp' class          '@lisp' command
    'smalllisp' class     '@smalllisp' command
    

    Note that under rare circumstances we may not be able to parse the block header, so in that case, we just leave it unmodified.

  • If a <blockquote> ... </blockquote> (’@quotation’ command) block is found, modify it to access the ’quotation’ class:
    <blockquote> becomes <blockquote class="quotation'>
  • If a <blockquote>...</blockquote> (’@quotation’ command) block or <blockquote class="smallquotation"> ... </blockquote> (’@smallquotation command) block is found, AND if the line following the block contains a sequence indicating that an ’@author’ sub-command was used, then realign the author’s name.
  • For ’cartouche’ objects (bordered paragraphs), remove the forced border styling so the ’cartouche’ class can control the style of the object.
  • If the GNU General Public License and/or the GNU Free Documentation License is included in the document, then 'idpp' silently corrects the enumeration lists contained in these sub-documents so the numbering will be consistent with the source data. (Never give a lawyer cause for complaint.)
  • In the Index, point the two “Jump to:” tables to the “jumpto” class.
  • Just above the </body> tag, terminate the container class.

What the Post-processor Assumes

This is a very simple application. We have tried to avoid the usual sources of embarrassment that arise from software developers making assumptions about what users may do with the application; however, you should be aware of the assumptions we have made about the HTML source documents:

  1. First, 'idpp' verifies the contents of 'infodoc-styles.css', the CSS definition file by checking the copyright message and the version number. Beyond that, 'idpp' relies on the definitions in 'infodoc-styles.css' to be intact. If you have modified these definitions, 'idpp' has no way of knowing about it, so use care.
  2. It is assumed that the source document is UTF-8 encoded.
  3. It is assumed that the terminal environment has indicated the correct (UTF-8 aware) locale (language-specific processing) for the data being processed.
    Note: To determine the locale used by your terminal, enter the ’locale’ command.
  4. It is assumed that the lines of the source document are of reasonable length, Any more than approximately 3000 bytes of UTF-8 data per line might be considered unreasonable.
  5. Source document lines may end with either a linefeed or a CRLF (0x0D, 0x0A) sequence; however, lines of target documents will be terminated with a linefeed (0x0A) only.
  6. Lists embedded within block constructs and Blocks embedded within other blocks.

    Lists (@itemize and @enumerate) created inside an @indentedblock or @smallindentedblock environment are accurately identified and processed. Example: see Lists Inside Blocks.

    However, it is recommended that lists should not be embedded inside preformatted blocks (@display, @format, @example, @lisp, and their ’small’ equivalents). The HTML markup generated by the texi-to-HTML converter in these blocks can become quite tortured and difficult to parse. 'idpp' does its best to correct this garbage, but the results are still not pretty. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that lists not be placed inside pre-formatted data blocks.

    Also, Texinfo allows for blocks nested within blocks to the limit of the margins. Data constructs inside an @indentedblock will be handled smoothly. Beyond that, however, it is recommended that nested blocks be used cautiously if the document is to be converted to HTML.
    See Blocks Inside Blocks.

  7. It is assumed that there may be hand-crafted HTML markup inside a @html ... @end html sequence in your ’.texi’ source document; however, there is no way for 'idpp' to know whether it is embedded or auto-generated data. Please refer to the HTML markup embedded directly into the ‘.texi’ source of this document. Although for test purposes, much of this embedded HTML is intentionally similar to the auto-generated code, 'idpp' passes all of it through unmodified. For example, we can say with some confidence that your lovingly-crafted HTML will never look as nasty as this:
    (see embedded HTML example).

    Still, it is possible that your embedded HTML may cause the output-line counter to be off a bit or in rare cases you may see that 'idpp' has attempted to reformat your embedded HTML code, so you should visually confirm any HTML which you have embedded directly into the texi source.

  8. It is assumed that the user is not a Bozo.
    1. In other words, it is expected that the source document was actually generated by the Texinfo ’makeinfo’ utility using the ’--html’ switch, and optionally, the ’--no-split’ switch.
      Example:
      makeinfo --html --no-split yourdoc.texi
      

      The formatting of HTML documents created by the texi-to-HTML converter is very specific. Post-processing an HTML document created by other means will yield wildly unpredictable results.

    2. Any manual modifications to the document should be performed AFTER the post-processor has been run.
    3. It is recommended that all post-processing of the document be done in a single pass. Although 'idpp' allows for multiple passes on a source document under most circumstances, the results may be disappointing.
      - If you accidentally run 'idpp' a second time on the same document
        using automatic processing (invoked with no interactive options), 
        'idpp' SHOULD create an identical copy of the document, but this 
        cannot be guaranteed.
      - If 'idpp' is invoked the second time with interactive options, it is 
        likely that the sequence of user prompts will be different from those 
        of the first pass.
        - If manual responses are provided for the processing, the results 
          can of course be immediately verified.
        - If however, a response file is used to provide responses 
          (see idpp --response option), the response tokens will 
          likely become out-of-synch, producing undesirable results. 
          For this reason, if 'idpp' detects that a response file is provided 
          for a second pass on a previously-processed HTML file, processing 
          will continue, but modification of the file will be disabled to 
          prevent unintended consequences. (see idpp --no_mods option)
      

      Please see idpp -V option which instructs 'idpp' to verify whether the source file has been previouly processed.




Invoking idpp

This chapter describes the processing options available as command-line switches.

Please refer also to the next chapter, which describes the logic behind the 'idpp' user interface. See Interface Logic.


idpp -i option Interactive Mode
idpp -a option All files
idpp -d option Specify target directory
idpp -f option Specify CSS file
idpp -c option Table of Contents (format as list)
idpp -r option Table of Contents (remove)
idpp -v option Verbose diagnostics
idpp -V option Verify unprocessed file
idpp -h option Command-line help (short form)
idpp --bullet_list option  — Interactive bullet-list formatting
idpp --enum_list option    — Interactive enumeration-list formatting
idpp --table_border option Interactive table formatting
idpp --block_font option   — Interactive block font size selection
idpp --fixed_list option   — Assign CSS class to all bullet lists
idpp --up_target option    — Specify link target from top of document
idpp --my_metadata option  — Insert custom metadata into HTML header
idpp --response option     — Specify an interactive-response file
idpp --no_mods option      — Scan only, no document modifications
idpp --no_special option   — Disable special-case processing
idpp --no_html5 option     — Do not update obsolete HTML constructs
idpp --no_meta option      — Do not discard valid metadata
idpp --no_links option     — Do not discard auto-generated links
idpp --no_body option      — Do not modify the <body> tag
idpp --no_uplink option    — Do not modify top-node up-link
idpp --no_block option     — Do not modify pre-formatted blocks
idpp --no_author option    — Do not adjust quotation “author”
idpp --no_cartouche option Do not remove extra cartouche formatting
idpp --no_contain option   — Do not create CSS container for document
idpp --version option      — Display version and copyright info
idpp --help option         — Display command-line help
idpp --scan option         — Debugging command
idpp --book option         — Debugging command

'idpp' is invoked as a standard GNU/Linux console utility with all user interaction occuring through the console I/O streams ‘wcout’ and ‘wcin’ (stdin/stdout in C-language terms).

Although 'idpp' may be launched in fully-automatic processing mode, the application includes several options for specifying the desired level of direct interaction, including specific options for lists, formatted-data blocks, tables and more.

Please see below for a detailed description of the available processing options.


Processing Options

Usage  :
idpp [OPTIONS][HTML_FILENAMES]      

Example:
idpp -cv --enum_list=specify home.htm   


Specifying Source Documents

Specify between one (1) and 24 HTML source documents to be processed.

Specify the documents by their filename only, not by a path/filename. The path is assumed to be the current working directory (or the specified target directory: '-d' option).

Example:
idpp -ic MyNovel.html mnChapter01.html mnChapter02.html mnChapter03.html

To specify all HTML source files in the directory, use the '-a' option.

Before processing begins, all specified documents are validated as HTML markup. Please see Interface Logic for details on source-document validation. If any document fails the validation process, then no documents will be processed.

Documents will be processed in the order in which they are specified. Please also see the -a option below.



Invocation Options

–i Start the application in Interactive Mode.

Launch the application in full interactive mode.
This option is a shorthand for a combination of the following options:

  --bullet_list=specify
  --enum_list=specify
  --table_border=specify
  --block_font=specify
Examples:
idpp -i mypage.html

The following are equivalent:
idpp -i
idpp –bullet_list=specify –enum_list=specify –table_border=specify –block_font=specify

Please refer to these individual options for additional details.


–a Process all source files in target directory.

Process everything in the target directory that look like HTML.

Scans the current working directory (or specified target directory) for HTML documents, adding each valid HTML document found to the list of files to be processed, up to a maximum of 24 files.

Example:
idpp -a

In order to avoid filename duplication, any source-document filenames specified directly on the command line will be discarded before the directory scan begins.

Files are initially identified by their filename extensions. The recognized filename extensions are:
'html' 'htm' 'shtml' 'shtm' 'xhtml'

Each identified file is then validated according to the criteria described above (see idpp source docs).


–d Specify an alternate source directory.

By default, all source files specified for processing as well as the CSS definition reference file are assumed to be located in the current working directory (CWD).

Use this option to specify a different directory in which to look for the source files and the CSS definition file.

All processed HTML target files will also be written to the specified directory.

Examples:
idpp -d=public_html home_en.html home_sp.html home_cn.html
idpp -d ../../src_dir
idpp -d=/home/Sam/Documents/htm_dir

–f Specify an alternate CSS definition file.

Specify the filename of the CSS definition file to use for applying style to the HTML document(s).

By default, 'idpp' looks for the file 'infodoc-styles.css' in the current working directory (or the working directory specified by the ‘-d’ option). If you have a customized CSS definition file with a different name or location, you can specify it here. Please specify either a filename ONLY, or a relative path/filename specification with no aliases.

Because the path/filename you specify with this option is written directly into the HTML document, the file must be in the same relative position for both post-processing AND for live rendering by the browser.

Note that an absolute path specification MIGHT work, but experience shows that absolute paths are rather fragile in this context, especially when moving the document from your local development environment to a hosted server.

Examples:
idpp -f my-styles.css  mypage.html
idpp -f=’../resources/my-styles.css’  mypage.html
idpp -f=my-styles.css  mypage.html

–c Process the Table of Contents as a list.

Process the document’s Table of Contents as a multi-level unordered list. This option converts the Table of Contents from a simple list of chapter links into a multi-level bulleted list.

(Our art consultant says it looks better this way, but of course this a subjective decision.)

Note that this option will apply only to a Table of Contents which is located before all chapter nodes and sectioning.

Note also that the '-c' option is incompatible with the '-r' option, below. If both are specified, then the '-r' option takes precedence.

Example:
idpp -c mypage.html

By default, the Table of Contents is unmodified. For more information on how the Table of Contents is constructed, please
see InfoTOC Structure.


–r Remove the Table of Contents from the document.

Because Texinfo documents are based on a system of chapter headers and menus, you may find that having a Table of Contents seems rather useless. If so, you can use this option to remove the entire Table of Contents without breaking the intra-document links.

Note that this option will apply only to a Table of Contents which is located before all chapter nodes and sectioning.
See also the Texinfo '@contents' command.

Example:
idpp -r mypage.html

By default, the Table of Contents is unmodified. For more information on how the Table of Contents is constructed, please see InfoTOC Structure.


–v Verbose output, report details of each operation.

Verbose output is useful if idpp is encountering a parsing error or other problem because it will show the approximate line number at which the error occurred. And if you have OCD, verbose output will give you comfort.

Example:
idpp -v mypage.html

–V Verify that source file was not previously processed.

Scan the first source file in the list of files to be processed to determine whether it has already received post-processing. Second and subsequent source files will not be scanned for previous post-processing.

If the file has been previously processed, the application will ask for verification that you want to process it again. If you answer in the affirmative, then all source files will be processed, without regard to whether they have been previously processed. If you answer in the negative, the application will exit immediately without processing any files.

Example:
idpp -V mypage.html

By default, the application will perform post-processing on all specified HTML source files, regardless of any previous post-processing.

In general, an HTML source file should receive post-processing only once.
Please refer to the discussion of post-processing assumptions for additional information.


–h Command-line Help (short form).

Display a list of available command-line options and brief examples.
See idpp --help option, for more information.

Example:
idpp -h

––bullet_list Interactive bullet-list formatting.

Specify the type of formatting that should be applied to bullet lists in the document.

Specify this option with one of three possible arguments:
   auto      Automatic formatting of all bullet lists. (default) 
   none      Do not aly formatting to bullet lists.
   specify   For each bullet list in the source document, the application
             will ask which kind of formatting should be applied to that list.

   Example:
   idpp --bullet_list=specify mypage.html

By default automatic formatting is applied to all bullet lists.

Note: Bullet lists are specified in the ‘.texi’ source using the "@itemize" command.

Almost any bullet character may be specified in the ‘.texi’ source, and when the document is built for the ‘info’ reader, the list will be formatted in an acceptable way. However, when the docment is built as HTML markup, only three(3) types of bullet lists are directly supported by web browser applications:

  • Disc bullets
  • ⚬ Circle bullets
  • ▪ Square bullets

Of these, only the disc bullet is fully supported in the ‘.texi’ source (@itemize @bullet), and the cirle bullet is partially supported through (@itemize @textdegree).

'idpp' provides formatting for whatever bullet character was specified in the ‘.texi’ source, and interactive post-processing of bullet lists expands user control over the available options.

User Prompt

___________________________________
Bullet List: (source line:681)
First Line Item: Select a color scheme
Auto-definition: disc-bullet
Choose Bullet-list type:
d:disc   (⏺)     a:automatic (default)
c:circle (⚬)     A:All automatic
s:square (▪)     x:no modification
n:no bullet
   your choice: _

The prompt for bullet-list formatting contains the following elements:

  1. “source line”
    Displays the line number of the source file where the list begins.
  2. “first line item”
    Displays the text of the first line item of the list as a visual reference identifying the contents of the list.
  3. “auto-definition”
    This is the CSS class that the application would assign to this list during automatic post-processing.
    Please see itemized list special processing for details.
  4. “Choose Bullet-list type”
    • − “d:disc (⏺)” (Unicode U+23FA)
      Press ‘d’ to select this option.
    • − “c:circle (⚪)” (Unicode U+26AA)
      Press ‘c’ to select this option.
    • − “s:square (▪)” (Unicode U+25AA)
      Press ‘s’ to select this option.
    • − “n:no bullet”
      Specify that the items of this list will have no bullet character.
      Press ‘n’ to select this option.
    • − “a:automatic (default)”
      Accept the default type for this list.
      Press ‘a’ to select this option.
    • − “A:All automatic”
      Accept the default type for this list AND for all remaining lists in the document.
      Press ‘A’ to select this option.
    • − “x:no modification”
      Do not modify the HTML markup for this list.
      Press ‘x’ to select this option.

If an invalid response is entered, the application will continue to prompt for a correct response, unless you hit the Panic Button (CTRL+C).

If creating a response file, (see response file), the default value is indicated by a response of 'd' (disc) or by the special value "default_token".

Automatic processing of bullet lists is also conditioned by the idpp --no_special option, below.

Please see Itemized Lists for a detailed discussion of bullet lists.


––enum_list Interactive enumeration-list formatting.

Specify the type of formatting that should be applied to enumeration lists in the document.

Specify this option with one of three possible arguments:
   auto      Automatic formatting of all enumeration lists. (default) 
   none      Do not apply formatting to enumeration lists.
   specify   For each enumeration list in the source document, 
             the application will ask which kind of formatting 
             should be applied to that list.

   Example:
   idpp --enum_list=none mypage.html

By default automatic formatting including special-case processing (idpp --no_special option) is applied to all enumeration lists. The "--enum_list" option is implemented to provide finer control over list processing for documents that require it.

Note: Enumeration lists are specified in the ‘.texi’ source using the "@enumerate" command.

Three(3) type of enumeration lists are directly supported within the ‘.texi’ source:

Decimal Numeric:         1 ... 999 ... 1000 ....
Lower-case Alphabetic:   a ... z ... aa ... zz ... aaa ....
Upper-case Alphabetic:   A ... Z ... AA ... ZZ ... AAA ....

In addition to the type of enumeration, the ‘.texi’ source can also specify the value of the initial list item. Please see Enumeration Lists for a detailed discussion of makeinfo support for enumeration lists.

It must be noted that the HTML5/CSS style specification has much broader support for enumeration lists in three categories:

 HTML5 CSS3 Function
 type list-style-type enumeration type (approx. 50 types)
 start n/a value of first list item
 reverse n/a (boolean) list items in ascending or descending order

Although it is not practical to provide the full range of functionality available under HTML5/CSS3, 'idpp' provides a robust subset of options. Each of these options is associated with a CSS class definition in 'infodoc-styles.css' which provides the necessary formatting.

User Prompt

___________________________________
Enumerated List: (source line:340)
First Line Item: Select a price range
Auto-definition: lower-alpha
Choose Enumeration type:
d:decimal            D:leading-zero decimal  j:CJK(informal)
l:lower case alpha   u:upper case alpha      k:Katakana
i:lower case Roman   I:upper case Roman      h:Hebrew
g:lower case Greek   c:custom enumeration    e:Arabic-Indic
a:automatic(default) A:All automatic         x:no modification
response format: TYPE[,START_NUM[,DIR]]
your choice: _

The prompt for bullet-list formatting contains the following elements:

  1. “source line”
    Displays the line number of the source file where the list begins.
  2. “first line item”
    Displays the text of the first line item of the list as a visual reference identifying the contents of the list.
  3. “auto-definition”
    This is the CSS class that the application would assign to this list during automatic post-processing.
    Please refer to the discussion of the special processing applied to enumeration lists including the implicit specification of the enumeration type within the “.texi’ source.
    Please see enumeration list special processing for details.
  4. “Choose Enumeration type”
    • − “d:decimal (positive integers)
      Press ‘d’ to select this option.
    • − “D:decimal (positive integers with leading zeros: 01, 02, etc.)
      Press ‘D’ to select this option.
    • − “l:lower-case latin (English) alphabetic
      Press ‘l’ to select this option.
    • − “u:upper-case latin (English) alphabetic
      Press ‘u’ to select this option.
    • − “i:lower-case Roman numerals
      Press ‘i’ to select this option.
    • − “I:upper-case Roman numerals
      Press ‘I’ to select this option.
    • − “g:lower-case Greek alphabetic
      Press ‘g’ to select this option.
    • − “j:CJK (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) (Han informal) numeric
      Press ‘j’ to select this option.
    • − “k:Katakana “alpha” (Gojūon)
      Press ‘k’ to select this option.
    • − “h:Hebrew alpha (Note: RTL language)
      Press ‘h’ to select this option.
    • − “e:Arabic-Indic numerals (Note: RTL language)
      Press ‘e’ to select this option.
    • − “a:automatic − apply automatic formatting (default)
      Press ‘a’ to select this option.
    • − “A:All automatic − apply automatic formatting for this list AND all remaining lists in the document.
      Press ‘A’ to select this option.
    • − “x:no-modification − write the unmodified tag
      Press ‘x’ to select this option.

Respond to the prompt by selecting the letter corresponding to the desired enumeration type, and optionally the initial value and direction (ascending/descending).

The optional initial value defaults to the first member of the enumeration type:
'1', '01', 'a', 'A', 'i', 'I', 'α', '一', 'ア', 'א', '١'
By default each enumeration sequence begins at the top of the sequence (1, A, a, etc.) without prompting for a value. While this is the correct behavior in most cases, your source document may contain a list that is broken into sections. Use this option to ensure that each section of your list begins at the desired point in the sequence.
Specify the starting value by placing a comma (',') after the enumeration type followed by a positive decimal number indicating the offset; for instance, a response of "l,7" will yield a lower-case alpha list with an initial value of 'g', 'g' being the 7th character of the latin alphabet.

The optional count direction defaults to “ascending”. While there is seldom a need to list items in descending order, the specification allows it, and it is simple to implement, so we include it for completeness.
Specify the count direction by placing a comma (',') after the starting value followed by either 'a' (ascending) or 'd' (descending). For instance, a response of "1,99,d" will yield a decimal numeric list with an initial value of 99, and descending toward zero: (99 98 97 96 95 94 ...).
A response of "u,17,d" will yield an upper-case alphabetic list with an initial value of ‘Q’, and descending toward ‘A’. (Q P O N M L K ...).
Important Note: Do not allow the list to descend into negative values.


If an invalid response is entered, the application will continue to prompt for a correct response, unless you hit the Panic Button (CTRL+C).

If creating a response file, (see response file), the default value is indicated by a response of 'd' (decimal) or by the special value "default_token".

Automatic processing of enumeration lists is also conditioned by the idpp --no_special option, below.

Please see Enumeration Lists for a detailed discussion of ordered lists.


––table_border Interactive formatting of tables.

Specify whether tables will have borders.

Specify this option with one of three possible arguments:
   auto      Draw all tables in the documents with borders. (default)
   none      Draw all tables in the documents without borders.
   specify   For each table in the source document, the application
             will ask whether the table should be constructed with
             a border and grid.

   Example:
   idpp --table_border=all mypage.html

In hand-crafted HTML documents, table objects are usually constructed with borders, and other style elements. However, an HTML-format table generated from a Texinfo source document is rather plain and featureless at best.
To beautify these tables, 'idpp' draws all tables with a border-and-grid by default.

The following examples are simple tables created using the Texinfo @multitable command. In the HTML-format document, 'infodoc-styles.css' (with CSS style applied), the first instance is drawn without a border (<table class="borderless">), and the second instance is drawn with a border (<table class="bordered">).

HEADING AHEADING BHEADING C
row 1, column ’a’row 1, column ’b’row 1, column ’c’
row 2, column ’a’row 2, column ’b’row 2, column ’c’
row 3, column ’a’row 3, column ’b’row 3, column ’c’

HEADING AHEADING BHEADING C
row 1-a, borderedrow 1-b, borderedrow 1-c, bordered
row 2-a, borderedrow 2-b, borderedrow 2-c, bordered
row 3-a, borderedrow 3-b, borderedrow 3-c, bordered

Note: Tables are specified in the ‘.texi’ source using the "@multitable" command or the (almost-useless) "@table" command.


User Prompt

____________________________
Table found on Line: 217
First Row: ...HTML Tag...Texinfo Command...Example
Add border to this table?
your choice (y/n/A): _

The prompt for table formatting contains the following elements:

  1. “source line”
    Displays the line number of the source file where the list begins.
  2. “first row of data”
    Displays the text of the first line item of the list as a visual reference identifying the contents of the list.
  3. “Add border to this table?”
    • y: yes − draw this table with a border and grid.
    • n: no − draw this table without a border.
    • A: yes for All − draw this table and all subsequence tables in the document with a border and grid.

If an invalid response is entered, the application will continue to prompt for a correct response, unless you hit the Panic Button (CTRL+C).

If creating a response file, (see response file), the default value is indicated by a response of 'y' (yes) or by the special value "default_token".


––block_font Interactive font-size selection for text blocks.

Specify the font size for each type of block text defined in the Texinfo source.

Specify this option with one of two possible arguments:
   auto      Block types inherit the font size from the parent container. (default)
   specify   For each type of text block in the, document, the application 
             will ask whether the block should be drawn with a smaller, 
             larger, or standard font size.

   Example:
   idpp --block_font=specify mypage.html

The following types of formatted text blocks are defined
within Texinfo source documents.
 @indentedblock
 @quotation
 @format
 @display
 @lisp
 @example
 @verbatim

In previous versions of the texi-2-HTML converter, (prior to v:6.6_2019_02_10), six of the seven block types supported the “small...” versions of the block type. For example “@smallquotation”. The small versions of these block type had all the same characteristics of the standard versions except that the font size was smaller. The “small...” option is still available for Tex and other output formats, but is no longer supported for HTML output.

We consider this to be a serious and completely unnecessary reduction in functionality. For this reason, we have implemented the --block_font option in 'idpp' to compensate for this loss of functionality. Indeed, we now offer both a “small...” and a “large...” post-processing option for all the above types of text blocks.

User Prompt

___________________________________
Block: "quotation" (source line:1420)
First Line    : Take what you can, give nothing back!
Choose font size:
i:inherit (std.)
s:smaller (-10%)   a:automatic (default)
l:larger  (+10%)   A:All automatic
your choice: _

The prompt for block-text formatting contains the following elements:

  1. “block type” and “source line”
    Displays the type of text block and the line number of the source file where the block begins.
  2. “Choose font size:”
    • − “i:inherit” − Write the block with text that is the same size as the surrounding text.
      Press ‘i’ to select this option.
    • − “s:smaller (-10%)” − Write the block with text that is ten percent smaller than the surrounding text.
      Press ‘s’ to select this option.
    • − “l:larger (+10%)” − Write the block with text that is ten percent larger than the surrounding text.
      Press ‘l’ to select this option.
    • − “a:automatic” − Apply the automatically calculated font size for this text block.
      Press ‘a’ to select this option.
    • − “A:All automatic” − Apply the automatically calculated font size to this text block and all remaining blocks in the document.
      Press ‘A’ to select this option.

Examples of Smaller Inherited and Larger text blocks

"Take what you can, give nothing back!"

Mr. Gibbs & Jack Sparrow

"Take what you can, give nothing back!"

Mr. Gibbs & Jack Sparrow

"Take what you can, give nothing back!"

Mr. Gibbs & Jack Sparrow

If an invalid response is entered, the application will continue to prompt for a correct response, unless you hit the Panic Button (CTRL+C).

If creating a response file, (see response file), the default value is indicated by a response of 'a' (automatic) or by the special value "default_token".


––fixed_list Do not allow browsers to modify bullet lists.

For all bullet lists which do not specify a CSS class, assign the default (disc) class.

Example:
idpp --fixed_list mypage.html

Web browsers will automatically demote bullet lists which are embedded within other lists unless the type of list is explicity specified.

The browser’s rendering engine will determine that the following is a multi-level itemized list (<ul> lists with no formatting class specified), and will automagically convert the list to level-down bullets:

disc bullets    become  circle bullets
circle bullets  become  square bullets
square bullets  remain  square bullets
  • Top-level item
    • Second-level item
      • Third-level item
        • Fourth-level item
        • Fourth-level item
        • Fourth-level item
      • Third-level item
      • Third-level item
    • Second-level item
    • Second-level item
  • Top-level item
  • Top-level item

To prevent automatic reformatting of nested lists, use the "--fixed_list" option to automatically assign a class definition to any list which does not have one, or by using the idpp --bullet_list option to interactively specify the bullet class for each list.


––up_target Specify parent document path.

Use this option to specify the path to the parent document represented by the top node’s "Up" hyperlink. This will usually be a relative path which steps up one level in the document tree.

The displayed text representing the hyperlink is also modified. By default, the displayed text will be set to ’(top)’; however, you may optionally specify the text which will be displayed.

To specify the display text, append the new display text to your argument string separated by a comma (’,’) as shown in the example.

Example (default display text):
idpp --up_target=’../parent_node.htm’

yields:
... Up: <a href="../parent_node.htm" accesskey="u" rel="up">(top)</a>...

Example (specify display text):
idpp --up_target=’../parent_node.htm,(mama)’

yields:
... Up: <a href="../parent_node.htm" accesskey="u" rel="up">(mama)</a>...

If your document is a stand-alone document, or if it is the top node on a document tree, then the auto-generated "Up" hyperlink at the top of the document will probably be pointing to an invalid target by default (but see the Texinfo customization variable, ’TOP_NODE_UP_URL’).

If the user clicks on this invalid hyperlink, the browser will display a message that the target was not found. This would be confusing for the user and embarrassing for you, the designer. For this reason, 'idpp', by default, points this hyperlink to the top of the current page (but see the '--no_uplink' option below).

Note that for info-format documents, this default "Up" link would be used to link the document into the top node of the ’info’ document tree, but this is usually not applicable to the top of an HTML document tree.


––my_metadata Insert custom metadata elements.

The texi-to-HTML converter inserts some (rather useless) metadata elements, links and other data into the '<head>...</head>' block. By default, 'idpp' discards all this questionable data (but see the '--no_meta' and '--no_links' options below).

Use this option to insert meaningful metadata elements, comments or other data into your document. The contents of the specified file will be copied into the document’s ’<head>’ block, just above the ’</head>’ tag.

Please note that this option is roughly equivalent to the Texinfo ’EXTRA_HEAD’ customization variable, but is much easier to use.
Please see Texinfo HTML Customization Variables.

Specify the input file as a filename (current directory), OR as a relative or absolute path/filename specification.

Examples:
idpp --my_metadata=metadata.txt  mypage.html
idpp --my_metadata=’../../extra/metadata.htm’  mypage.html
idpp --my_metadata=’/home/Sam/Documents/metadata.txt’  mypage.html

Note that the contents of the specified file are copied to the target document without validation of any kind, so be sure it is valid HTML markup and that it behaves as intended.

It is strongly recommended that you not insert CSS style elements in this way because they will interfere with, or override the definitions in the 'infodoc-styles.css' CSS definition file. To modify the CSS definitions, edit the 'infodoc-styles.css' file directly.


––response Specify response file for interactive formatting.

When one or more of the interactive-formatting options has been specified, a response file may be specified as a substitute for direct user interaction.

Example:
idpp -i --response=postproc.txt mypage.html

Although 'idpp' provides fully-automatic processing of the source HTML files, there are circumstances when finer control over formatting is required. You may respond to application requests directly using the keyboard; however, if the HTML source file is very large or if you are rebuilding the file more than a few times, then a writing a response file can save time and reduce typing errors.

The response file is a plain text file with responses to each 'idpp' prompt, one response per line. Comments may be included in the file to assist in synchronizing the responses with the 'idpp' prompts.
Please see response file for details on writing a response file for your project.


––no_mods Do not perform document modifications.

Scan the HTML source document and report the operations that WOULD BE performed when invoking 'idpp' with the specified options. The source document is not modified, and no target file is generated.

Specifying the '--no_mods' option implies the '-v' (verbose output) option AND bypasses all interactive user prompts.

Use this option to pre-scan a document, to locate a specific object in the document, or to locate potential post-processing problems.

Examples:
idpp --no_mods  testdoc.html
idpp -v --no_mods  testdoc.html

––no_special No special-case list processing.

The 'idpp' application performs certain “special-case” operations to overcome weaknesses in the texi-2-HTML converter (makeinfo/texi2any). While these automatic repairs are generally correct and desirable, the "--no_special" option is provided to disable these special-case operations.

Example:
idpp --no_special mypage.html

The formatting that is affected includes:

  • Bullet lists that are handled incorrectly by ‘texi2any’ or that are not directly supported by HTML syntax are formatted to correspond to that of ordinary lists.

    Please see Itemized Lists for additional information on the types of formatting performed.

  • Enumeration lists are interpreted according to the criteria detailed in the idpp --enum_list option above. Disabling special processing causes these lists to be interpreted literally.

    Please see Enumeration Lists for additional information on the types of formatting performed.

  • Lists within pre-formatted text blocks
    Technically, lists should never be embedded within pre-formatted data blocks (@format, @display, etc.) because lists are naturally “flowing” data while pre-formatted data have forced line breaks. If however, a list is detected within one of these blocks, special processing is performed on the list to minimize the ugliness.

    Please see Idpp Block Processing for additional information on the types of formatting performed.


––no_html5 Do not upgrade obsolete HTML constructs.

Disable replacement of obsolete HTML v:3/v:4 constructs.

The 'texi2html' converter is written to support certain obsolete HTML tags and document constructs. While it may seem like a good idea to use 15-year-old technology to support various closed systems, frankly the internet has moved on. Most modern browsers have to drop back into compatibility mode to support these constructs.

For this reason, 'idpp' replaces the worst of these constructs in the raw HTML document with more viable data.
For instance, the HTML MIME-type command which is the first line of the document, is generated as:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

This is a ridiculous construct which by default, 'idpp' replaces with a simple: <!DOCTYPE HTML>

If however, you are writing for a closed system such as a company’s interal website that uses out-of-date technology, the '--no_html5' option may be used to retain this ancient garbage.

Example:
idpp --no_html5 mypage.html

To specifically preserve the <!DOCTYPE> tag, see idpp --no_doctype option.
Please see Basic Manual Processing for technical information on how 'idpp' handles the source document’s header.


––no_meta Do not remove valid metadata.

By default, 'idpp' removes all of the metadata tags of the form: '<meta name=...' from the <head>...</head> section of the document.

These metadata entries are discussed in detail in the chapter:
see Post-processing Notes. Briefly, however, the default contents of these entries is rather useless, and some of the entries are invalid HTML according to modern standards.

Currently, the HTML specification allows only the metadata names "application-name", "author", "description", "generator", "keywords", (or one of the registered Metadata Extension names). See W3.org for details:
http://www.w3.org/TR/html-markup/meta.name.html

If you have generated meaningful metadata entries, then use the '--no_meta' option to preserve the intended data.

Example:
idpp --no_meta  mypage.html

See the Texinfo '@documentdescription' command and the customization variable, ’EXTRA_HEAD’
(see Texinfo Invocation Options) for additional details.

Special Note: If you specify the ’makeinfo’ ’DATE_IN_HEADER’ configuration variable during the build, then the --no_meta' option will retain the resulting metadata entry in addition to the metadata entries described above.
Please see Texinfo HTML Customization Variables.

For more information, also see idpp --my_metadata option, above.


––no_links Do not delete <link> elements in <head>.

By default, 'idpp' removes all of the <link> tags from the <head>...</head> section of the document.

These <link> entries are discussed in detail in the chapter: see Post-processing Notes. Briefly, however, the default entries tend to be either incorrect or meaningless.

If you have generated meaningful data for these entries, then use the '--no_links' option to preserve the intended data.

Example:
idpp --no_links  mypage.html

Please see Texinfo HTML Customization Variables for additional information on including/excluding <link> tags.


––no_body Do not update the <body> tag.

The '<body>' tag indicates the beginning of the user-visible part of the HTML document. By default, the texi-to-HTML converter inserts a lot of (useless) information into this tag.

First, these values are all default values, and are therefore unnecessary. Second, they are outdated HTML constructs. Third, they may, and probably will interfere with the CSS style information in 'infodoc-styles.css'.

The 'idpp' post-processor discards all this garbage by default, leaving only a pristine '<body>' tag.

However, if your document specifically indicates a <body> declaration (see the Texinfo ’BODYTEXT’ configuration variable), then use the '--no_body' option to preserve the intended <body ...> data. (not recommended)

Example:
idpp --no_body  mypage.html

For more information, see Post-processing Notes.


––no_doctype Do not update the <!DOCTYPE> tag.

The <!DOCTYPE ...>' specification is the first line in an HTML file and specifies the HTML-version criteria that the browser should use in interpreting the document.

Unfortunately, the texi-to-HTML converter specifies the ancient ’HTML4.01 transitional’ version. For this reason, 'idpp' replaces this with the standard '<!DOCTYPE html>' specifier by default.

However, if your document specifically indicates an HTML version that the browser should use (see the Texinfo ’DOCTYPE’ configuration variable), then use the '--no_doctype' option to preserve the intended doctype data.
Please also see Texinfo Build Options.

Example:
idpp --no_doctype  mypage.html

For more information, see Post-processing Notes.


––no_uplink Do not modify top node "Up" link.

Do not modify the target specified in the "Up" hyperlink at the top of the document.

Example:
idpp --no_uplink mypage.html

By default, 'idpp' modifies this link to prevent the browser from generating a ’target not found’ message if the user clicks on the link. The defaut value for the hyperlink is set to the top of the current page, and the default display text for the link is set to "(top)".

Note that this option is incompatible with the '--up_target' option, and if both are specified, then the '--no_uplink' option will be ignored.

For more information, see idpp --up_target option above.


––no_block Do not remove extra whitespace from formatted-block objects.

The texi-to-HTML converter uses a double-layer construct when creating pre-formatted block objects. This creates an unnecessary extra blank line in the HTML output.

By default, 'idpp' removes this extra blank line by elimination the completely unnecessary inner '<div>' construct. This adjustment applies to the following block objects: 'format', 'display', 'example', 'lisp' and their 'small...' variants.

Use the '--no_block' option to disable this automatic adjustment.

Example:
idpp --no_block  mypage.html

For more information, see Other Manual Processing.


––no_author Do not adjust ‘<blockquote>’ ‘author’ field.

If you create a <blockquote> object using the Texinfo ‘@quotation’ command or the ‘@smallquotation’ command, then you may also have used the optional ’@author’ sub-command.

This combination of commands works well in info-format documents, but looks very bad indeed in HTML-format documents.

By default, 'idpp' adjusts the position, and if necessary the font size of the ’author’ field.

Use the '--no_author' option to disable this automatic adjustment.

Example:
idpp --no_author  mypage.html

If no ‘@author’ sub-command was used with the ‘@quotation’ or ’@smallquotation’ block, then this option has no effect.
For more information, see Quotation Commands.


––no_cartouche Do not remove redundant border style for ‘cartouche’.

The Texinfo command “@cartouche” defines a paragraph surrounded by a border. The texi-to-HTML converter calls out the ‘cartouche’ class for this type of object, but does not define the class. Instead, it (inappropriately, in our view), inserts a border style element directly into the HTML document. This direct styling violates Texinfo’s own stated goal of avoiding direct styling of the document. For this reason, 'idpp' removes this direct styling so the ‘cartouche’ class defined in 'infodoc-styles.css' can control the object.


A “cartouche” is a bordered paragraph. While this border is not rendered within the ’info’ document, the border is rendered correctly for the HTML document. The ‘cartouche’ class applies CSS style for margins and interior padding to beautify the raw HTML output. By default, text within an HTML cartouche block is pre-formatted (fixed line breaks) during post-processing, but may be allowed to flow (using dynamic line breaks) by invoking 'idpp' with the “--no_cartouche” option.

Use the '--no_cartouche' option to allow text within all cartouche objects to “flow”, that is, each line of text will break dynamically at the margin of the parent container.
See the '--no_contain' option below for more information about “containers.”

Example:
idpp --no_cartouche  mypage.html

If the document contains no ‘cartouche’ objects, then this option does nothing.
For more information, see Misc Block Modifiers.


––no_contain Do not insert the ‘infodoc_container’ class into document.

The 'idpp' post-processor inserts a so-called ’container class’ into the styled HTML document to define the left and right borders within which all displayed data must live. In our view, this is significantly more attractive than allowing the HTML text to wander all across the browser window.

However, if you want your data to be un-contained, you may use the '--no_contain' option to disable insertion of the 'infodoc_container' class.

Example:
idpp --no_contain  mypage.html

This container is described and discussed in:
see Summary of CSS Definitions,
see Adjusting Style Definitions, and
see Basic Manual Processing.


––version Display version number and copyright notice.

This option displays the application title, the application version number, the author’s copyright notice and the GNU GPL license notice.

Note that if this option is specified, then all other options and arguments on the command line will be ignored.

If you need technical support, then make a note of the reported version number and include it with your support request.
See Technical Support.

Example:
idpp –version

The following is an example of the Version message:

Infodoc Post-processor (idpp) version: 0.0.14
Copyright (C) 2014-2023 The Software Samurai

License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to modify and/or redistribute it 
under the terms set out in the license.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

––help  (–h) Command-line Help.

Display a list of available command-line options and brief examples.

Note that if specified, a request for Help overrides everything else on the command line (except ’--version’).

If this option is specified, then no source documents will be processed.

All examples are functionally equivalent:
idpp –help
idpp -h
idpp -H
idpp -?



Additional invocation options and command arguments may be added from time to time.
Existing options may be redefined or removed, but only for very good reason.



Two additional options are defined for application debugging only:


––scan Debugging Option.

During development of the 'idpp' application this option is used to display the line numbers of the source HTML document as it is read.

This allows the developer to identify and isolate any HTML construct which is being parsed incorrectly.

Examples:
Display all source line numbers:
idpp --scan mypage.html

Display source line numbers from line 1275 onward:
idpp --scan=1275 mypage.html

Display source line numbers in the range 1275 to 1350:
idpp --scan=1275,1350 mypage.html
––book Debugging Option.

During development of the 'idpp' application this option is used to create a “bookend” message for each data construct in the HTML document as it is read.

This allows the developer to identify and isolate any HTML construct which is being parsed incorrectly.

Example:
idpp --book mypage.html



Interface Logic

The design of human-to-computer interactional logic falls midway between engineering and philosophy. For this reason, the way an application gathers information from a user, processes that information and presents the results is seldom, if ever carefully docummented—at least not by the people who wrote it.

Instead, the user is left on his or her own to experimentally determine what the software designer was thinking when she wrote the application, and how that thinking was translated into the actual human-to-computer interface.

Trying to determine the way in which people from a wide variety of language, cultural and intellectual backgrounds "naturally" think about a task is a nearly-impossible challenge. Software designers, if we think about this issue at all, tend to see the "natural" flow of human-to-computer interaction through a very personal lens.

We have a responsibility, then, to explain how the software actually organizes the gathering, processing and reporting of information. While no interface can please everyone, we can at least inform everyone about what we have done.

Editorial: We were repeatedly told by a previous maintainer of one of the GNU packages
that they DON’T WANT TO document the way the software works, because if they do, they
will have to be constantly checking to ensure that the software behaves as documented.
However, most of our GNU community knows that knowledge is power and that detailed
knowledge is freedom. For everyone else,there’s Windoze....

Software Sam

The 'idpp' Post-Processor Interface Logic

  1. Note that your HTML source document(s) are not modified, so you need not worry about loss or corruption of your source data during processing.

    Each source document specified for processing is renamed as a backup file, that is, a ’~’ (tilde character) is appended to the original filename, and the processed document takes on the original filename.

    Note that an existing backup file (if any) will be overwritten.

    Note also that by default backup files are not displayed by most GUI file management utilities. (This is the GUI mavens’ idea of being ’helpful’.) Backup filenames ARE however reported by the console ’ls’ command. Example: ls -l *.htm*

Example:
Source document: 'mypage.html'  is renamed as  'mypage.html~'
Target document: is written as 'mypage.html'
  1. At least one (1) and up to a maximum of (24) source documents may be specified on the command line, (but see idpp -a option).

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Specify filenames ONLY, not a path. The path to a specified file is assumed to be the current working directory, (but see idpp -d option). Also, the specified file must be a ’Regular’ file, not a symbolic link. Symbolic links are not followed.

    Each specified file is validated as an HTML document: If the first line of the document begins with one of the following text sequences, it is considered to be an HTML document. Leading whitespace is ignored, and the test is case insensitive.
    "<!DOCTYPE html"  OR  "<HTML"

    Although this is not a definitive test, we have some confidence that any HTML document created by ’makeinfo’ can be identified in this way.

  2. Each source document specified must exist in the target directory AND it must be valid HTML code. If any file fails the validation test, then no files will be processed.
  3. If an error in processing is encountered, the last line read from the source document will be written to the target file and processing will be terminated. (It cannot be assumed, however, that the last line written to the target actually caused the error.)

    — Previously processed files will be complete.
    — The file in which the error occurred will be incomplete.
    — Any unprocessed source files will be ignored.

    Please note that the most likely cause of a processing error is if the parsing algorithm cannot identify an end-of-block token to match a previously identified start-of-block token.

  4. All processing options are optional.
  5. A request for command-line help overrides all other options except ’--version’.
  6. A request for the application version (’--version’) overrides all other options.
  7. Options and source document names may be specified in any order. However, mandatory or optional command arguments must immediately follow the command with which they are associated.

    Note that if you accidentally specify the same option more than once, then the argument (if any) for the last option specified takes precedence; however, avoid accidents by avoiding duplication of options.

    Example:
    idpp -cv mypage1.htm --table_border=specify mypage2.htm -f=mystyles.css

  8. Certain processing tasks are performed by default.
    See Post-processor Overview.
  9. Other tasks are performed only if the corresponding option is selected.
  10. Default processing tasks may be selectively disabled.
  11. Some options take no arguments (parameters), while other options have mandatory or optional arguments.

    Note that if a command argument contains spaces it must be enclosed in quotation marks so the the shell program will interpret it as a single item.

Example:
idpp -d 'my html doc directory'
  1. There are two types of options:
    • ⚬ short-form options consist of a single dash (minus sign) followed by a single character.

      Some short-form options have mandatory arguments. These arguments may be specified with or without an intervening space, OR with a connecting ’=’ (equals sign) without intervening spaces:

      The following examples are functionally identical:
      idpp -d public_html mypage.html
      idpp -dpublic_html mypage.html
      idpp -d=public_html mypage.html

      Short-form options without arguments may be combined.

      Example:
      idpp -icvV mypage.html

      The following is also acceptable:
      idpp -icvd=public_html mypage.html

    • ⚬ long-form options consist of a double dash (two consecutive minus signs) immediately followed by the command.

      Some long-form options have mandatory or optional arguments. If an argument is specified, the command must be immediately followed by a ‘=’ character, which is immediately followed by the argument without intervening spaces.

      Examples:
      idpp -i --response=postproc.txt mypage.html
      idpp --up_target="../parent_node.htm,(home)" mypage.html

      For long-form options, you must specify enough of the command to uniquely identifiy it. Currently, this is (9) characters (7) characters beyond the double dash). However, when new options are added, this relaxed specification may change, so it is recommended that the entire command name be specified.

  2. Response File for Interactive Options
    For processing options that require user responses, a plain-text response file may be used. The contents of this file is read as a substitute for direct user interaction.

    Example:
    idpp -cv --table_border=specify --response=postproc.txt mypage.html

    • ▪ A response file consists of a a series of response tokens, one token per line.
      Note that in this context a “token” is a text string which contains no spaces.
    • ▪ Blank lines and comments in the response file will be ignored.
      A comment is identified by the '#' (hash mark) character, and all text following the '#' on that line will be ignored. The following example is excerpted from the “apply_response.txt” file included with this package.

      # Response file for post-processing of "infodoc_css.html"
      #--------------------------------------------------------
      s              # Copyright Message smallformat
      default_token  # TOC page intro paragraph
      a              # Overview quotation only-rock-n-roll
      d              # Summary of CSS enumerate_1
      y              # Summary of CSS multitable_1
      y              # Summary of CSS multitable_2
      
    • ▪ If the response file contains too few tokens, then you will need to respond manually to the remaining prompts.
    • ▪ If the end of your source document is reached, leaving some tokens in the response file unused, then the extra tokens will be ignored.
    • ▪ For convenience, a response file may optionally contain placeholder response tokens consisting of the literal string:
               “default_token
      which if read by the user input routine will cause the default response for that query to be inserted at that point in the input stream.
    • ▪ Also as a convenience during the development of a response file, an abort signal may be inserted into the file to halt processing. The abort signal consists of the literal string:
               “Quit
      Within the 'idpp' application, the abort signal has the same effect as if an HTML syntax error had been encountered. When detected, the abort signal will cause the application to immediately halt processing, and exit.

    A response file is useful if you are developing a new document and are repeatedly regenerating the HTML document. For instance, while developing this document, we regenerated the HTML output well over 500 times. For additional examples, please refer to the response file for this document, ’apply_response.txt’.

    Use care in creating and maintaining response files because a change in your source document can easily cause the response file to become out-of-sequence with the interactive prompts. Re-processing a source document that has already been post-processed may also cause the responses to be out-of-sequence.

Programmer's Note:

To ensure that our response file is in synch with this source document, we have intentionally specified
that the last response will be a non-default value, for easy visual confirmation that synchronization is correct.
(Index Notes is set to a smaller block-font size.)





Build idpp from source

The 'idpp' utility is a simple console application written in C++ and using the standard ’wide’ character I/O streams ‘wcout’ and ‘wcin’.

Preliminaries

First, open a terminal window. then unpack the distribution archive file into a clean directory (see README file for details). Next, navigate to the idpp subdirectory: ’cd Infodoc/idpp’

Tools Needed

Note that building from source requires the GNU compiler 'g++' version 4.8.0 or later, with full support for the ’gnu++11’ library option. (Compiler versions as early as 4.7.3 MAY work, but this cannot be guaranteed.) 'g++' v:10.2.1 or greater is recommended.

Standard Build

A makefile is provided which by default builds a standard binary executable which references the shared libraries for the target machine. To build the standard binary, simply enter the command:
'gmake' (produces: 'idpp')

The build should complete without errors and without warnings.
We are, after all, not just animals pooping in the forest.

Optional Static Build

Optionally, the binary can be built as a stand-alone application which does not reference external libraries. Software nerds call this a ’static build’, because it uses the ’-static’ build option. See, we ain’t so dumb:-) This binary should run on any system with the same basic architecture and a compatible operating system. Enter the command:
               ’gmake static’       (produces: ’idpp_s’)

Note, however, that using this option brings into play a number of things that can bite you in the ass, so if you aren’t sure about the configuration of the potential target systems, it is more reliable to do a standard build on each individual target system. Then when the application is invoked, it will reference the shared libraries for that system.

Testing the Build

Test the results by entering the following command:
'./idpp --version'

If the title/copyright/version message is successfully displayed, then congratulations are in order, and you can copy the 'idpp' binary to a directory on your search path (usually ’/home/yourname/bin’ or ’/usr/local/bin’).

Otherwise, please check your compiler version, environment settings, library paths and the other usual suspects.

If you just can’t get a successful build, please send us a message with all the relevant information, and we will wave our magic wand at the problem. See Technical Support.




Manual Post-processing

Automatic post-processing using the 'idpp' utility is preferred for consistency, speed and ease; however, if you prefer the hands-on approach, or if you want to know the details of what 'idpp' is doing, simply follow these step-by-step instructions.

Modifying the HTML mark-up by hand is not difficult. You do not need to understand HTML or CSS in order to make these modifications.





Basic Manual Processing

  1. Copy the 'infodoc-styles.css' file to the directory where your HTML document lives and open your HTML document for editing.
    We use Bluefish(tm) or jEdit(tm), but any text editor will work.
  2. Replace the ’doctype’ declaration at the top of the file.
    This declaration is the standard way of indicating that what follows is HTML markup. The texi-to-HTML converter generates an out-of-date reference to HTML version 3 or 4 and DTD (Document Type Definition). Unless you are forced to retain compatibility with 15-year-old technology, replace the existing declaration with a simple: <!DOCTYPE html> which is the correct choice for most web documents and is the HTML5 standard.
  3. Just below the <head> tag and above <title>, insert the following two lines which will establish a link to the style sheet file.
    <meta charset="utf-8" /> <!-- Import the global stylesheet -->
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="infodoc-styles.css" lang="en" type="text/css"/>
  4. Delete any other auto-generated metadata in the ’<head>...</head>’ data block: (<meta name=... >) and links (<link href=...>). These are unnecessary to the rendering of the page, so unless you have a specific reason for retaining them, get rid of them. Two possible exceptions are:
       ’<meta name=\"description...>  OR <meta name=\"keywords...>’
    Although the defaults generated by the texi-to-HTML converter are rather useless, you might, if desired, modify them to be more meaningful.
  5. Delete all auto-generated HTML style definitions in the ’<head>...</head>’ element. These definitions are more completely and robustly defined in the CSS definition file, so these old stub definitions may interfere with our new-and-improved definitions.
  6. Replace the ’<body ...>’ tag with a plain ’<body>’ tag.
    The texi-to-HTML converter embeds several default values for background color, etc. into the <body> tag, and again, these will interfere with our new definitions.
  7. Establish the container class:
        a) Just after <body>, insert  : <div class="infodoc_container">
        b) Just above </body>, insert : </div>  <!-- infodoc_container -->
    This restricts the left and right margins to fit comfortably within a 1280-pixel display and presents a much more pleasing visual style. For detailed information about the container class, see ’.infodoc_container’ in the 'infodoc-styles.css' definition file.

    If desired, you can disable the border around this container by commenting out the ’border: 1px solid;’ line in the container definition.

  8. Replace the "Up" Target of your main document.
    The ’Up: (dir)’ target specified in the Table of Contents section will probably not have a legitimate target. If the user clicks it, the browser will generate a target-not-found message. Here is the auto-generated sequence and some suggested modifications.
    Auto-generated:
       Up: <a href="dir.html#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">(dir)</a>
    Replace with:
       Up: <a href="#" accesskey="u" rel="up">(top)</a>
       (this references the top of the current page)
    Or:
       Up: <a href="../docs.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">(docs)</a>
       (example of the HTML page one level up in the tree)
    
  9. (not really) OPTIONAL:
    The texi-to-HTML converter (makeinfo version 6.8) provides much improved handling of lists compared to makeinfo v:5.x. However, because your ’.texi’ source document almost certainly uses the @itemize and/or the @enumerate commands to create lists, it is important to know the converter’s strengths and weaknesses.
    Bulleted lists:    @@itemize command, yields
                       <ul>...</ul> (bulleted) tag lists
    Enumeration Lists: @@enumerate command, yields
                       <ol>...</ol> (sequenced) tag lists.
    

    Please refer to the next chapter discussing post-processing of lists: See Manual List Processing.




Manual List Processing

IMPORTANT NOTE:
The 'idpp' post-processing utility handles all issues discussed in this chapter with very little human intervention. Please refer to the 'idpp' command-line options for processing lists: see Infodoc Post Processor.

Because the texi-to-HTML converter does not handle lists in a robust way, it is recommended that all itemized/unordered/bulleted lists AND all enumeration/ordered/sequenced lists be scanned and assigned to specific list-class definitions, either automatically or interactively.

Texi    : @enumerate a
Raw HTML: <ol type="a" start="1">
Becomes : <ol class="enum-lower-alpha" start="1">

Texi    : @itemize @textdegree
Raw HTML: <ul class="no-bullet">     (° embedded in each list item)
Becomes : <ul class="circle-bullet">

The multi-level list below is designed as a real-world example. ’makeinfo’ creates a very clean and attractive list in the info-format document; however, the corresponding HTML document requires significant post-processing.

The HTML document is legible in its raw form; however, without post-processing, it looks significantly and confusingly different from the original document AND it will not meet any kind of professional criteria for HTML documentation.

The following is a summary of the 'infodoc-styles.css' class definitions which support lists. Please refer to see Summary of CSS Definitions, or directly to the CSS style definitions for more details.


  1. Unordered (bulleted) Lists
    1. The @itemize command generates ’<ul>...</ul>’ list sequences.
    2. The texi-to-HTML converter (v:6.8) correctly specifies the HTML markup for: ’@itemize’ (with no argument) and ’@itemize @bullet’ by generating a ’disc-bullet’ list (bullet is similar to ⏺, but is browser specific).
    3. All other bullet-type arguments specified with the @itemize command are incorrectly handled.
    4. For these, the ’no-bullet’ class is invoked in the HTML markup:
      Example: <ul class="no-bullet"> <li> ... </li></ul>
    5. The bullet character specified in the ’.texi’ source is then embedded within each line item. This is not actually too ugly, but it is, strictly speaking, wrong. By design, bulleted lists are intended to have a hanging-indent format, where the bullet is set close to the margin, and all text content is inset from the bullet and vertically aligned. Below, is a simulation of what the item should look like and what the texi-to-HTML converter actually generates for an ’@itemize ⚪’ list.
        ⚬ For the 1995 film "Sense and Sensibility," Emma Thompson 
          received Academy Award nominatons for both best actor, and 
          best screenplay, winning in the best screenplay category. 
          Thompson is the only person to have won Oscars for both 
          acting and screenwriting.
      
          ⚬ For the 1995 film "Sense and Sensibility," Emma Thompson 
          received Academy Award nominatons for both best actor, and 
          best screenplay, winning in the best screenplay category. 
          Thompson is the only person to have won Oscars for both 
          acting and screenwriting.
      

      See Itemized Lists for test code related to bullet lists.

    6. Please see idpp --bullet_list option for more information on interactive format selection for bullet lists.
    7. One other issue comes into play with unordered lists: the browser will recognize when a bulleted list is nested within another list and will automatically demote the bullet character for the list from ’disc’ to ’circle’ or from ’circle’ to ’square’ unless you have assigned the list to a specific class. The browser will obey the class callout, effectively overriding the automatic bullet-type demotion.


  2. Unordered List Classes
    To change or correct the bullet type generated by default, modify the tag to reference the target class. You may also need to manually reformat the text for each item, but again, by default, the 'idpp' post-processor will do this for you.
    • ♦ ul.no-bullet
      For unordered lists specified in the ’.texi’ source with the command: @itemize @w{}.

         In order to implement the embedded-bullet construct described above, the texi-to-HTML converter unfortunately calls out the ’no-bullet’ class for everything except the browser’s default bullet type.

         What this means in practical terms is that the actual bullet (if any) appearing in the HTML document is rather unpredictable. The following considerations contribute to the confusion:

      • − Note that this class definition implements the auto-generated HTML <ul class="no-bullet"> tags
      • − If your .texi source uses the @itemize keyword with any bullet argument other than @bullet (or none), then whatever bullet you specified is ALREADY shown in the <li> item, although it will appear inside the item.
      • − If this class is not defined, then the (default) bullet rendered for each line item is placed outside the item. This is standard HTML behavior; however, you may now have TWO bullet characters in the HTML output.
      • − Note that the ’@itemize @w{}’ sequence places a single space character where the bullet would have been, and the line items themselves need no modification.
      • − Note that to allow the auto-generator output for lists to stand without modification, the ’no-bullet’ class must be defined–either the default definition created by the auto generator OR in the infodoc-styles.css file (but not both).
    • ♦ ul.disc-bullet
      For unordered lists that use the default disc bullet (•) or similar. This includes lists specified with ’@itemize (no argument)’ or ’@itemize @bullet’, or with any other bullet character which resembles a filled disc. This is the default behavior for unordered lists, so if the ouput looks good, there is no need to change it, but if desired, you can modify it to reference the ’disc-bullet’ class.
      <ul>
      Becomes:
      <ul class="disc-bullet">
    • ♦ ul.circle-bullet
      For unordered lists that use the ’@itemize’ command with the ’@textdegree’ bullet character or any character which resembles an un-filled circle.
      <ul class="no-bullet">
      Becomes:
      <ul class="circle-bullet">

      Then delete:
      a) the embedded degree or other symbol, and
      b) one space character which follows it

      The HTML will now look as if the list was generated using direct HTML markup.

    • ♦ ul.square-bullet
      For unordered lists that use the ’@itemize’ command with the any bullet character that cannot be described as a ’disc’ or a ’circle’. This is the browser’s fall-back bullet.

      <ul class="no-bullet">
      Becomes:
      <ul class="square-bullet">

      Then delete:
      a) the embedded symbol, and
      b) one space character which follows it

      The HTML will now look as if the list was generated using direct HTML markup.

    • ♦ Custom Bullet Characters While Texinfo supports any single-column character as a bullet character, HTML currently supports only these bullet types:
      [disc | circle | square | none]
      Forcing an unsupported bullet character in the HTML is handled during post-processing in a relatively-robust way by creating a hanging indent for the first line of each line item.
      Example:
      Texi    : @itemize @textdegree
      Raw HTML: <ul class="no-bullet>
                <li> ◦ Rocky the Flying Squirrel<br>
                soars through the sky.
                </li><li> ◦ Bulwinkle J. Moose<br>
                is Rocky's constant companion.
                </li></ul>
      Becomes : <ul class="no-bullet>
                <li style="text-indent:-1.0em;">◦ Rocky the Flying Squirrel<br>
                soars through the sky.
                </li><li> ◦ Bulwinkle J. Moose<br>
                is Rocky's constant companion.
                </li></ul>
      

         The 'idpp' post-processor identifies certain non-standard bullet characters and automatically formats the lists in which they appear:
      ( ● ⚫ ⏺ ∙ ○ ⚪ ⚬ ◦ ° ■ ◼ ◾ ▪ ♦ - – — − > ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ )
      In addition, the ul.custom-bullet class is defined so you can directly support any bullet character which does not already have a CSS class definition.



  3. Enumerated (sequenced) Lists
    1. The @enumerate command generates '<ol>...</ol>' list sequences.
    2. The texi-to-HTML converter (v:6.8) correctly specifies the HTML markup for: ’@enumerate’ (with no argument) and ’@enumerate 1’ by generating a decimal sequence beginning with the number ’1’.

      The texi-to-HTML converter also correctly identifies:
      lower-case alpha “@enumerate a” : (a, b, c, d, e, ...) and
      upper-case alpha “@enumerate A” : (A, B, C, D, E, ...).

      The texi-to-HTML converter also offers the option of beginning the count at an arbitrary point in the sequence simply by specifying the starting value. Example: ’@enumerate 21’ will begin the decimal count at ‘21’:  (21 22 23 24 25 ...)

      All enumeration lists appear in the raw HTML using the deprecated HTML style “type”.
      Examples: <ol type="1" start="1">...</ol>
      <ol type="a" start="6">...</ol>
      <ol type="A" start="3">...</ol>
      Each of these “type”s should be replaced with the appropriate CSS class definition. Examples: <ol class=="enum.decimal" start="1">...</ol>
      <ol class=="enum.lower-alpha" start="6">...</ol>
      <ol class=="enum.upper-alpha" start="3">...</ol>

      Please see Enumeration Lists for enumeration-list test code.

    3. If your ’.texi’ source specifies an enumeration type other than the three type described above then the texi-to-HTML converter ignores your specification and incorrectly defaults them to decimal numeric lists. For enumeration tyes suported by 'idpp', these errors can be corrected during post-processing.

      See idpp --enum_list option option for more information.



  4. Ordered List Classes
    To correct the enumeration type generated by default, modify the tag to reference the target class, and optionally specify an initial value and direction (ascending/descending).

    • ♦ ol.enum-decimal
      For ordered lists that use decimal numbers. This is both the Texinfo and the HTML default for orderd lists, so if the ouput looks good, there is no need to change it, but if desired, you can modify it to reference the ’enum-decimal’ class.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-decimal">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-decimal-zero
      For ordered lists that use decimal numbers with a leading zero.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-decimal-zero">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-lower-alpha
      For ordered lists that use lower-case alphabetical enumeration.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-lower-alpha">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-upper-alpha
      For ordered lists that use upper-case alphabetical enumeration.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-upper-alpha">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-lower-roman
      For ordered lists that use lower-case Roman enumeration.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-lower-roman">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-upper-roman
      For ordered lists that use upper-case Roman enumeration.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-upper-roman">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-lower-greek
      For ordered lists that use lower-case Greek enumeration.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-lower-greek">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-cjk-decimal
      For ordered lists that use CJK (Han informal) enumeration.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-cjk-decimal">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-katakana
      For ordered lists that use Katakana (Japanese) enumeration.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-katakana">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-hebrew
      For ordered lists that use Hebrew enumeration. (Hebrew is an RTL language.)

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-hebrew">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-arabic-indic
      For ordered lists that use Arabic-Indic enumeration.
      (The family of languages based on Arabic are RTL languages.)

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-arabic-indic">
      
    • ♦ ol.enum-custom
      For ordered lists that use an enumeration type not directly supported by the above class definitions.

      <ol>
      Becomes:
      <ol class="enum-custom">
      

      Then edit the 'infodoc-styles.css' file to specify the enumeration type to be used.




Other Manual Processing

  1. OPTIONAL:
    Eliminate extra blank line before pre-formatted blocks.
    The texi-to-HTML converter (unnecessarily in our view) creates two block header declarations on successive lines causing the extra blank line. This extra whitespace is not critical, but we find it annoying, and the 'idpp' post-processor corrects this by eliminating the inner block. Example:
       <div class="format">
       <pre class="format">  This is block text.
    Becomes:
       <div class="format">  This is block text.
    
  2. OPTIONAL:
    If your ’.texi’ source uses the @quotation command, the texi-to-HTML converter generates a ’<blockquote>’ tag to represent it. Because this relies on browser defaults, you may want to call out the ’quotation’ class definition to give you firmer control over what the browser displays.
       <blockquote>
    Becomes:
       <blockquote class="quotation">
    
  3. OPTIONAL:
    If your ’.texi’ source uses the @quotation or @smallquotation commands in conjunction with the optional @author sub-command, you will find that the texi-to-HTML converter handles this rather poorly.

    Scan for the sequence which indicates the @author output, and move it INSIDE the ’</blockquote>’ tag. Example:

       <blockquote>He was a wise man who invented beer.
       </blockquote>
       <div align="center">&mdash; <em>Plato</em>
    Becomes:
       <blockquote>He was a wise man who invented beer.
       <div align="center">&mdash; <em>Plato</em>
       </blockquote>
       
    Note that to beautify the 'author' line, the automatic 
    post-processor takes this one step further:
       <blockquote>He was a wise man who invented beer.
       <br><span style="margin-left:3.2em;">&mdash; <em>Plato</em>
       </p></blockquote>
    
  4. OPTIONAL:
    If your ’.texi’ source uses the @cartouche command (for bordered paragraphs), remove the forced styling created by the texi-to-HTML converter so the ’cartouche’ class can control the output.

       <table class="cartouche" border="1"><tr><td>
    Becomes:
       <table class="cartouche"><tr><td>
    

    Note that the reason the texi-to-HTML converter declares a ’<table>’ element is that in ancient versions of HTML, the ’table’ was the only elements which was defined with borders. This is an obsolete usage, of the ’<table>’ element, but is does not harm the output. However, without removing ’border="1"’ a double border will be generated around the paragraph.

  5. OPTIONAL:
    In the document’s Index there are three '<table>...<table>' sequences. Two of these are alphabetical "Jump to:" references. To avoid overlap with the standard ’<table>’ tag definition, point the two "Jump to:" tables to the ’jumpto’ class:

       <table><tr><th valign="top">Jump to: ...
    Becomes:
       <table class="jumpto"><tr><th valign="top">Jump to: ...
    
  6. OPTIONAL:
    If you are using a sequence of interconnected documents, or if you are linking your document into a larger website tree structure, then be sure that the user has valid navigation links among the documents.

    Software Sam uses these links to aid visitors in website navigation; however, they are completely optional.

    Insert two (2) local links, at the top and bottom of the ’infodoc_container’ class. Of course these links can direct the user anywhere, but we direct the user back to the parent page, the main HTML Docs Page.

    <div class="infodoc_interlink"><a href="../docs.html">
    Back To HTML Docs Page </a></div>
        and
    <div class="infodoc_interlink"><a href="../docs.html">
    Back To HTML Docs Page </a></div><br>
    
  7. OPTIONAL:
    Modify the classes called out in the Table of Contents list.
    If you like the unmodified Table of Contents, then skip this step.
    Replace the ’no-bullet’ named class with specific class definitions.

    ♦ 1st TOC level       : <ul class="toc-level1">
    ♦ 2nd TOC level       : <ul class="toc-level2">
    ♦ 3rd (and subsequent): <ul class="toc-level3">
    

    We like this modification to visually and logically distinguish the Table of Contents from the chapter menus, but it is of course optional.

  8. OPTIONAL:
    You may find that the chapter menus make the Table of Contents seem
    redundant. If so, you can comment out or delete the entire Table Of
    Contents section which consists of the following data blocks:
    <h1 class="settitle" align="center">YOUR DOC TITLE</h1>
    <h2 class="contents-heading">Table of Contents</h2>
    <div class="contents"> ... </div>
    Be sure to _retain_ the link targets which are referenced by 
    the navigation bars for each node:
    'Contents' target: <a name="SEC_Contents"></a>
    'Top' target     : <a name="Top"></a>
    
  9. OPTIONAL:
    To eliminate the navigation bar from the top of each node,
    you will need to do one of the following:
      a) remove each header individually
         These are identified by the sequence:
    <div class="header"> ... </div>
      b) generate the output using ’makeinfo --html --no-headers’.
    See Chapter 24 of the Texinfo documentation ’Generating HTML’
    for more information.
  10. OPTIONAL:
    Because the auto-generator always specifies the <pre> tag as
    <pre class="verbatim"> AND <pre> is specified at all kinds of unlikely points in the output, the unstyled output may not always be what you might expect. To correct this scatter-gun approach, we have defined the top-level <pre> tag and the '.verbatim' class to be identical, and we have also defined specialized <pre> tags for various block types, so it is unnecessary to manually modify the HTML output for these cases.
  11. OPTIONAL:
    Special note on documents containing the GNU General Public License and the GNU Free Documentation License.:

    Most Texinfo users write software and documentation to be released under the GPL and FDL licenses, and we include the text of these licenses, provided by the Free Software Foundation in our documentation. However both of these licenses are constructed using enumeration lists, nested within other enumeration lists, and as detailed above, the Texinfo texi-to-HTML converter does a less-than-stellar job of handling lists.

    Luckily, or unluckily, few people actually read these licenses; they exist primarily for legal reasons; however, you should be aware of the incorrect formatting which the texi-to-HTML converter applies to these licenses because lawyers really care about this kind of inconsistency in legal documents.

    • As written, each license begins with item ’0’ (zero). Of course, this means that the HTML lists begin with item ’1’ (one).
    • Each license uses a convential construct for multi-level lists. Example:
      5. Conveying Modified Source Versions.
           a. The work must carry ...
           b. The work must carry prominent ...
           c. You Must license ...
      6. Conveying Non-Source Forms.
           a. Convey the object code ...
      

      It puts you to sleep, just looking at it, doesn’t it? However, the texi-to-HTML converter produces this:

      6. Conveying Modified Source Versions.
           1. The work must carry ...
           2. The work must carry prominent ...
           3. You Must license ...
      7. Conveying Non-Source Forms.
           1. Convey the object code ...
      

      Showing an incorrectly formatted contract to a lawyer is like showing red meat to a shark. They are constitutionally unable to resist it. The difference is that sharks are passive by nature, and will completely ignore you unless they’re hungry. Lawyers, on the other hand, are agressive by nature, and they are always hungry. You have been warned.




Texinfo HTML Options

The Texinfo ’makeinfo’ utility provides a large number of HTML-only commands and customization variables used by the texi-to-HTML converter to customize the format of the HTML document. While many of these have no effect on post-processing, some can significantly impact the operation of the 'idpp' automatic post-processor.

While our investigation is not comprehensive, some of the most commonly used options and the more critical issues are discussed here.





Embedded HTML Code

Two sets of Texinfo commands may be used to write data into your HTML document without affecting output in other formats.

The data within a '@ifhtml ... @end ifhtml' block will appear ONLY in the HTML output and not in any of the other output formats. The following data:
<p style="font-size: 1.5em;"> Big-ass text in an ’ifhtml’ block. </p>
is inserted into an @ifhtml block below. It should appear in the HTML output as simple text (not interpreted by the browser as markup commands). The block should be invisible in the ’.info’ output.

BEGIN BLOCK: <p style="font-size: 1.5em;"> Big-ass text in an ’ifhtml’ block. </p> :END BLOCK

Similar data is inserted into an '@html ... @end html' block below. The data within the block will be copied unmodified to the HTML output, and thus will be read by the browser as HTML markup. Again, the block should be invisible in the ’.info’ output.

BEGIN BLOCK:

Big-ass italic blue text in an 'html' block.

:END BLOCK


Similarly, the '@ifnothtml ... @end ifnothtml' block may be used to write data to all output formats except HTML. The following paragraph will appear in the info-format document, but will not be included in the HTML-format document.
- - - - -
- - - - -




Texinfo Build Options

This chapter is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

This chapter contains a list of Texinfo customization options and notes on the way these option affect the generation of HTML documents.

The current version of the 'idpp' post-processor, may not be able to parse some of the special HTML constructs generated when these options are used. The author will investigate these special configuration options and their effects on the HTML output as time permits.

If one or more of these special options is causing problems with your post-processing runs, please leave the author a note via website.
See Technical Support.



Texinfo Configuration Commands

  • @documentdescription
    The Texinfo texi-to-HTML converter generates a document-description metadata entry in the <head> section of the HTML document. By default the title of the document is used; however, you may use the '@documentdescription' command to specify the contents of this metadata entry.
    Example entry:
    <meta name="description" content="Infodoc HTML Post-processing">
    

    If you generate an HTML document containing the '@documentdescription', command, then you should also use the see idpp --no_meta option so that the entry will be retained.

  • @documentencoding
    Specifies the text-encoding system used by the source document.
    The 'idpp' post-processor assumes that the source document is UTF-8 encoded, which is the GNU/Linux default and is the only reasonable choice for most documents.

    Locale-specific encoding of special characters within the UTF-8 family may be set using the terminal emulator’s environment variables. For information on setting the locale of your system, please refer to the documentation for the ’locale’ command.

  • @documentlanguage=LANG
    Specifies the human language to be assumed for the output.
  • @ifhtml
    Conditional output: see Embedded HTML Code.
  • @ifnothtml
    Conditional output: see Embedded HTML Code.
  • @html
    Conditional output: see Embedded HTML Code.
  • @contents
    Create a Table of Contents at the point where this command is encountered. HTML-format documents contain a Table of Contents if this command is used, but note that this command has no effect on the info-format document.

    It is strongly recommended that the @contents command, if used, be placed at the top of the document before any chapter nodes or sectioning commands.

  • @shortcontents (@summarycontents)
    Create a "short" (summary) Table of Contents with only chapter names (and appendices, if any). This is not a very useful construct because it is nearly identical in form and content to the document’s main menu. However, in a very long document, or a document which is split into several pieces, it might provide the user with an additional navigation tool.

    Insert the '@shortcontents' command anywhere in your ’.texi’ source document, but OUTSIDE of any sectioning. Note that this command has no effect on the info-format document.

    Note that '@shortcontents' cannot be used as a substitute for the long-form Table of Contents. The long-form TOC must also be present for the hyperlinks to work.

    Note also that using this customization option calls out two (2) undefined CSS classes: ’shortcontents’ and ’shortcontents-heading’. The browser defaults are used for these objects.

    Use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.

  • @setcontentsaftertitlepage
    Force the Table of Contents to be printed after the Title Page.
    This command applies primarily to printed documents.
  • @setshortcontentsaftertitlepage
    Force the Table of Contents AND the Short Table of Contents to be printed after the Title Page.
    This command applies primarily to printed documents.


Texinfo Invocation Options

  • --html
    Create HTML format document rather that the default ’info’ document.
    Please see Post-processor Overview
  • --no-split
  • --split=HOW
  • --css-include=FILE
    Include the entire CSS definition file into the HTML document, (not recommended). Please see Including Entire CSS File.
  • --css-ref=URL
    Specify an external URL containing CSS definitions, (don’t do this). Please see Including Entire CSS File.
  • -D VAR
    Define a variable as with the @set command.
  • -U VAR
    Un-define a variable as with the @clear command.
  • --footnote-style=STYLE (-s)
  • --internal-links=FILE (debugging)
  • --no-headers
    For HTML output, do not create node (chapter) navigation headers in a single-file document, or for split files, create only one header per file.

    Use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.

  • --no-node-files
  • --node-files
  • --set-customization-variable VAR=VALUE (-c)
  • --enable-encoding

Texinfo HTML Customization Variables

  • AVOID_MENU_REDUNDANCY
  • AFTER_BODY_OPEN
  • AFTER_ABOUT
  • BEFORE_OVERVIEW and AFTER_OVERVIEW
  • BEFORE_TOC_LINES and AFTER_TOC_LINES
  • BIG_RULE
    Specify the top-page-seperator object.
    This is the '<hr>' tag by default.
    Use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.
  • BODYTEXT
    Specify the extended contents of the '<body>' tag. This is a deprecated construct and is neither necessary nor desirable in modern documents. The information that was previously defined there is now handled through more modern constructs.

    The texi-to-HTML converter initializes these data based on the value specified in the document by the '@documentlanguage' command; however, the data here interfere with the CSS definitions in 'infodoc-styles.css', and so are removed by the 'idpp' post-processor.

    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html -c BODYTEXT='bgcolor="#6699FF" text="#33FF33"'  mydoc.texi
    
    Example entry:
    <body bgcolor="6699FF" text="#33FF33">
    

    Please see Invoking idpp.

  • CHAPTER_HEADER_LEVEL
    Specify the HTML level of header used as chapter headings.
    The default is to use '<h2>', however, this option may be used to specify a different header level.
    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html -c CHAPTER_HEADER_LEVEL=3  mydoc.texi
    
    Example chapter heading:
    <h3 class="unnumbered">My Favorite Chapter</h3>
    

    Use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.

  • COMPLEX_FORMAT_IN_TABLE
  • CSS_LINES
  • DATE_IN_HEADER
    Specify that a metadata entry indicating the date of document creation should be inserted into the <head>...,/head> section of the HTML markup.

    Note that this IS NOT a valid metadata entry according to W3C.org.

    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html --set-customization-variable DATE_IN_HEADER=1  mydoc.texi
    
    Example metadata entry:
    <meta name="date" content="January 19, 2015">
    

    If you generate an HTML document using this customization variable, then you should also use the see idpp --no_meta option so that the entry will be retained.

  • DEF_TABLE
  • DEFAULT_RULE
    Specify the interelement-seperator object.
    This is the '<hr>' tag by default.
    Use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.
  • DO_ABOUT
  • EXTRA_HEAD
    Specify additional elements to be inserted into the <head>...</head> block. Any data elements can be specified in this way, but care should be used to avoid conflicting definitions.

    These extra elements are inserted at the end of the <head> section, and thus override previous definitions, if any.

    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html -c \
    EXTRA_HEAD='<meta name="keywords" content="bee honey flower">'  mydoc.texi
    
    Example entry:
    <meta name="keywords" content="bee honey flower">
    

    If you generate an HTML document using this customization variable, then you should also use the '--no_meta' option and/or the  '--no_links' option (see Invoking idpp) so that the entries will be retained.

  • FOOTNOTE_END_HEADER_LEVEL
  • FOOTNOTE_SEPARATE_HEADER_LEVEL
  • FRAMES (obsolete in HTML)
  • FRAMESET_DOCTYPE
  • HEADER_IN_TABLE
    By default, chapter navigation headers are constructed inside a <div> object; however, the ’HEADER_IN_TABLE’ option may be used to construct the chapter headers inside a <table> object instead.

    Except for small formatting differences, these two formats are visually and functionally identical. They both call out the "header" class, which is currently undefined, so the objects inherit their definitions from the HTML <div> or <table> tag, respectively.

    Example header (default):
    <div class="header">
    . . .
    </div>
    
    Example header (in table):
    <table class="header" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" border="0">
    . . .
    </table>
    

    Note that 'infodoc-styles.css' contains a definition for the <div> version of the header class, but it is disabled (commented out) by default. 'infodoc-styles.css' redefines the HTML <table> tag, so a table-based navigation header will inherit its style from this custom definition.

    Use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.

  • ICONS
  • IMAGE_LINK_PREFIX
  • INLINE_CONTENTS
  • INLINE_CSS_STYLE
    Do not use this option if you want external control over CSS style.
  • KEEP_TOP_EXTERNAL_REF
  • L2H (@math group)
  • MAX_HEADER_LEVEL
  • MENU_SYMBOL
  • MONOLITHIC
  • NO_CSS
  • PRE_ABOUT
  • PRE_BODY_CLOSE
  • PROGRAM_NAME_IN_FOOTER
  • SHOW_TITLE
  • SIMPLE_MENU
    Create HTML menus with a simple, preformatted menu structure rather than the standard menu based on a <table> object.

    Note that as of Texinfo 6.8, this option does not function. A huge number of warning and error messages are generated indicating that either the menu is missing, or the intra-page hyperlinks are upgefuched.

    Note that an invocation with the following should do approximately the same thing, but it is not recognized by makeinfo as a valid option
    '-c TREE_TRANSFORMATIONS=simple_menu'

    In brief, DON’T USE THIS OPTION!

    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html -c SIMPLE_MENU=1  mydoc.texi
    
    Example default menu:
    <table class="menu" border="0" cellspacing="0">
    <tr><td>...</td><td>...</td><td>...</td></tr></table>
    
    Example simple menu:
    <div class="menu"><pre class="menu-preformatted">...</pre></div>
    
  • TOC_LINKS
  • TOP_NODE_FILE_TARGET
  • TOP_NODE_UP_URL
    Specify the "Up" target URL. This URL is placed in the "Up" hyperlink of the top node of the document.
    (See also the ’TOP_NODE_UP’ variable.)
    Default node entry:
    ... Up: <a href="dir.html#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">(dir)</a>...
    
    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html -c TOP_NODE_UP_URL='../../coolstuff.htm'  mydoc.texi
     
    Example node entry:
    ... Up: <a href="../../coolstuff.htm" accesskey="u" rel="up">(dir)</a>...
    

    If you generate an HTML document using this customization variable, then you should also use the see idpp --no_uplink option so that the entry will be retained.

    Please refer also to the '--up_target' option see Invoking idpp.

    Use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.

  • USE_ISO
  • USE_LINKS
    Create <link> entries in <head> section. The texi-to-HTML converter generates several <link> entries by default. Set this customization variable to false to prevent these entries from being generated.
    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html -c USE_LINKS=0  mydoc.texi
    

    Because 'idpp' deletes these <link> entries by default, use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.

    To retain existing <link> entries,
    please see Invoking idpp.

  • USE_REL_REV
  • VERTICAL_HEAD_NAVIGATION
  • WORDS_IN_PAGE

Other Customization Variables

  • DOCTYPE
    Specify a custom <!DOCTYPE> tag indicating how the browser should interpret the HTML markup.
    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html -c DOCTYPE='<!DOCTYPE html spam and eggs>' mydoc.texi
    
    Equivalent HTML markup:
    <!DOCTYPE html spam and eggs>
    

    If you generate an HTML document using this customization variable, then you should also use the see idpp --no_doctype option so that the entry will be retained.

  • ENABLE_ENCODING_USE_ENTITY
  • IGNORE_BEFORE_SETFILENAME
  • IGNORE_SPACE_AFTER_BRACED_COMMAND_NAME
  • OPEN_QUOTE_SYMBOL
  • SHOW_MENU
  • TEXI2HTML
    This is used for output compatibility with the obsolete Texinfo 4.3 texi2html stand-alone utility. The use of this configuration opiton is not recommended for use with the 'idpp' post-processor.
  • TEXINFO_DTD_VERSION (xml only?)
  • TOP_NODE_UP
    Specify the name for the "Up" target URL of the top node of the document. The name of the "Up" link is replaced, AND the "Up" hyperlink is modified accordingly.
    (See also the ’TOP_NODE_UP_URL’ variable.)
    Default node entry:
    ... Up: <a href="dir.html#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">(dir)</a>...
    
    Example makeinfo invocation:
    makeinfo --html -c 'TOP_NODE_UP=(coolstuff)'  mydoc.texi
     
    Example node entry:
    ... Up: <a href="coolstuff.html#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">(coolstuff)</a>...
    

    (Note the odd, but necessary parentheses used to get the above invocation to work. Without them, makeinfo will run without errors or warnings; however, it will produce no output. Note also that the link will probably not be what was intended – this is a Texinfo bug.)

    If you generate an HTML document using this customization variable, then you should also use the see idpp --no_uplink option so that the entry will be retained.

    Use of this customization variable is unlikely to affect 'idpp'.

  • TREE_TRANSFORMATIONS (cmd group)
  • USE_NUMERIC_ENTITY
  • USE_UP_NODE_FOR_ELEMENT_UP
  • USE_TITLEPAGE_FOR_TITLE


Note on Using Emacs

Emacs has a special mode for creating Texinfo documents, and this mode contains a very large number of build and configuration options which can affect the output created by the texi-to-HTML converter.

While Emacs is a wonderfully feature-rich and flexible environment, this author has not used Emacs since Pterodactyl poop last fell from the skies, and has no intention of revisiting it. Therefore, it is possible that if you are creating ’.texi’ source documents using Emacs, especially with the ’org’ (Organizer) extensions for HTML output, you may generate some source constructs that 'idpp' cannot parse. If so, you’re on your own, mate!




Including Entire CSS File

This is just a quick reference. For complete information on inserting CSS style information directly into the HTML output, or embedding HTML code in the .texi source document see the chapter ’Generating HTML’ in the Texinfo documentation.

Important Note: The technique discussed here copies the entire CSS definition file into the ’texi’ source file; however, in general, it is better to define a link to the CSS data file and let the browser read it, rather than copying the entire file into each document.

Use the ’--html’ and ’--css-include=infodoc-styles.css’ options when invoking makeinfo. This will copy the style definitions directly into the HTML output. Although this is certainly possible, it is messy, difficult to read and may require some additional manual tweaking of the HTML document as described in the previous chapter, See Manual Post-processing.

Note also that the 'idpp' post-processor will not be able to parse a document that includes the entire text of the CSS definition file.

Note: Please don’t eat up someone else’s bandwidth by using
      the ’--css-ref=URL’ option to include CSS data.




Post-processing Notes

The texi-to-HTML converter makes a valiant effort to generate an HTML document that is similar in most respects to the native info-format document, while incorporating many of the advanced formatting features of HTML and CSS. Unfortunately, the effort has so far been only partially successful.

The following is an overview of the issues related to generating HTML markup directly from ’.texi’ source.



  1. Document Header
    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" 
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
    

    The above declaration is showing its age. Reasonably-strict HTML5 markup is recommended for all new projects. For this reason, the above document header generated by ’makeinfo’ should be replaced by the new standard identifier:
                              <!DOCTYPE html>
    Aside from a possible (very small) performance hit, this has no affect on the actual rendering of the document in any reasonably modern browser and will allow the browser to choose the correct level of standards compliance during rendering. Also, if you embed HTML markup directly into your ’.texi’ source document, it will probably not match the ancient HTML version referenced by the default DOCTYPE header.

    If you absolutely must specify an HTML version or other outdated rendering instructions, please refer to the Texinfo ’DOCTYPE’ or ’FRAMESET_DOCTYPE’ configuration variables: see Texinfo Build Options.
    See also the post-processor option: see idpp --no_doctype option.

    Please note also that DTD (Document Type Definition) was never anything more than a kludge, is no longer used in modern rendering and causes a huge performance hit due to an external URL reference. If your site is still using DTD, you need to take your sys-admin out for lunch and explain the facts of life....

  2. Auto-generated metadata
    In the <head>...</head> section of the document, there are several metadata tags. These data are generally incomplete, out-of-date, or useless, and can therefore be deleted.

    Example:

     <meta name="description" content="gString Text Conversion Guide">
     <meta name="keywords" content="gString Text Conversion Guide">
     <meta name="resource-type" content="document">
     <meta name="distribution" content="global">
     <meta name="generator" content="Bluefish 2.2.6" >
     <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
    

    Please note that the "description" and "keywords" metadata entries shown above can be useful if properly updated.

    • ▪ ’<meta name="description" ...>’
      By default, this entry specifies the document title; however, as a Texinfo build option, you can specify the text for this entry using the @documentdescription command: see Texinfo Build Options.
    • ▪ ’<meta name="keywords" ...>’
      By default, this entry specifies the document title; however, this is worse than useless. First, search engines no longer use the "keywords" metadata entry due to massive abuse by porn sites, spammers and other lower forms of life. If you want search engines to find the page, place meaningful search keys in the <title> tag, the "description" metadata entry OR register your site with the individual search-engine companies. The only reasonable use for the "keywords" metadata entry that we can identify is for internal searches by corporate or in-house search algorithms.

    See also the post-processor '--no_meta' option:
    see Invoking idpp.

  3. Auto-generated head links
    In the <head>...</head> section of the document, there are several link tags.

    In theory, the browser will scan these tags for link information, however, in general, the default links are bad or useless information. These links will probably do no actual harm, but neither do they perform any useful task and therefore should be deleted.

    Example:

     <link href="#Top" rel="start" title="Top">
     <link href="#Index" rel="index" title="Index">
     <link href="#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents">
     <link href="dir.html#Top" rel="up" title="(dir)">
    

    See also the post-processor '--no_links' option:
    see Invoking idpp.

  4. Auto-generated style elements
    In the <head>...</head> section of the document, there are several partially implemented CSS definitions and class-name specifications. These are merely stubs inserted into the document to facilitate the application of CSS style during post-processing.

    Because these stubs interfere with the equivalent, more robust definitions in the 'infodoc-styles.css' file, THEY MUST BE DELETED.

    Example:

     <style type=:text/css"> 
       a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none}
       blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller}
       div.display {margin-left: 3.2em}
       div.example {margin-left: 3.2em}
       div.indentedblock {margin-left: 3.2em}
       div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em}
       div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em}
       div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em}
       div.smallindentedblock {margin-left: 3.2em; font-size: smaller}
       div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em}
       kbd {font-style:oblique}
       pre.display {font-family: inherit}
       pre.format {font-family: inherit}
       pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif}
       pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif}
       pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller}
       pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller}
       pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller}
       pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller}
       span.nocodebreak {white-space:nowrap}
       span.nolinebreak {white-space:nowrap}
       span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal}
       span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal}
       ul.no-bullet {list-style: none}
     </style>
    
  5. <body> tag
    ’makeinfo --html’ generates the following ’body’ start tag (or something similar) by default, based on the global document settings:
    <body lang="en_US" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" 
    vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000">
    

    First, this is isn’t necessarily what we want, and second, it interferes with the style definitions in 'infodoc-styles.css', so we remove them and use the elements in the external CSS style-definition file. Note that replacing the above with a simple <body> has no apparent effect on the actual rendering of the document because they are all defaults anyway.
    See also the Texinfo ’BODYTEXT’ global variable:
    see Texinfo Build Options.
    See also the post-processor option: see idpp --no_body option.

  6. Intra-page references
    The auto-generated code includes a huge number of <a> tags WITHOUT an ’href’ element, just a ’name’.

    examples: <a name="Introduction-to-gString-1"></a>
              <a name="index-07_002e01-Introduction-to-gString"></a>
    These tags are not rendered because there is no no associated link. They are intra-page link targets. HTML5 uses the following construct for the same purpose:
              <dfn id="Introduction-to-gString-1"></dfn>

    It is not necessary to replace the auto-generated references, they work perfectly; however, you may lose some ’cool-code points’ with the HTML5 validator.

  7. List formatting
    The auto-generated lists have several serious problems; however, until these problems are addressed through Texinfo enhancements, the 'idpp' post processor handles all itemized and enumeration lists issues.
    • ▪ An ordered list, <ol> generates a numbered list by default.
      This is fine, but the default is the ONLY option currently available (Texinfo 6.8).
    • ▪ An unordered list, is generated as <ul class"no-bullet"> ; however, if the .no-bullet class is not defined, the item bullets ARE created. For instance, we use lists constructed using ’@itemize @minus’ however if the ’no-bullet’ class is not defined for the html output, a bullet is added BEFORE the ’-’ which doesn’t look awful, but is probably not what you were expecting as output.
    • ▪ Unfortunately, the auto-generated Table of Contents ALSO uses
      <ul class="no-bullet"> and looks pretty good with the (inappropriately-generated) multi-level style of bullets.
    • ▪ See Texinfo commands: @itemize, @itemize @bullet,
      @itemize @minus, @itemize @w{}, @enumerate, @enumerate 1,
      @enumerate a, @enumerate A
      All of these need to be supported in the HTML output, but as of Texinfo 6.8, they are not fully supported.
    • ▪ Texinfo/makeinfo has an off-by-one error in line spacing within un-ordered lists. While this is not critical, you may see less vertical spacing in the HTML than what you expected.
  8. How makeinfo uses some common HTML tags.
    • <h1>
      ’makeinfo’ defines this tag either with ’class="settitle"’ when used as the document title; OR with ’class="top"’ as the page title for the main menu. Because neither class is defined, the browser’s default <h1> style is used to render the titles.
    • <h2>
      ’makeinfo’ defines this tag ’class="contents-heading"’ i.e. The heading for the Table of Contents section. Because this class is not defined, the browser’s default <h2> style is used to render this heading.
    • <h3>
      ’makeinfo’ defines this tag in several different ways: ’class="section"’, ’class="heading"’, ’class="unnumberedsec"’ and others. Because none of these classes are defined, each of these defaults to the browser’s <h3> style.
    • <h4>
      ’makeinfo’ defines this tag ’class="subheading"’ and ’class="subsubheading"’, but again, because the classes are not defined, the browser’s default style is used.
    • <p>
      ’makeinfo’ does not define a class/style when using the paragraph tag, but uses it in a number of potentially incompatible scenarios which derive from the parent class. So long as everything uses the default style, there is no serious problem, but if a parent class is defined, it will be necessary to also define the associated <p> tag.
    • <table>
      ’makeinfo’ uses the <table> tag when creating menus, the Table of Contents, the Index, and of course in generating output for the @multitable command. Within a <table> construct, there will also be <tr>, <td>, <th> and of course <a> tags. All of these use the browser’s default style. To regain control of the table construct, it is necessary to define all of these sub-tags.
    • <ul>
      ’makeinfo’ supports un-ordered lists through the @itemize command, and any single character may be specified as the bullet character. The most common bullet characters are @bullet (default), @minus, @textdegree (standard ’degrees’ symbol: &deg; &#176;)
      A no-bullet option is also supported using the @w{} sequence. Note that this option actually generates a ’space’ character as a bullet.

      Note that for HTML documents the generated lists are incompletely implemented.
      For more information: see Itemized Lists.

      In HTML, unordered lists are enclosed within <ul></ul> tags, and can support certain pre-defined bullet characters or a no-bullet option through a CSS style element:
      list-style-type= [disc | circle | square | none];
      The styles for un-ordered lists can be found in the group of <ul> CSS classes defined in the 'infodoc-styles.css' file.

    • <ol>
      ’makeinfo’ supports ordered lists through the @enumerate command, with an argument of:
      [decimal numbers | lower-case alpha | upper-case alpha | none]

      Note that for HTML documents the generated lists are incompletely implemented.
      For more information: see Enumeration Lists.

      In HTML, ordered lists are enclosed within <ol></ol> tags, and can support a number of enumeration types.
      The styles for ordered lists can be found in the group of <ol> CSS classes defined in the 'infodoc-styles.css' file.




Makeinfo Testing




Testing Overview

The Test Document

This document is designed to test the capabilities of the Texinfo texi-to-HTML converter. We have designed the ’texi’ source to exercise all the major functionality that could affect the generation of an HTML markup document.

This test document is certainly not comprehensive. It does not try to validate HTML/CSS style-definition inheritance through deeply-nested objects; however, common object-nesting constructs for Texinfo documentation such as multi-level lists work as expected.

Test output is generated by Texinfo (makeinfo) version 6.8.
HTML rendering and post-processing verified in Firefox version 114.0.



Rebuilding the 'info' and HTML documents

Rebuilding the test suite from the ’infodoc_XX.texi’ source requires installation of the ’makeinfo’ utility, version 6.8 or higher.
A ’Makefile’ is provided which rebuilds the documents in both info-format and HTML-format.

Note that HTML documents created using ’makeinfo’ v:6.7 or earlier require ’idpp’ v:0.0.13 for post-processing.

  1. If you have not yet built the 'idpp' Infodoc Post Processor for your system, do it now. See Build idpp from source.
  2. Open a console window and verify that the correct version of makeinfo is installed: 'makeinfo --version'
  3. Navigate to the ’Infodoc’ directory which contains the ’infodoc_0X.texi’ group of source documents.
  4. Use the gmake utility to invoke makeinfo: 'gmake'
    This will build both the ’.info’ and ’.HTML’ format documents.
  5. Run the 'idpp' post-processor on the raw HTML document.
    This is done with the help of a simple ’bash’ shell script and an automatic response file which responds to the interactive prompts from the post-processor: './applycss'

    Note that the build requires that a copy of the file 'infodoc-styles.css' be in the ’Infodoc’ subdirectory.

    The original HTML document is not modified. The CSS style is applied to a COPY of the original file which is named 'infodoc_css.html'.

    Note that you may also respond manually to the prompts by modifying the execution line of the shell script to exclude the response file.
    './idpp/idpp -ic infodoc_css.html'

  6. Also, please feel free to invoke the post-processor utility with any and all options in order to become familiar with its functionality. Please refer to the chapter on invoking the 'idpp' utility: see Invoking idpp for more information.


Texinfo and the HTML Converter

Please note that Chapter 22 of the Texinfo documentation describes several ’HTML Customization Variables’. For consistency in testing, the current version of this test document does not use any of those modifiers and relies on the defaults for these variables.

The texi-to-HTML converter is an heroic effort on the part of the Texinfo volunteers at gnu.org, providing serviceable HTML which leverages the default behavior of browser rendering engines.
The release of version 6.8 has produced significant improvements over version 5.x which was the standard for several years. The converter ('texi2any') does have a number of issues for which we try to compensate using our style definitions and post-processing. The most noticeable of these are font size, line spacing and list processing. As these and other converter problems are addressed, we will update the style definitions and this document to reflect the changes.

To better understand the specific issues involved, open the default HTML and styled HTML files side-by-side in your browser and compare the formatting of each object defined for the test.

infodoc.html       raw texi-to-HTML output
infodoc_css.html   HTML output with CSS styles applied

This project is a work-in-progress, so please leave us a note about your experiences.

Faithfully yours, Software Sam – http://www.SoftwareSam.us/
http://www.SoftwareSam.us/



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Please note that a number of Texinfo bugs and other issues have 
been uncovered during the development of this project. The author 
has reported all these bugs and has discussed the other issues 
with the Texinfo group. Several bugs, both in the 'makeinfo' 
utility and in the HTML converter have already been corrected, 
and others will be included in a future Texinfo release. 
Each identified issue is marked in the 'texi' source file using 
the literal sequence: '@c BUG!'. 
Note that this is a 'texi' comment and the current state of the 
bug repair is noted on that comment line.

The author wishes to express his appreciation for the great 
support and encouragement received from Karl, Pat, Gavin, and 
the whole Texinfo group during the development of this project. 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Default Style Set

The following is a list of all styles defined by the texi-to-HTML converter. These definitions are very simple and not particularly robust, but they provide hooks for assigning more comprehensive definitions to the styles defined and used by the generated HTML output.

It must be assumed that the designer of the texi-to-HTML converter considered this to be the complete list of style definitions needed to represent the conversion from texi source to HTML; so logically, if we fully define all of these classes in a CSS stylesheet file, then we will have covered most aspects of the designer’s intent. Bug fixes and stylistic enhancements, of course, may follow.

Note that the entire contents of the <style></style> sequence is commented out in the generated HTML code, BUT that these definitions are nevertheless seen by the browser and are applied where references to them are made. This is odd, and is likely related to the historical lack of standards in delimiting comments in HTML code. The sequence '<!-- -->' is an HTML comment but is ignored when encountered inside a CSS definition.

This ‘texi’ source file is designed so that the HTML output will produce data sequences which invoke each of the following definitions. Some object references are obvious because they call out the texi command names, but others are obscure or complex and require some fancy footwork. See the following chapters for details of our research.

The Auto-generated Style Definitions

This HTML style-definition sequence is generated by the texi-to-HTML converter and is located in the <head></head> section of the document. For convenience, we have listed the items functionally, rather than alphabetically, and have provided references to the locations in this document where the styles are invoked.

Note that if you apply the advanced styles defined in 'infodoc-styles.css', then the auto-generated style sequence should be deleted from the HTML to avoid conflicts.

For more information, please see the chapter
see HTML Post-processing.

<style type="text/css">
<!--
blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller}
   This definition is used by, (see Quotation Commands).

div.indentedblock {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.smallindentedblock {margin-left: 3.2em; font-size: smaller}
   These definitions are used by, (see Indentedblock Commands).

div.display {margin-left: 3.2em}
pre.display {font-family: inherit}
div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em}
pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller}
   These definitions are used by, (see Display Commands).

div.example {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em}
pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller}
div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em}
   This definition is specified as identical to the @example command
div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em}
   This definition is specified as identical to the @smallexample command.
pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller}
   These definitions are used by, (see Example Commands).

pre.format {font-family: inherit}
pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller}
   These definitions are used by, (see Format Commands).

ul.no-bullet {list-style: none}
   This definition is used by, (see Itemized Lists).

pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif}
pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif}
   These definitions are used by, (see InfoMenu Structure).

span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal}
span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal}
   These definitions are used by, (see Font Modification).

a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none}
   This definition is used in generating the index, (see Index).

kbd {font-style:oblique}
   This definition is used by, (see Object Indicators)..

span.nolinebreak {white-space:nowrap}
span.nocodebreak {white-space:nowrap}
   These definitions are used by, (see Misc Block Modifiers).
-->
</style>

Formatted-block Errors

All of these texi-2-HTML conversion errors are compensated by 'idpp' through some combination of CSS styling and post-processing.

  1. The @quotation command uses the HTML <blockquote> element directly.
    (This is a logical error. see Quotation Commands.)
  2. The @example command generates ’<pre class="example">’, but ’pre.example’ is never defined.
    (This causes incorrect font-size inheritance in the raw output.)
  3. The @lisp command generates ’<pre class="lisp">, but ’pre.lisp’ is never defined.
    (This causes incorrect font-size inheritance in the raw output.)
  4. The @format command generates ’<div class="format">, but div.format is never defined.
    (This causes incorrect font-size inheritance in the raw output.)
  5. The @smallformat command generates ’<div class="smallformat">, but div.smallformat is never defined.
    (This causes incorrect font-size inheritance in the raw output.)
  6. The ’pre.menu-comment’ and ’pre.menu-formatted’ classes are defined, but never used. See see InfoMenu Structure for details.
  7. The Index uses <table class="index-cp"> ... </table>, but the class is never defined. It seems to work fine even without it, but we have defined a simple stub definition for it in case problems surface later.
    See also notes at end of Index chapter (see Index Notes)..
  8. In several places, the fact that a referenced class is undefined, causes a fallback to the default HTML font size for the browser, and this font size is much too small for the surrounding text. This is compensated by defining the class in 'infodoc-styles.css'.



Basic Tests

This section includes the most basic tests: Headings and Body Text.
In the HTML output, plain body text is written inside a set of
paragraph tags: <p> ... </p>

Note that ’makeinfo’ automatically demotes @section commands if they are in subordinate nodes (chapters) or other subordinate constructs. For instance, this chapter is subordinate to the ’Makeinfo Testing’ chapter, so defining a @section here, actually generates a @subsection in both the ’info’ and HTML documents. As of makeinfo v:6.0, this automatic demotion also applies to @heading commands even though they are not indexed. We believe this to be a serious logical error that restricts what a user may do with his or her own formatting. For this reason, we have defined macros for the '@heading' '@subheading' '@subsubheading' group of commands which disables the automatic demotion of these commands.
See the '@Heading' '@Subheading' '@Subsubheading' group of macros at the top of the '.texi' source for this document.

Top-level ‘@heading’ (or ‘@section’)

It is a pleasure to tell you about my recent trip to New Zealand’s Great Barrier Reef.

The generated HTML for this command is:

<h3 class="heading">...</h3>
    OR
<h3 class="section">...</h3>

Second-level ‘@subheading’ (or ‘@subsection’)

It is a pleasure to tell you about my recent trip to New Zealand’s Great Barrier Reef.

The generated HTML for this command is:

<h4 class="subheading">...</h4>
    OR
<h4 class="subsection">...</h4>

Third-level ‘@subsubheading’ (or ‘@subsubsection’)

It is a pleasure to tell you about my recent trip to New Zealand’s Great Barrier Reef.

The generated HTML for this command is:

<h4 class="subsubheading">...</h4>
    OR
<h4 class="subsubsection">...</h4>
Note that the 'subsubheading' and subsubsection' classes are 
not defined by default, but ARE defined in @Isty{}.



List Commands




Itemized Lists

Itemized lists are created using the @itemize command with or without an argument indicating the bullet character to use.

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

   <!-- @itemize without arguments yields disc bullet items -->
   <ul>
      <li> ... </li>
      <li> ... </li>
   </ul>

   <!-- @itemize with @bullet argument yields disc bullet items -->
   <ul>
      <li> ... </li>
      <li> ... </li>
   </ul>

   <!-- @itemize with @textdegree argument yields an embedded symbol in each line item -->
   <ul class="nobullet">
      <li> &deg;... </li>
      <li> &deg;... </li>
   </ul>

   <!-- All other specified bullet characters follow the same general pattern as the 
           "@itemize @textdegree" command above. The specified character is embedded 
           within each line item. See example below. 
           Although such list are acceptable in the ‘info’ output, it 
           produces rather unfortunate HTML. -->
   <ul class="nobullet">
      <li> ◾... </li>
      <li> ◾... </li>
   </ul>

   <!-- One additional format supported by both the the texi2-HTML converter and
           by modern browsers is a true “no-bullet” list. A space is inserted where the bullet 
           character would otherwise be. This format is created by an @itemize @w{} command. -->
   <ul class="nobullet">
      <li> ... </li>
      <li> ... </li>
   </ul>

The 'idpp' post-processor enhances the formatting of the raw HTML markup for bullet lists, either by interactively setting the format for each list (see idpp --bullet_list option) or by automatically correcting the errors in the generated HTML lists as shown below. Specifically, the second-line indent for each line item in a list with embedded bullet characters is vertically aligned with the bullet character itself rather than being inline with the body of the item as it should be.

 Texinfo Source Auto-generated HTML Post-processor Interpretation Example List   
 @itemize <ul> <ul class="disc-bullet">
 <li> ... </li>
 ⏺ line-item text
    additional_data
 ⏺ line-item text
    additional_data
 @itemize @bullet <ul> <ul class="disc-bullet">
 <li> ... </li>
 ⏺ line-item text
    additional_data
 ⏺ line-item text
    additional_data
 @itemize ⏺ <ul class="nobullet">
 <li>⏺ ... </li>
 <ul class="disc-bullet">
 <li> ... </li>
 ⏺ line-item text
    additional_data
 ⏺ line-item text
    additional_data

(without processing)
 ⏺ line-item text
 additional_data
 ⏺ line-item text
 additional_data
 @itemize ⚬ <ul class="nobullet">
 <li>⚬ ... </li>
 <ul class="circle-bullet">
 <li> ... </li>
 ⚬ line-item text
    additional_data
 ⚬ line-item text
    additional_data

(without processing)
 ⚬ line-item text
 additional_data
 ⚬ line-item text
 additional_data
 @itemize ◾ <ul class="nobullet">
 <li>◾ ... </li>
 <ul class="square-bullet">
 <li> ... </li>
 ▪ line-item text
    additional_data
 ▪ line-item text
    additional_data

(without processing)
 ▪ line-item text
 additional_data
 ▪ line-item text
 additional_data
 @itemize − <ul class="nobullet>
 <li>- ... </li>
 <ul class="nobullet">
 <li style="text-indent:-1.0em;">− ... </li>
 − line-item text
    additional_data
 − line-item text
    additional_data

(without processing)
 - line-item text
 additional_data
 - line-item text
 additional_data

PLEASE NOTE: The texi-to-HTML conversion for itemized lists does not handle the bullet argument cleanly.
The HTML code generated from the first two examples correctly takes advantage of the default HTML behavior. However, the HTML code for the remaining examples references the ‘no-bullet’ class and whatever bullet
character was specified is embedded inside the item itself. The second-line indent for the item is vertically aligned with the bullet character rather than being inline with the body of the item. Although we can see the technical reason for this implementation, it looks nasty, so we correct the misalignment during post-processing.



‘itemize’ command without argument (defaults to '@bullet')

  • First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  • Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘itemize’ command with '@bullet' argument

  • First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  • Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘itemize’ command with '@minus' argument

Note that the ’@minus’ argument generates U+2212 (Unicode minus)
for ’info’ output, but U+002D (ASCII minus) for HTML output.
This is corrected during post-processing.

  • - First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  • - Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘itemize’ command with 'greater-than' (U+003E) argument

  • > First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  • > Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘itemize’ command with ‘medium circle’ (U+26AA) argument

  • ⚬ First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  • ⚬ Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘itemize’ command with ‘small square’ (U+25AA) argument

  • ▪ First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  • ▪ Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.
HTML output only: a directly-inserted copy of above, referencing the "square-bullet" class
  • First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  • Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘itemize’ command with ‘no-bullet’ (@w{ }) (U+0020) argument

Note that this generates an extra space character in the ’info’ output where the bullet would have been, which is consistent with the other explicit bullet types. ’Outside position’ in HTML output is blank, and no extra space character is embedded in the line item. This is the correct ’no-bullet’ sequence for the HTML output.

  • First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  • Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.



If the specified class is not defined, the browser will generate the default ’disc’ bullet list (or nested-list equivalent); however, if the class is defined, then the browser will obey. It’s GOOD to be the king!

Mel Brooks



Enumeration Lists

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

Three(3) type of enumeration lists are directly supported within the ‘.texi’ source: positive integers, lower-case alpha and upper-case alpha. The texi-to-HTML converter directly supports enumeration lists in four different source formats with three output formats. The generated HTML for enumeration lists follows these general formats:

   <!-- @enumerate without arguments defaults to numeric output -->
   <ol>
      <li> ... </li>
      <li> ... </li>
   </ol>

   <!-- @enumerate with numeric arguments yields numeric output -->
   <ol type="1" start="1">
      <li> ... </li>
      <li> ... </li>
   </ol>

   <!-- @enumerate with lower-case latin alphabetic output -->
   <ol type="a" start="1">
      <li> ... </li>
      <li> ... </li>
   </ol>

   <!-- @enumerate with upper-case latin alphabetic output -->
   <ol type="A" start="1">
      <li> ... </li>
      <li> ... </li>
   </ol>

For each list type, the initial value of the list may be specified.

   “@enumerate 7”    yields:
      7 line item text
      8 line item text
      9 line item text
      . . .

   “@enumerate c”    yields:
      c line item text
      d line item text
      e line item text
      . . .

   “@enumerate G”    yields:
      G line item text
      H line item text
      I line item text
      . . .

The 'idpp' post-processor enhances the number of available list options either by interactively setting the format for each list (see idpp --enum_list option) or by automatically interpreting the generated HTML for the list as described in the following table. This table describes how the post-processor expands the flexibility of enumeration lists.

Note: The older (possibly deprecated) HTML type="xxx" construct may not be recognized by future browsers.
For this reason, we use CSS to specify the enumeration type, either by assigning a specific CSS class or by using a direct styling attribute: <ol style:"list-style-type:xxx">


 Texinfo Source Auto-generated HTML Post-processor Interpretation Example List   
 @enumerate 1 <ol type="1" start="1"> <ol class="enum-decimal" start="1"> 1. line-item text
 2. line-item text
 3. line-item text
 @enumerate 6 <ol type="1" start="6"> <ol class="enum-decimal" start="6"> 6. line-item text
 7. line-item text
 8. line-item text
 @enumerate D <ol type="A" start="4"> <ol class="enum-decimal-zero" start="1"> 01. line-item text
 02. line-item text
 03. line-item text
 @enumerate a <ol type="a" start="1"> <ol class="enum-lower-alpha" start="1"> a. line-item text
 b. line-item text
 c. line-item text
 @enumerate A <ol type="A" start="1"> <ol class="enum-upper-alpha" start="1"> A. line-item text
 B. line-item text
 C. line-item text
 @enumerate i <ol type="a" start="9"> <ol class="enum-lower-roman" start="1">  i. line-item text
  ii. line-item text
 iii. line-item text
 @enumerate I <ol type="A" start="9"> <ol class="enum-upper-roman" start="1">  I. line-item text
  II. line-item text
 III. line-item text
 @enumerate g <ol type="a" start="7"> <ol class="enum-lower-greek" start="1"> α. line-item text
 β. line-item text
 γ. line-item text
 @enumerate j <ol type="a" start="10"> <ol class="enum-cjk-decimal" start="1"> 一. line-item text
 二. line-item text
 三. line-item text
 @enumerate k <ol type="a" start="11"> <ol class="enum-katakana" start="1"> ア. line-item text
 イ. line-item text
 ウ. line-item text
 @enumerate h <ol type="a" start="8"> <ol class="enum-hebrew" start="1">    line-item text
    line-item text
    line-item text
 @enumerate e <ol type="a" start="5"> <ol class="enum-arabic-indic" start="1">    line-item text
    line-item text
    line-item text

Example output for each option is shown below.

Automatic interpretation of list parameters may be disabled via command-line switch.
See idpp --no_special option, for more information.
Interactive specification of list type, initial value and count direction is enabled by the idpp --enum_list option.

One additional CSS class definition is included for enumeration lists: "enum-custom".
This class may be modified as desired for any enumeration type not already covered by a
class definition. By default, this additional class is identical to the "enum-decimal-zero" class.


‘enumerate’ commands without post-processing

‘enumerate’ command without argument

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘enumerate’ command with numeric argument

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘enumerate’ command with lower-case alpha argument

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘enumerate’ command with upper-case alpha argument

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

‘enumerate’ commands with TARGETED arguments

These will receive post-processing according to the above table and application of the target class definitions in 'infodoc-styles.css'.


Targeting enum-lower-alpha class (@enumerate a)

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

Targeting enum-upper-alpha class (@enumerate A)

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

Targeting enum-lower-roman class (@enumerate i),
‘info’ and HTML will not be symmetrical.

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

Targeting enum-upper-roman class (@enumerate I),
‘info’ and HTML will not be symmetrical.

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

Targeting enum-lower-greek class (@enumerate g),
‘info’ and HTML will not be symmetrical.

  1. First item
    Was Miss Woozy Wombat whisked away by Wallowing Wallaby?
  2. Second item
    Perhaps Polly Platypus is playing with Penelope Potoroo.

Targeting CJK (Han) numeric (@enumerate j),
‘info’ and HTML will not be symmetrical.

  1. 第一个中日韩项目
    在哪里可以找到母语为普通话的人?
  2. 第二个中日韩项目
    我的普通话很差。
  3. 第三中日韩项目
    也许我会回到成都继续深造。

Targeted Katakana alpha (Gojūon) (@enumerate k),
‘info’ and HTML will not be symmetrical.

  1. 果物
    アルフレッドはキウイやオレンジやストロベリーやすっぱいのくだものがすきですよ!
  2. 中毒薬
    パトリックはビールやワインやアルコールはのみますか。

Targeting enum-hebrew class (@enumerate h),
‘info’ and HTML will not be symmetrical.

  1. יש שני דברים אינסופיים,
    היקום וטיפשות האדם ...
  2. ואני לא בטוח לגבי היקום.
    אלברט איינשטיין

Targeting enum-arabic-indic class (@enumerate e),
‘info’ and HTML will not be symmetrical.

  1. الذكاء
    أشد الفاقة عدم العقل
  2. شخص برئاسة المستوى
    اتق شر الحليم اذا غضب
  3. فعل الخير للآخرين
    أباد الله خضراءهم ابذل لصديقك دمك ومالك

‘enumerate’ command rendered in descending order

  1. All systems report Green.
  2. All personnel exit the gantry immediately.
  3. Lock helmets now.
  4. Verify oxygen flow to suits.
  5. Control team: clear all hold switches.
  6. Disengage life-support tether.
  7. Verify environmental readouts.
  8. Disengage LOx tether.
  9. Grip the hand rails.
  10. Tighten your sphincters.
  11. Blast Off !!

Notes on Enumeration

Implementation Issues

Note that HTML supports multi-language enumeration types and styles, but it is not practical to support all of them within this project, primarily because the author knows only four languages (and none of them well).

Post-processing

At this time, (Texinfo 6.1) post-processing of the HTML will be necessary for support of the extended enumerator types. because they currently have no common equivalent between the ‘info’ and HTML output formats.

Enhancement Possibilities

An enhancement proposal has been submitted to the Texinfo group at gnu.org. This proposal outlines a method for direct support of Roman and Greek enumerators in Texinfo, and/or the method of embedding a specific class call-out for these into the HTML output. This proposal is under consideration. To see the full text of the proposal, visit the Texinfo bug report archive: 27 Nov. 2014 "@itemize and @enumerate enhancements" Proposal Summary: − @lowerroman OR − @lowerroman{n} (where ’n’ is the starting value) lower-case Roman numeral enumeration: i, ii, iii, iv, v, ... − @upperroman OR − @upperroman{n} (where ’n’ is the starting value) upper-case Roman numeral enumeration: I, II, III, IV, V, ... − @lowergreek OR − @lowergreek{n} (where ’n’ is the starting value) lower-case Greek enumeration: α, β, γ, δ, ε, ... Note that lower-case Greek lives at Unicode U+03B1 through U+03C9. − Alternatively, any lower-case Greek letter could signal a start of enumeration from that point. Example: @enumerate β Note however, that Roman sequences use ASCII characters, and these would be indistinguishable from alphabetical enumeration without an additional environment-modification switch. − For symmetry, we could add @loweralpha and @loweralpha{} @upperalpha and @upperalpha{} In our opinion, this is actually a much cleaner implementation than the current specification-by-literal-value. This proposal was partially implemented in Texinfo 6.0 (see table above).



Block Commands

This chapter contains test data for the Texinfo block-oriented commands.




Quotation Commands

The ‘@quotation’ Command

The @quotation block has the following characteristics:

  1. block is left-indented AND right-indented
  2. block inherits the font family and font size from the enclosing environment
  3. line breaks flow and whitespace is compacted
  4. embedded Texinfo commands are expanded

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

The generated HTML for this command is:
<blockquote><p> ... </p></blockquote>
The generated HTML for the optional @author sub-command is
<div align="center"><em> ... </em></div>

Quotations are indented at both left and right edges so the text will flow in a more confined space. Examples show quotation block with the @author command, and both with and without the optional heading.

PLEASE NOTE: The generated HTML for this is simply:
<blockquote><p> ... </p></blockquote>
The HTML ’blockquote’ tag does not include a ’margin-right modifier, and is therefore not the same thing as the @quotation command. This is a logical error in the HTML output, but 'infodoc-styles.css' compensates by redefining the HTML <blockquote> element to indent on both left and right margins.

PLEASE NOTE: The documentation says that the @quotation line and @end quotation lines do not generate a line of output. This is true in the ’info’ output but the HTML output generates a blank line before the block. This means that constructing ’correct’ formatting for info output is ’incorrect’ for HTML output. It is unlikely that anything can be done about this except through manual post-processing.

PLEASE NOTE: Centering the @author output is simple and reasonably effective in the ’info’ output, BUT looks like crap in the HTML output. For the HTML, we have recommended something like the following, but no action has been taken.
div.author {margin-left: 20%;} or div.author {text-indent: 20%;}
  then
<div class="author"><em> ... </em></div>
If using a percentage is unacceptable, just use the ’margin-left: 3.2em;’ as is done in other indent situations.

PLEASE NOTE: Also related to the @author sub-command: There should be no blank line in the output between the body of the quotation and the author line. This is true in the ’info’ output, but the HTML output generates a blank line between them.


Quotations with, and without optional header text:

"Hab SoSlI’ Quch!" Be careful when using this phrase since a challenge will surely follow - and you will very likely experience death by bat’telh.

traditional

Klingon Insult: "Hab SoSlI’ Quch!" Be careful when using this phrase since a challenge will surely follow - and you will very likely experience death by bat’telh.

traditional

The ‘@smallquotation’ Command

Beginning with makeinfo v:6.6, the “@small....” versions of block commands are no longer supported for HTML format.
When the the texi-2-HTML converter encounters a “@small....” command, it substitutes the standard block command. The 'idpp' application compensates by providing post-processing options to specify both “@small....”  and  “@large....” versions for all block commands. Please see idpp --block_font option for further details.

The @smallquotation has all the same characteristics as the @quotation above except that the font size is smaller.

Heroes are seldom born. Instead, they spring to life when circumstances demand it and recede into the background when the crisis has passed. The medieval knight-errant may have been heroic at times, but was essentially just an adventurer. Whipping out one’s sword and challenging someone to a duel to prove "manliness" is not heroic; it is arrogant, cruel and childish, resembling nothing quite so much as trying to stab someone with your metaphorical d..k.

anon



Indentedblock Commands

The ’@indentedblock’ Command

The @indentedblock command has the following characteristics:

  1. block is left-indented
  2. block inherits the font family and font size from the enclosing environment
  3. line breaks flow and whitespace is compacted
  4. embedded Texinfo commands are expanded

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified

The generated HTML for this command is:
<div class="indentedblock"><p> ... </p></div>

When encouraging a shark to eat from your hand, be sure to have a paramedic AND a psychiatrist standing by for an immediate debriefing regarding the defective contents of your skull structure.

The ’@smallindentedblock’ Command

Beginning with makeinfo v:6.6, the “@small....” versions of block commands are no longer supported for HTML format.
When the the texi-2-HTML converter encounters a “@small....” command, it substitutes the standard block command. The 'idpp' application compensates by providing post-processing options to specify both “@small....”  and  “@large....” versions for all block commands. Please see idpp --block_font option for further details.

The @smallindentedblock has all the same characteristics as the @indentedblock above except that the font size is smaller.

When encouraging a shark to eat from your hand, be sure to have a paramedic AND a psychiatrist standing by for an immediate debriefing regarding the defective contents of your skull structure.




Example Commands

The ‘@example’ Command

The @exaple block has the following characteristics:

  1. block is left-indented
  2. a fixed-width font family is used
  3. the font size is reduced; (however, see notes below)
  4. line break and whitespace formatting are retained as written
  5. embedded Texinfo commands are expanded

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

The generated HTML for this command is:
<div class="example"><pre class="example"> ... </pre></div>

PLEASE NOTE: The generated HTML for the @example block seems to be unnecessarily complex because the ‘example’ class itself defines text as “pre” (fixed line breaks) making the internal <pre...> tag redundant and in fact counter-productive.
PLEASE NOTE: The documentation says that the @example block delimiters do not generate a line of output. This is true in the ‘info’ output but the HTML output generates a blank line before the block because the <div> and <pre> classes are defined on successive lines. This means that constructing “correct” formatting for info output is “incorrect” for HTML output.

For output formats that support it, enclosing text which surrounds an @example block should be visually different from the contents of the block.

"Hab SoSlI' Quch!" Be careful when using this phrase since a challenge will 
surely follow   -   and you will very likely experience death by bat'telh.

The ‘@smallexample‘ Command

Beginning with makeinfo v:6.6, the “@small....” versions of block commands are no longer supported for HTML format.
When the the texi-2-HTML converter encounters a “@small....” command, it substitutes the standard block command. The 'idpp' application compensates by providing post-processing options to specify both “@small....”  and  “@large....” versions for all block commands. Please see idpp --block_font option for further details.

The @smallexample has all the same characteristics as the @example above except that the font size is smaller.

"Hab SoSlI' Quch!" Be careful when using this phrase since a challenge will 
surely follow   -   and you will very likely experience death by bat'telh.

The ‘@lisp’ and ‘@smalllisp’ Commands

The @lisp command is really just a special case of the @example command.

The generated HTML for this command is:
<div class="example lisp"><pre class="lisp"> ... </pre></div>

;;This is lisp. (example from an online tutorial at Simon Fraser U.).
;; Triple the value of a number
(defun triple (X)
  "Compute three times X."  ; Inline comments can
  (* 3 X))                  ; be placed here.
;; Negate the sign of a number
(defun negate (X)
  "Negate the value of X."  ; This is a documentation string.
  (- X))                


;;This is smalllisp.
;; Triple the value of a number
(defun triple (X)
  "Compute three times X."  ; Inline comments can
  (* 3 X))                  ; be placed here.
;; Negate the sign of a number
(defun negate (X)
  "Negate the value of X."  ; This is a documentation string.
  (- X))                



Display Commands

The ‘@display’ Command

The @display block has the following characteristics:

  1. block is left-indented
  2. block inherits the font family and font size from the enclosing environment
  3. line break and whitespace formatting are retained as written
  4. embedded Texinfo commands are expanded

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

The generated HTML for this command is:
<div class="display"><pre class="display"> ... </pre></div>

PLEASE NOTE: The generated HTML for the @display block seems to be unnecessarily complex because the ‘display’ class itself defines text as “pre” (fixed line breaks) making the internal <pre...> tag redundant and in fact counter-productive.
PLEASE NOTE: The documentation says that the @display block delimiters do not generate a line of output. This is true in the ‘info’ output but the HTML output generates a blank line before the block because the <div> and <pre> classes are defined on successive lines. This means that constructing “correct” formatting for info output is “incorrect” for HTML output.

When encouraging a shark to eat from your hand, be sure to have 
      a paramedic 
        AND
      a psychiatrist 
standing by for an immediate debriefing regarding the defective contents 
of your skull structure. 

The ‘@smalldisplay’ Command

Beginning with makeinfo v:6.6, the “@small....” versions of block commands are no longer supported for HTML format.
When the the texi-2-HTML converter encounters a “@small....” command, it substitutes the standard block command. The 'idpp' application compensates by providing post-processing options to specify both “@small....”  and  “@large....” versions for all block commands. Please see idpp --block_font option for further details.

The @smalldisplay has all the same characteristics as the @display above except that the font size is smaller.

When encouraging a shark to eat from your hand, be sure to have 
      a paramedic 
        AND
      a psychiatrist 
standing by for an immediate debriefing regarding the defective contents 
of your skull structure. 



Format Commands

The ‘@format’ Command

The @format block has the following characteristics:

  1. block is not indented
  2. block inherits the font family and font size from the enclosing environment
  3. line break and whitespace formatting are retained as written
  4. embedded Texinfo commands are expanded

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

The generated HTML for this command is:
<div class="format"><pre class="format"> ... </pre><div>

PLEASE NOTE: The generated HTML for the @format block seems to be unnecessarily complex because the ‘format’ class itself defines text as “pre” (fixed line breaks) making the internal <pre...> tag redundant and in fact counter-productive.
PLEASE NOTE: The documentation says that the @format block delimiters do not generate a line of output. This is true in the ‘info’ output but the HTML output generates a blank line before the block because the <div> and <pre> classes are defined on successive lines. This means that constructing “correct” formatting for info output is “incorrect” for HTML output.

When encouraging a shark to eat from your hand, be sure to have 
      a paramedic 
        AND
      a psychiatrist 
standing by for an immediate debriefing regarding the defective contents 
of your skull structure. 

The ‘@smallformat’ Command

Beginning with makeinfo v:6.6, the “@small....” versions of block commands are no longer supported for HTML format.
When the the texi-2-HTML converter encounters a “@small....” command, it substitutes the standard block command. The 'idpp' application compensates by providing post-processing options to specify both “@small....”  and  “@large....” versions for all block commands. Please see idpp --block_font option for further details.

The @smallformat has all the same characteristics as the @format above except that the font size is smaller.

When encouraging a shark to eat from your hand, be sure to have 
      a paramedic 
        AND
      a psychiatrist 
standing by for an immediate debriefing regarding the defective contents 
of your skull structure. 



Verbatim Commands

The ‘@verbatim’ Command

The ‘@verbatim’ block command is similar to the @format block command above, but carefully note the differences when choosing which one to use.

The @verbatim block has the following characteristics:

  1. block is not indented
  2. font family is not inherited; instead, a fixed-width font is used.
  3. line break and whitespace formatting are retained as written
  4. embedded Texinfo commands are not expanded, but are written as plain text.

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

The generated HTML for this command is:
<pre class="verbatim"> ... </pre>

The following is 'verbatim' text: with whitespace and line breaks preformatted.
Note that @code{} block command IS NOT PROCESSED, but is rendered as plain text.

If    cows    can    @code{jump}    over    the    moon, 
   then    what    do    sheep    jump    over?

The ‘@smallverbatim’ Command

Beginning with makeinfo v:6.6, the “@small....” versions of block commands are no longer supported for HTML format.
When the the texi-2-HTML converter encounters a “@small....” command, it substitutes the standard block command. The 'idpp' application compensates by providing post-processing options to specify both “@small....”  and  “@large....” versions for all block commands. Please see idpp --block_font option for further details.

Note that the makeinfo documentation engine does not define a ‘@smallverbatim’ command; however, until makeinfo v:6.6, the same effect could be achieved by enclosing a ‘verbatim’ block within a ‘smallformat’ block.

@smallformat
@verbatim
This text would have been rendered in fixed-width, preformatted data.
@end verbatim
@end smallformat

Since the texi-2-HTML converter no longer supports this construct, the 'idpp' post-processor now directly supports small, inherited, and large font varients of verbatim blocks.

The “smallverbatim” block is especially useful for documentation which includes examples of source code.
The following text is rendered with whitespace and line breaks preformatted and the font size approximately ten percent (10%) smaller than the surrounding text.

class commArgs
{
   public:
   commArgs ( int argc, char** argv, char** argenv ) :
               argCount(argc), argList(argv), envList(argenv)
   {
      this->reset() ;
   }
   void reset ( void )
   {
      this->preFlag = this->verFlag = this->helpFlag = false ;
   }
   short    argCount ;     // command-line arguments
   char**   argList ;      // list of argument strings
   char**   envList ;      // pointer to terminal environment
   bool     preFlag ;      // 'true' if pre-scan is to be performed
   bool     verFlag ;      // 'true' if application version request (overrides all others)
   bool     helpFlag ;     // 'true' if command-line help (overrides all except verFlag)
} ;



Misc Block Modifiers

The ‘@flushleft’ Command

Rather than justifying the text, (spreading it across the full width of the line), text is set flush with the left margin.

This is presumably to prevent justification in outputs that support it. Note that neither ’info’ output nor HTML output justify text, but for HTML, the enclosing environment may be ’centered’ or some other format, so the @flushleft command overrides the parent environment. @flushleft has no function in the ’info’ output.

Generated HTML: <p align="left"> ... </p>

When I left home for the first time, I took with me all the treasures of a magical youth: three toy soldiers, a bag of cat’s-eye marbles, my dad’s Scout knife, a clean handkerchief, $3.73 and my teddybear, Beathan.



The ‘@flushright’ Command

Text is set flush with the right margin.

As the documentation shows, this is useful for setting a return address or other paragraph to align with the right margin. The @flushright implies pre-formatting of the text except for the edge alignment.

PLEASE NOTE: Because @flushright implies pre-formatting of lines in the ’info’ output, long lines (that would otherwise have wrapped), may not appear as right-aligned.
In the HTML output, if the paragraph’s environment would normally wrap, then it is correctly converted to flush-right (with wrapping); however, explicitly pre-formatted HTML output will override the @flushright command.

PLEASE NOTE: Related to the above is the fact that outside an environment, the info output for @flushright is seen as preformatted text (no explicit line breaks necessary). However, the HTML output for this will not be seen as preformatted; therefore, explicit line breaks will be necessary. Thus, info and HTML output are visually incompatible.

If you are generating HTML output, we would recommend that you avoid using the @flushright command because beautification would require specific manual modification to the HTML markkup. Please review the CSS style element "text-align:right;" for applying flush-right formatting across a wide area.

Outside an environment (with and without explicit line breaks):
Generated HTML: <p align="right"> ... </p>

Jungle, George of the
Ape Mountain, South
Bukubu Territory
Deepest Africa


Jungle, George of the Ape Mountain, South Bukubu Territory Deepest Africa

Direct HTML Output for pre-formatted, right-aligned text: Jungle, George of the Ape Mountain, South Bukubu Territory Deepest Africa

In an @example environment:
Generated HTML: (see chapter for ’example’ blocks)

Jungle, George of the 
Ape Mountain, South
Bukubu Territory
Deepest Africa

Outside an environment: Generated HTML: (<p align="right"> ... </p>)

When I left home for the first time, I took with me all the treasures of a magical youth: three toy soldiers, a bag of cat’s-eye marbles, my dad’s Scout knife, a clean handkerchief, $3.73 and my teddybear, Beathan.

In an @example environment:
Generated HTML: (see chapter for ’example’ blocks)

When I left home for the first time, I took with me all the treasures of a 
magical youth: three toy soldiers, a bag of cat's-eye marbles, my dad's 
Scout knife, a clean handkerchief, $3.73 and my teddybear, Beathan.

In an @indentedblock environment:
Generated HTML: <div class="indentedblock"><p align="right"> ... </p></div>

When I left home for the first time, I took with me all the treasures of a magical youth: three toy soldiers, a bag of cat’s-eye marbles, my dad’s Scout knife, a clean handkerchief, $3.73 and my teddybear, Beathan.



The ‘@raggedright’ Command

This command applies only to output formats that can ’justify’ i.e. spread text to fill the line. Text is left-justified (indented if specified), but leaving the right margin ragged.

@raggedright does not apply to ’info’ output, and the texi-2-HTML converter does not support “justified” text in HTML output, but instead outputs the HTML as ordinary paragraph text: (<p> ... </p>) This is understandable because “justified” text only became available in CSS3 and Firefox v:55. The following is an HTML-only example written directly in HTML markup to demonstrate ragged-right text within a “justified” paragraph.

The HTML for this sample is written as:

<div style="text-align:justify">
. . . .
<br><p style="text-align:left"> . . . . </p>
. . . .
</div>

Captain Picard Meets High School Football


Two guys in the top row lounge teen-awkwardly in an unmistakable cloud of peppermint schnapps (hey, I was young once myself), their low, self-conscious laughter almost covered by the cheerful harassment of “The Stars and Stripes, Forever” slamming into my head from two sections to the left. Sliding along, one row below the peppermint twins, I'm blocked by an alcoholic forty-ish, plunging neckline and oh-so-tight pants.

[This section of the story redacted to prevent the PC police from whining about sexual inuendo in the public forum. Franky, they should be more concerned about bluejeans which are torn in strategically-revealing places. Now that's what I call sexual inuendo.]

Deep racial memories stir to the smell of tortured corn and hot butter on the breeze, and the popcorn man's radar spots my crisp, new Lincoln thrusting eagerly. He directs the box from his duct-taped tray, up the intervening rows while Lincoln descends—strong but inexperienced young hands reluctantly loosening their grip on their booty of the evening long enough to perform the service. The loudspeakers burp the announcer's voice as I uncap the Thermos, and oil of Bergamot thrusts its lance to the depth of my sinuses. Hot liquid decadence meets aching saliva glands as the ball arcs along the demarcate autumn field of combat.
Ah, Earl Grey! - hot.                        Copyright © 2006 − Software Sam




The ‘@cartouche’ Command

For output formats that support it, the paragraph within a “@cartouche” sequence is enclosed within a border.
Generated HTML: <table class="cartouche" border="1">
               <tbody><tr><td><p> ... </p></td></tr></tbody></table>
Even thought the genenerated HTML is vastly more complex and fragile than it needs to be, it works by leveraging the definition for the <table> tag, which in earlier versions of HTML was the only element that was allowed to have borders.

The HTML output for the following paragraph is enclosed within a border:

Even though the generated HTML does not define the ’cartouche’ class, the enclosing border is still drawn. Be aware, however, that the generated code explicitly invokes the HTML attribute: border="1", which overrides the class definition in 'infodoc-styles.css'. Modern HTML uses CSS to set the border attributes, so the 'idpp' post-processor removes this obsolete syntax, allowing the ’cartouche’ class to take control of the styling. For details, see the ‘table.cartouche’ class in 'infodoc-styles.css'.



The ‘@exdent’ Command

The @exdent command removes indentation for the current text line, shifting the line to begin at the left margin. Frankly, we can’t find a use for this, but it exists, so it should work correctly.

The @exdent command is logically useful only within the following block types: @example and @display. In the output, these are the block types which are both indented and pre-formatted.

Other block types either use automatic line breaks and/or are already positioned at the left margin. Makeinfo v:5.x handled the @exdent badly, and it was reported to the developers. As of makeinfo version 6.0, the @exdent command is ignored for all block types.

@example block
unmodified line
exdented line
unmodified line
@display block
unmodified line
exdented line
unmodified line

@quotation block
When I left home for the first time, I took with me all the

treasures of a magical youth: three toy soldiers, a bag of cat’s-eye marbles, my dad’s

Scout knife, a clean handkerchief, $3.73 and my teddybear, Beathan.

@indentedblock block
When I left home for the first time, I took with me all the

treasures of a magical youth: three toy soldiers, a bag of cat’s-eye marbles, my dad’s

Scout knife, a clean handkerchief, $3.73 and my teddybear, Beathan.



The ‘@indent’ and ‘@noindent’ Commands

These commands apply only to text which is outside any block environment. However, the Texinfo documentation on this is unclear.

Note also that the global document command @paragraphindent must be set to allow indenting of the first line of paragraphs in order for these commands to be recognized. First-line indentation is not enabled for this document; however, you can temporarily enable it by setting the global @paragraphindent 3 to view indentation.

The @indent and @noindent commands do not apply to the HTML output.

'Applying @indent'

When I left home for the first time, I took with me all the treasures of a magical youth: three toy soldiers, a bag of cat’s-eye marbles, my dad’s Scout knife, a clean handkerchief, $3.73 and my teddybear, Beathan.

'Applying @noindent'

When I left home for the first time, I took with me all the treasures of a magical youth: three toy soldiers, a bag of cat’s-eye marbles, my dad’s Scout knife, a clean handkerchief, $3.73 and my teddybear, Beathan.



The ‘@w{}’ Command

Text within a @w{ ... } command block is protected from automatic line breaks. This is useful for ensuring that a certain phrase will be displayed entirely on one line, or that the line break will happen only where you specify. For both the ’info’ output and the HTML output, the phrase will be displayed antirely on the line where it begins OR if it would extend beyond the margin, the entire phrase would be moved to the next line.

The HTML code generated for this command can take one of two forms, based on the complexity of the text in the sequence:

For a simple text sequence, space characters (U+0020) may simply be replaced by the HTML definition: &nbsp; (non-breaking-space), as in the following:
"Extremely&nbsp;Loud&nbsp;and&nbsp;Incredibly&nbsp;Close"<!-- /@w -->

For a more complex text sequence, the ’nolinebreak’ class will be called out:
<span class="nolinebreak"> ... </span><!-- /@w -->

For example, you may want to enclose a phrase such as "all-you-can-eat, only $5.99!" to ensure that it is displayed all on the same line.

In either case, the font within the block will be the same as the surrounding text (and the unnecessary HTML comment will be ignored). Note also that it would be unwise to make any assumptions about which HTML construct above will be generated by a particular text sequence.

Please note that there was a long-standing bug in the ‘makeinfo’ utility which failed to wrap a @w{ ... } command block if it crosses the margin of the ’info’ output. This bug was introduced when makeinfo was converted from 'C' to Perl and was present at least up to version 5.2. This bug was reported, and we believe that the problem was corrected no later than the v:6.0 code base.



The ‘@allowcodebreaks’ Command

This command controls automatic insertion of line breaks at hyphenation points ('-' and '_') within a ’@code’ (or similar) block, and according to the documentation(chapter 13.4) affects only TeX and HTML output.

However, for makeinfo v:6.8, the @allowcodebreaks command is ignored for HTML output which instead produces ordinary paragraph text with dynamic line breaks as demonstrated below.

Code breaks off: text beyond browser’s right edge is not wrapped:
abcdefg-hijklmn-opqrstu-vwxyz_abcdefg-hijklmn-opqrstu-vwxyz_abcdefg-hijklmn-opqrstu-vwxyz_abcdefg-hijklmn-opqrstu-vwxyz

Code breaks on: text beyond browser’s right edge (or edge of container) is wrapped:
abcdefg-hijklmn-opqrstu-vwxyz_abcdefg-hijklmn-opqrstu-vwxyz_abcdefg-hijklmn-opqrstu-vwxyz_abcdefg-hijklmn-opqrstu-vwxyz




Comparison Chart

This chart compares the formatting characteristics of the various Texinfo block-oriented commands. The variable factors are:

  1. Indentation
    Blocks may be indented on the left, on both right and left, or unindented.
  2. Font Family and Font Size (HTML output)
    The font family and font size are either inherited from the parent block, (generally sans-serif) or are directly specified as part of block’s definition.
  3. Formatting
    The contents of the block are formatted according to the block’s definition:
    • ♦ automatically wrap lines and compress whitespace
    • ♦ retain preformatted line breaks and whitespace
  4. Texinfo Command Expansion
    Texinfo commands are expanded (interpreted as commands) EXCEPT within @verbatim blocks.
COMMANDL-INDENTR-INDENTFONTFORMATTING@commands
quotationyesyesinheritedautomaticexpand
indentedblockyesnoinheritedautomaticexpand
exampleyesnomonospacepreformattedexpand
displayyesnoinheritedpreformattedexpand
formatnonoinheritedpreformattedexpand
verbatimnonomonospacepreformattedas text
The @lisp and @smalllisp block environments are simply special cases of @example, 
and so are not included in the table.

Note that only ‘info’ and ‘HTML’ output formats are considered here. Output to Tex, PDF, Docbook, XML and others are not addressed in this test document.




Table and Multitable

The ‘@table’ Command

A two-column table with the ‘@samp’ attribute for the first column.
Note that the @ftable and @vtable commands produce the same display, but also automatically create indices for each entry.

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

The generated HTML for this command is:

<dl compact="compact">
 <dt>&lsquo;<samp>COL1_DATA</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
 <dt>&lsquo;<samp>COL1_DATA</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
 <dd><p>COL2_DATA</p></dd>
 <dt>&lsquo;<samp>COL1_DATA</samp>&rsquo;</dt>
 <dd><p>COL2_DATA</p></dd>
</dl>

In HTML4, this is called a “definition list”, while in HTML5, 
this is called a “description list”. Either way, the browser’s 
default formatting is likely the same.
for
while

loop while the condition evaluates to ’true’

if

execute once if the condition evaluates to ’true’


Please note that the above table looks rather bad in ’info’ format and looks terrible in unstyled HTML. For this reason, we recommend that you consider building all your tables using the @multitable command described below.
If you must use the @table command, we strongly recommend the use of 'infodoc-styles.css' which redefines the <dl> tag so the HTML ouput is visually much nearer to the ’info’ output.



The ‘@multitable’ Command

Compliance:
Output to ’info’ document: as specified
Output to ’HTML’ document: as specified EXCEPT as noted below

The generated HTML for this command is:

<table>
 <thead><tr><th>aaaaa</th><th>bbbbb</th><th>ccccc</th></tr></thead>
 <tr><td>aaaaa</td><td>bbbbb</td><td>ccccc</td></tr>
 <tr><td>aaaaa</td><td>bbbbb</td><td>ccccc</td></tr>
 <tr><td>aaaaa</td><td>bbbbb</td><td>ccccc</td></tr>
</table>

This example is of a simple three(3) column multitable which 
includes a @headitem (column headings) sub-command. 
’aaaaa’ represents data in first column, ’bbbbb’ is the second 
column and ’ccccc’ is the third column.


AnimalCohortExample Sentence
cowPlacentalThe cow jumped over the fence.
horsePlacentalThe horse eats flowers and grass.
wombatMarsupialThe wonderful wombat can’t jump, but seems quite happy!


Note that the output looks quite different in ’info’ format and HTML format, primarily because of column spacing, fixed versus monospace font, line-break points and underlining of ’info’ column headings. Some of these differences rise to the level of bugs.

There is no guarantee that all tables in a document will be acceptable using the same formatting, so simply defining a table style in our CSS definition file will not solve all the possible formatting problems; however, as an intermediate goal, our definition of the <table> element produces HTML tables that more closely resemble the ’info’ tables.
Please see idpp --table_border option for information on optionally drawing the table using border/grid formatting.

PLEASE NOTE: Column spacing within the HTML output of a multitable is not handled well. The whitespace specified in the 'texi' source and displayed correctly in the 'info' output is ignored for the HTML output (whitespace sequences are compressed to a single space).

Note that this is handled by our redefinition of the HTML <table> element, but should possibly be addressed directly by the texi-to-HTML converter.

For a more complex example of a multitable, please see the chapter See Comparison Chart.




Font Modification

The Smallcaps ’@sc’ Command

IN THE ’INFO’ OUTPUT, THE TEXT IS SIMPLY CONVERTED TO UPPERCASE; WHILE THE HTML OUTPUT IS SPECIFIED AS UPPERCASE, BUT IN A SMALLER FONT SIZE.

The generated HTML for this command is:
<p><small> ... </small></p>

The Texinfo documentation suggests that smallcaps be avoided due to inconsistencies across output formats.

The Emphasis ’@emph’ Command

The @emph command delimits the text with underscore characters in ’info’ output. The HTML output is italicized.

The generated HTML for this command is:
<p><em> ... </em></p>

Note that the actual appearance of the <em> ... </em> block in the HTML output is dependent on the number of ancestor levels, but this should seldom be an issue when generating the HTML from ’texi’ source.

The Strong ’@strong’ Command

The @strong command delimits the text with asterisk characters in the ’info’ output. The HTML output is in bold and in contrast with surrounding text.

The generated HTML for this command is:
<p><strong> ... </strong></p>

The Texinfo documentation suggests that @strong be used seldom and carefully due to possible mis-interpretation as a cross-reference.

Editorial Note: Both ’@emph’ and ’@strong’ unfortunately look like crap in the ’info’ output, but are relatively cool in the HTML output.



Miscellaneous Font-modification Commands

The following commands specify modifications to the basic text font. These are used by printed (i.e. typeset) documents and by the HTML output. They are ignored for the info-format output.

@b command - Bold text. (generated HTML uses <b> ... </b>)
   Text within a ’@b’ sequence.

@i command - Italic text. (generated HTML uses <i> ... </i>)
   Text within a ’@i’ sequence.

@r command - Roman font family.
(generated HTML uses <span class="roman"> ... </span>)
   Text within a ’@r’ sequence.

@t command - Fixed-width (typewriter) font family
(generated HTML uses <tt> ... </tt>)
   Text within a '@t' sequence.

Please note that the <tt> tag is no longer supported in HTML5, but is explicitly defined in infodoc-styles.css to support the outdated HTML generated by the texi-2-HTML converter.



@sansserif command - Sans serif font family

Examples: Default text:
(generated HTML uses <p> ... </p>)
   Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your pen!

Roman text with serif.
(generated HTML uses <span class="roman"> ... </span>)
   Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your golf clubs!

Roman text without serif.
(generated HTML uses <span class="roman"><span class="sansserif"> ... </span></span>)
   Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your car!

Fixed-width text with serif.
(generated HTML uses <tt> ... </tt>)
   Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your beach house!

Fixed-width text without serif.
(generated HTML uses <tt><span class="sansserif"> ... </span></tt>)
   Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your spouse!


@slanted command - Slanted text

Examples: Slanted Roman text.
(generated HTML uses <span class="roman"><i> ... </i></span>)
The font size is inappropriately reduced, but this is compensated by application of CSS definition file.
   Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your phone!

Slanted Fixed-width text.
(generated HTML uses <tt><i> ... </i></tt>)
The font size is inappropriately reduced, but this is compensated by application of CSS definition file.
   Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ATM card!




Object Indicators

This is a list of object-identifier commands from the Texinfo documentation. Most of these commands are supported using standard HTML tags. If the browser’s default for these does not satisfy, then please see the stubs in 'infodoc-styles.css' for explicitly defining these elements.

Those identifiers which are directly supported by auto-generated style definitions are so indicated.

@code: Indicate text that is a literal example of a piece of a program.
Supported by  : HTML tag
Generated HTML: <p><code> ... </code></p>

@samp: ‘Indicate text that is a literal example of a character sequence.
Supported by  : HTML tag
Generated HTML: <p><samp> ... </samp></p>

@var : Indicate a metasyntactic variable.
Supported by  : HTML tag
Generated HTML: <p><var> ... </var></p>

@cite: Indicate the name of a book.
Supported by  : HTML tag
Generated HTML: <p><cite> ... </cite></p>

@abbr: Indicate an abbreviation.
Supported by  : HTML tag
Generated HTML: <p><abbr> ... </abbr></p>
A useful trick is to use the 'title' attribute with the <abbr> tag
to expand an abbreviation on mouse-over: Please support the FSF.

@kbd : Indicate keyboard input.
Supported by  : auto-generated: kbd {font-style:oblique}
Generated HTML: <p><kbd> ... </kbd></p>

(Please note that the <kbd> tag is a standard HTML          )
(tag, and does not need the converter's explicit definition.)

@env : Indicate an environment variable.
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p><code> ... </code></p>

@file: Indicate the name of a file.
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p><samp> ... </samp></p>

@command: Indicate the name of a command.
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p><code> ... </code></p>

@option: Indicate a command-line option.
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p><samp> ... </samp></p>

@dfn : Indicate the introductory or defining use of a term.
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p><em> ... </em></p>

(Please note that the <dfn> tag is a standard HTML)
(tag, and does not need the <em> substitution.    )

@verb: Write a verbatim sequence of characters.
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p><tt> ... </tt></p>

(Please note that the <tt> tag is no longer supported in HTML5,)
(but is explicitly defined in infodoc-styles.css. See <code>.)

@key : Indicate the conventional name for a key on a keyboard.
Supported by  : none ("key" class not defined)
Generated HTML: <p><tt class="key"> ... </tt></p>

(Please note that the 'key' sub-class of <tt> is )
(also explicitly defined in infodoc-styles.css.)

@acronym: Indicate an acronym.
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p><acronym> ... </acronym></p>

(Please note that the <acronym> tag is no longer supported in HTML5,)
(but is explicitly defined in infodoc-styles.css. See <abbr>.     )

@indicateurl: ‘Indicate an example (nonfunctional) URL
(Use @url command for live URLs.)
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p> ... </p>

@email: Indicate an electronic mail address.
Supported by  : none
Generated HTML: <p><a href="mailto:xxxx> ... </a></p>
(where ‘xxxx’ is the email address)

PLEASE NOTE: The following object identifiers inappropriately use the default HTML page font (extremely small):
@kbd, @env, @file, @command, @option, @verb, @key, @indicateurl
All of these are compensated by applying 'infodoc-styles.css'.




InfoMenu Structure

Menus are at the core of organizing a Texinfo document. Menus in ’info’ format are simply a list of hyperlinks to various nodes (chapters) within the document. For the ’info’ output, each item in a menu consists of a bullet (asterisk character), a @xref (hyperlink) and an optional description of the link content.

Menus as constructed in the HTML output use a <table> structure to implement the same functionality. The HTML code block below was generated for the ’List Commands’ chapter of this document.

  • ♦ The menu itself is a <table class="menu"> ... </table> sequence.
  • ♦ There are two items in this menu, each defined within a <tr> ... <tr> element.
  • ♦ Each item consists of three <td> ... </td> elements
       a) the bullet character AND the hyperlink: <a> ... </a> element
       b) the space between hyperlink and description
       c) the description
<table class="menu" border="0" cellspacing="0">
   <tr>
      <td align="left" valign="top">&bull; 
         <a href="#Itemized-Lists" accesskey="1">Itemized Lists</a>:
      </td>
      <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
      <td align="left" valign="top">Test –html option &rsquo;itemize&rsquo; list output
      </td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
      <td align="left" valign="top">&bull;
         <a href="#Enumeration-Lists" accesskey="2">Enumeration Lists</a>:
      </td>
      <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
      <td align="left" valign="top">Test –html option &rsquo;enumerate&rsquo; list output
      </td>
   </tr>
</table>

There are two pre-defined styles generated by the texi-to-HTML converter:
  pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} and
  pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif}
Neither of these is actually used in normal HTML output. We have been told that they may be invoked under very special circumstances, but we have not been able to generate a test that invokes them.
Instead, the ’menu’ class is invoked: <table class="menu"> to create menus. This class is not defined in the generated HTML, but the browser uses its default table definitions for the elements within the table. This seems to work without problems in the raw HTML output, but note that we re-define the <table> element in 'infodoc-styles.css' to support the @multitable command, so we must also define the the ’menu’ class. This is both more reliable and easier to customize than simply relying on the browser defaults.




InfoTOC Structure

Although the default info-format document does not include a Table of Contents, the HTML version of the document does.

The HTML document’s Table of Contents consists of a multi-level, un-ordered list which provides links to all the chapters in the document.

  • ♦ The main Table of Contents is an un-ordered (<ul>) list which contains links to all the document’s top-level chapters.
  • ♦ Additional lists may be nested within the top-level list, and these contain links to the sub-chapters, sub-sub-chapters and so on.
  • ♦ Each of these lists and sub-lists calls out the ’no-bullet’ class:
             '<ul class="no-bullet">'
    which in the raw HTML document is defined with a stub:
             'ul.no-bullet {list-style: none}'.
  • ♦ The entire list tree structure is enclosed within an HTML
             '<div class="contents"> ... </div>'
    block which calls out the (undefined) ‘contents’ class.
  • ♦ Just above this ‘<div>’ block are two lines of HTML code which indicate the intra-page link target and the heading, respectively, of the Table of Contents.
             '<a name="SEC_Contents"></a>'
             '<h2 class="contents-heading">Table of Contents</h2>'
    Again, the ’contents-heading’ class is not defined in the raw HTML document.

What follows is an example taken from the HTML version of the document you are now reading.

<div class="contents">

<ul class="no-bullet">
  <li><a name="toc-Overview-1" href="#Overview">Overview</a></li>
  <li><a name="toc-CSS-Definition-File-1" href="#CSS-Definition-File">CSS Definition File</a>
  <ul class="no-bullet">
    <li><a name="toc-Summary-of-CSS-Definitions-1" href="#Summary-of-CSS-Definitions">Summary of CSS Definitions</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Applying-the-CSS-Definitions-1" href="#Applying-the-CSS-Definitions">Applying the CSS Definitions</a></li>
    <li><a name="toc-Adjusting-Style-Definitions-1" href="#Adjusting-Style-Definitions">Adjusting Style Definitions</a></li>
  </ul></li>
  <li><a name="toc-HTML-Post_002dprocessing-1" href="#HTML-Post_002dprocessing">HTML Post-processing</a>
  . . .
  </ul></li>
  . . .
</ul>
</div>


With the exception of the stub definition of the ’no-bullet’ class described above, the entire Table of Contents relies on the browser’s default settings to render it in the window. In the browsers used for our testing (see browsers used for testing), the output actually looks great with no post-processing at all. However, the 'infodoc-styles.css' CSS definition file fully defines the ’no-bullet’, ’contents’ and ’contents-heading’ classes for safety, and defines additional classes for customization of the Table of Contents. The following post-processing options are also available for Table of Contents customization or removal, respectively.
See idpp -c option.
See idpp -r option.





Misc Formatting

No misc. formatting tests identified at this time.




Idpp Testing

Automatic post-processor parsing, and document-modification tests.

Because scanning automatically-generated HTML markup is a complex process, and because even a small difference in the expected formatting can cause the post-processor to choke, the following tests provide a broad sample of the markup that may be generated by the Texinfo texi-to-HTML converter.




Idpp List Processing

The following are lists nested inside other lists which exercises the ’idpp’ list-recursion algorithm.

@enumerate nested within @enumerate

  1. Nested Enumerate (a)
    The HTML for this list should be post-processed with (a)
    New Boots
    1. There once was a man from Nantucket
    2. Who always peed into a bucket
    3. Till one day, he missed
    4. And his boots got all pissed,
    5. And shouted "Now I’ll have to wash them!"
  2. Nested Enumerate (A)
    The HTML for the following list should be post-processed with (A)
    Old Wife
    1. There once was a man from Poughkeepsie
    2. Who often got rather tipsy.
    3. He was roundly ashamed;
    4. Twas his wife that he blamed,
    5. For she was quite prone to be ditzy.

@itemize nested within @enumerate

Note that the browser’s rendering engine will determine that the following itemized (<ul>) lists are nested, and will automagically convert the list to level-down bullets:

disc bullets    become  circle bullets
circle bullets  become  square bullets
square bullets  remain  square bullets

To prevent this automatic modification, it will be necessary to trick the browser by using bullet characters that it cannot convert — which is not as easy as it sounds (see simulated disc-bullet list below) ==OR== assign a specific bullet-type class.

  1. Nested Itemize @bullet(•)
       The HTML for the following list should not need post-processing,
       but the browser sees that it is nested and automagically converts 
       the ’disc’ bullets to (level-down) ’circle’ bullets. 
       (See note above and simulated disc-bullet list below.)
       

    "Your Love" from: "The One Where Monica Gets a New Roommate"

    • Love is sweet as summer showers,
      Love is a wondrous work of art.
    • But your love, oh your love, your love
      is like a giant pigeon, crapping on my heart.
  2. Nested Itemize @w{} with simulated disc bullets(•)
       Although there are at least seven children born during the 
       series, this one occurred during the birth of Ross’ son Ben.
       

    "Babies" from "The One With the Birth"

    • ⏺ They're tiny and chubby and so sweet to touch
        Soon they'll grow up and resent you so much
    • ⏺ Now they're yelling at you and you don't know why
        And you cry and you cry and you cry
    • ⏺ And you cry and you cry...
  3. Nested Itemize @textdegree(°)
    The HTML for the following list should be post-processed with (⚬).
    "Crazy Underwear" from: "The One With Ross’s Thing"
    • ° Crazy underwear,
      creepin up my butt.
    • ° Crazy underwear,
      Always in a rut.
    • ° Crazy underwear...
  4. Nested Itemize @minus(-)
       This is a three-level itemized list, which, without styling and
       post-processing the following two lower levels would be rendered with 
       circle bullets (⚬) and square bullets (▪) respectively.
       With post-processing, both of these lower levels of the list are 
       rendered as intended (with ‘−’ bullet characters).
       
       "Smelly Cat" from "The One With the Baby On the Bus, et al"
       
    • - Smelly cat, smelly cat
      What are they feeding you?
    • - Smelly cat, smelly cat
      It’s not your fault
      • - They won’t take you to the vet
        You’re obviously not their favorite pet.
      • - You may not be a bed of roses
        And you’re no friend to those with noses.
    • - Smelly cat, smelly cat
      What are they feeding you?
    • - Smelly cat, smelly cat
      It’s not your fault

@itemize nested within @itemize

  • Nested Itemize @bullet(•)
    Barney
    • There was a cute girl from Killarney
    • Got seduced by a tosser named Barney.
    • Though he’d touted his prowess,
    • When they got to his howse,
    • She found it was all naught but blarney.
  • Nested Itemize @textdegree(°)
    Long Jack
    • ° Jack was a rough ’un from Bristol.
    • ° Who was wont to whip out his pistol.
    • ° Though not much of a shot,
    • ° And he’d miss like as not,
    • ° In length, ’twas surprisingly distal.
  • Nested Itemize @minus(-)
    Wedding Night Blues
    • - Though the bride was quite powerfully built,
    • - The groom vowed he’d prevail ’neath the quilt.
    • - But try as he might
    • - Through the long wedding night,
    • - ’Twas his nose blood that finally got spilt.

@enumerate nested within @itemize

  • The HTML for the following should be post-processed with lowercase Roman
       The items in this group of lists are specified in the 
       Texinfo source as ’@enumerate r’, ’@enumerate R’ and 
       ’@enumerate g’, respectively. After post-processing, the 
       HTML and ’info’ documents will not be symmetrical. This 
       is necessary for this test document, but use care when 
       creating production documents, so that the ’info’ and 
       post-processed HTML documents remain synchronized.
       

    "Blackout" from "The One With the Blackout"

    1. New York City has no power,
      and the milk is getting sour;
    2. But to me, it is not scary
      ’cause I stay away from dairy.
  • The HTML for the following should be post-processed with uppercase Roman

    "Shower Song" from "The One With the Baby On the Bus"

    1. I’m in the shower,
      and I’m writing a song.
    2. Stop me if you’ve heard it.
    3. My skin is soapy,
      and my hair is wet,
    4. and Tegrin spelled backward
      is Nirget.
    5. Lather, rinse, repeat
      and lather, rinse, repeat
      and lather, rinse, repeat
    6. as needed.
  • The HTML for the following should be post-processed with lowercase Greek

    "Barnyard Animals" from "The One After the Superbowl, Part One"

    1. Oh, the cow in the meadow goes ’moo’,
      the cow in the meadow goes ’moo’.
    2. Then the farmer hits him in the head,
      and grinds him all up
    3. and that’s how we get hamburger.
    4. Noooowww chickens!...

Deeply Nested Lists

  1. Itemized Below Enumerated (disc bullet)
    "Sticky Shoes" from "The One With Phoebe’s Ex-partner"
    • My favorite shoes, so good to me
      I wear them every day.
    • Down at the heel, holes in the toe
      Don’t care what people say.
    • My feet’s best friend, pals to the end
      with them I’m one hot chickie
    • Thought late one night, not much light
      I stepped in something icky...

      Enumerated Below Itemized (decimal leading-zero)

      1. Sticky shoes, sticky shoes
        Always make me smile.
      2. Sticky shoes, sticky shoes
        Next time, I’ll avoid the pile!
  2. All Hail, Phoebe Buffay!



Lyrics in this section copyright (c) NBC / Warner Bros. Television.
(but the limericks are our fault :-)



Idpp Block Processing

Lists Inside Blocks

Formatted constructs such as @enumerate (<ol>) lists, @itemize (<ul>) lists or other formatted constructs should usually be built outside any other block construct, or what the Texinfo documentation refers to as an "environment."

Placing one formatted construct (such as a list) inside another formatted environment is not recommended due to likely formatting conflicts.

The native ’.info’ output for such constructs is surprisingly good; however, converting these constructs in your Texinfo source to non-native formats can be a technically difficult task, and in the case of the texi-to-HTML converter, can yield some very disappointing results.

For this reason we urge caution when placing formatted (non-paragraph) data inside a formatted block environment. These environments are:

  • @format and @smallformat
  • @display and @smalldisplay
  • @example and @smallexample
  • @lisp and @smalllisp
  • @quotation and @smallquotation (see Idpp Misc Tests)

This discussion does not apply to @verbatim environments because all contents of a @verbatim environment are output as plain text.

For a detailed description of block environments,
please see Comparison Chart.


@indentedblock

The @indentedblock environment is not preformatted, and so may contain any other construct without difficulty. This is the environment recommended for all formatted constructs that must be built inside an environment.

Here we are inside an @indentedblock block.

  • Bathe.
  • Brush your teeth.
  • Shave unwanted hair.
  • Eat a healthful breakfast.
  • Pack your bag.
  • Kiss all family members.
  • Go to work.
  1. Bathe.
  2. Brush your teeth.
  3. Shave unwanted hair.
  4. Eat a healthful breakfast.
  5. Pack your bag.
  6. Kiss all family members.
  7. Go to work.

Leaving the @indentedblock block.


@display block

The ’info’ document for the following blocks looks surprisingly good; however, the texi-to-HTML converter generates some rather tortured HTML inside blocks that are defined as "preformatted."

If the block-definition classes called out by the generated HTML are not defined, then the HTML looks fairly ok because the class callouts are ignored. When the classes ARE defined, however, the weakness of the auto-generated code becomes obvious. Without post-processing, the following lists are unreadable.

Although ’idpp’ is not able to parse the tortured HTML of these lists themselves (it would require a second pass), it does automatically repair the worst of the formatting problems.

If you want professionally formatted lists, then the correct answer is:
     DON’T PUT LISTS INSIDE PRE-FORMATTED BLOCK ENVIRONMENTS!!


This is a preformatted block containing an itemized list and an enumerated list.

Here we are inside a @display block.
  • Bathe.
    
  • Brush your teeth.
    
  • Shave unwanted hair.
    
  • Eat a healthful breakfast.
    
  • Pack your bag.
    
  • Kiss all family members.
    
  • Go to work.
    

  1. Bathe.
    
  2. Brush your teeth.
    
  3. Shave unwanted hair.
    
  4. Eat a healthful breakfast.
    
  5. Pack your bag.
    
  6. Kiss all family members.
    
  7. Go to work.
    
Leaving the @display block.

The raw HTML markup generated for this sequence

<div class="display">
<pre class="display">Here we are inside a @display block.
</pre><ul>
<li> <pre class="display">Bathe.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Brush your teeth.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Shave unwanted hair.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Eat a healthful breakfast.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Pack your bag.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Kiss all family members.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Go to work.
</pre></li></ul>
<pre class="display">
</pre><ol>
<li> <pre class="display">Bathe.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Brush your teeth.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Shave unwanted hair.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Eat a healthful breakfast.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Pack your bag.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Kiss all family members.
</pre></li><li> <pre class="display">Go to work.
</pre></li></ol>
<pre class="display">Leaving the @display block.
</pre></div>

The same sequence after post-processing

Note that the extra ' <pre class...>' and '</pre> tags associated with individual line items have been removed. For consistency, the '<pre></pre>' tags outside the lists are ignored.

<div class="display"><pre class="display">Here we are inside a @display block.
</pre><ul>
<li>Bathe.
</li><li>Brush your teeth.
</li><li>Shave unwanted hair.
</li><li>Eat a healthful breakfast.
</li><li>Pack your bag.
</li><li>Kiss all family members.
</li><li>Go to work.
</li></ul>
<pre class="display">
</pre><ol>
<li>Bathe.
</li><li>Brush your teeth.
</li><li>Shave unwanted hair.
</li><li>Eat a healthful breakfast.
</li><li>Pack your bag.
</li><li>Kiss all family members.
</li><li>Go to work.
</li></ol>
<pre class="display">Leaving the @display block.
</pre></div>

@example block

Here is another type of preformatted block containing an itemized list and an enumerated list. This block is the same as the previous block except that it is defined to use a monospace font. The post-processing for the block is identical.

Here we are inside an @example block.
  1. Bathe.
    
  2. Brush your teeth.
    
  3. Shave unwanted hair.
    
  4. Eat a healthful breakfast.
    
  5. Pack your bag.
    
  6. Kiss all family members.
    
  7. Go to work.
    

  • Bathe.
    
  • Brush your teeth.
    
  • Shave unwanted hair.
    
  • Eat a healthful breakfast.
    
  • Pack your bag.
    
  • Kiss all family members.
    
  • Go to work.
    
Leaving the @example block.



Idpp Misc Tests

@quotation and @smallquotation with 'author' Attached

Correct is better than fast. Simple is better than complex.
Clear is better than cute. Safe is better than insecure.

Sutter and Alexandrescu, C++ Coding Standards

A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Blocks Inside Blocks

Except for @indentedblock blocks (and possibly @quotation blocks), it is strongly recommended that block environments NOT be nested within other block environments, but we run a few tests here, just to see what happens. (Note that ’idpp’ handles these tests smoothly :)

Remember: Preformatted data including other preformatted blocks
should not be nested inside preformatted blocks — unless you LIKE ugly.
Data inside preformatted blocks are, with few exceptions, processed 
as plain text. No interactive formatting is performed for a preformatted 
block within another preformatted block.

@indentedblock within @indentedblock block

This text is part of the outer indented block. It should be indented by a few spaces as specified by the document’s @exampleindent command (5 spaces by default in info output).

This is a doubly-indented paragraph, i.e. it lives within a nested @indentedblock. This is a bit unlikely is a production document, but we want to see how makeinfo handles it for info-format and HTML-format output.

This text is part of the outer indented block. It should be indented by a few spaces as specified by the document’s @exampleindent command (5 spaces by default in info output).

@example within @indentedblock block

This text is part of the outer indented block. It should be indented by a few spaces as specified by the document’s @exampleindent command (5 spaces by default in info output).

This text is within an @example block (monospaced text).
It can often be useful to change font families for emphasis.

This text is part of the outer indented block. It should be indented by a few spaces as specified by the document’s @exampleindent command (5 spaces by default in info output).

Simple @quotation block with @author

"Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat fish."

Samwise Gamgee

@quotation block within @indentedblock

This text is within the indented block. It should be indented by a few spaces as specified by the document’s @exampleindent command if present (5 spaces by default in info output).

"Give a man a fish, and he’ll think something is rotten in Denmark, but teach a man to fish, and he’ll think you want to have sex with him."

Samwise Shakespeare

This text is within the indented block. It should be indented by a few spaces as specified by the document’s @exampleindent command if present (5 spaces by default in info output).

@indentedblock within @quotation block

"Why is the rum gone?"

"One, Because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels..."

This text is within an indented block within a @quotation command. Note that we cannot follow an @author sub-command with an indented block because makeinfo always places the @author just inside the end of the @quotation block.

"But why is the rum gone?"

"... and two, because that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire royal navy is out looking for me; do you think there is even the slightest chance they won’t see it?"

This text is within an indented block within a @quotation command. We don’t name the author of this exchange because everyone on the planet already knows who the speakers are–but it is after all, copyrighted material–so give credit where credit is due.

"There’ll be no living with her after this."

Copyright 2003, the Walt Disney Company


Deeply Nested Block Environments (stupid - but possible)

’format’ block
’display’ block
'example' block
'indentedblock' block
=='verbatim block'==
'indentedblock' block
'example' block
’display’ block
’format’ block


Bullet Characters

The character codes used by HTML for unordered lists. Note that the characters shown in the ’info’ document only approximate the characters in the HTML document which are browser-specific.

HTML NAMENESTING LEVELEXAMPLE
’disc’top( ⏺ )
’circle’second( ⚬ )
’square’third and lower( ▪ )

HTML-only output follows: default unordered lists nested to demonstrate the bullets used by default for each level.

This is embedded HTML markup:
  • Some stuff A
    • Some stuff B
      • Some stuff C
        • Some stuff D

Bullet Characters Defined in Texinfo

Texinfo character @bullet ( • )
   texi-to-HTML converter outputs ’&bull;’ U+2022
Texinfo character @textdegree ( ° )
   texi-to-HTML converter outputs ’&deg;’ U+00B0
Texinfo character @minus ( - )
   texi-to-HTML converter outputs ’-’ U+002D (which is incorrect)
   texi-to-info outputs U+2212 i.e. Unicode minus

Useful Character Codes

UNICODEEXAMPLEHTML(hex)DESCRIPTION
U+25CF( ● )&#x25CF;black-circle
U+26AB( ⚫ )&#x26AB;medium-black-circle
U+2022( • )&#x2022;medium-small-black-circle
U+2219( ∙ )&#x2219;bullet-operator (math)
U+25CB( ○ )&#x25CB;white-circle
U+26AA( ⚪ )&#x26AA;medium-white-circle
U+26AC( ⚬ )&#x26AC;medium-small-white-circle
U+25E6( ◦ )&#x25E6;white-bullet
U+25A0( ■ )&#x25A0;black-square
U+25FC( ◼ )&#x25FC;black-medium-square
U+25FE( ◾ )&#x25FE;black-medium-small-square
U+25AA( ▪ )&#x25AA;black-small-square



Ad-hoc Tests

Write your own test sequences here

** NO AD-HOC TESTS DEFINED AT THIS TIME **






Technical Support

Please Note: All trademarks and service marks mentioned in this
document are the entirely-too-proprietary property of their
respective owners, and this author makes no representation of
affiliation with or ownership of any of the damned things.

Contact

All source code and documentation for this project were written 
and are maintained by:

                      Mahlon R. Smith,
                   The Software Samurai
              Beijing University of Technology
              on the web at: www.SoftwareSam.us
 
For bugs, suggestions, periodic updates, or possible praise, 
please post a message to the author via website. 

By the Same Author

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Index

Jump to:   0  
A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V  
Index Entry  Section

0
01 Overview: Overview
02 CSS Definition File: CSS Definition File
02.01 Summary of CSS Definitions: Summary of CSS Definitions
02.02 Applying the CSS Definitions: Applying the CSS Definitions
02.03 Adjusting Style Definitions: Adjusting Style Definitions
03 HTML Post-processing: HTML Post-processing
03.01 Infodoc Post-processor: Infodoc Post-processor
03.01.01 Post-processor Overview: Post-processor Overview
03.01.02 Invoking idpp: Invoking idpp
03.01.03 Interface Logic: Interface Logic
03.01.04 Build idpp from source: Build idpp from source
03.02 Manual Post-processing: Manual Post-processing
03.02.01 Basic Manual Processing: Basic Manual Processing
03.02.02 Manual List Processing: Manual List Processing
03.02.03 Other Manual Processing: Other Manual Processing
03.02.04 Texinfo HTML Options: Texinfo HTML Options
03.02.04a Embedded HTML Code: Embedded HTML Code
03.02.04b Texinfo Build Options: Texinfo Build Options
03.02.04c Including Entire CSS File: Including Entire CSS File
03.02.05 Post-processing Notes: Post-processing Notes
04 Makeinfo Testing: Makeinfo Testing
04.01 Testing Overview: Testing Overview
04.02 Default Style Set: Default Style Set
04.03 Basic Tests: Basic Tests
04.04 List Commands: List Commands
04.04.01 Itemized Lists: Itemized Lists
04.04.02 Enumeration Lists: Enumeration Lists
04.05 Block Commands: Block Commands
04.05.01 Quotation Commands: Quotation Commands
04.05.02 Indentedblock Commands: Indentedblock Commands
04.05.03 Example Commands: Example Commands
04.05.04 Display Commands: Display Commands
04.05.05 Format Commands: Format Commands
04.05.06 Verbatim Commands: Verbatim Commands
04.05.07 Misc Block Modifiers: Misc Block Modifiers
04.05.08 Comparison Chart: Comparison Chart
04.06 Table and Multitable: Table and Multitable
04.07 Font Modification: Font Modification
04.08 Object Indicators: Object Indicators
04.09 InfoMenu Structure: InfoMenu Structure
04.10 InfoTOC Structure: InfoTOC Structure
04.11 Misc Formatting: Misc Formatting
05 Idpp Testing: Idpp Testing
05.01 Idpp List Processing: Idpp List Processing
05.02 Idpp Block Processing: Idpp Block Processing
05.03 Idpp Misc Tests: Idpp Misc Tests
05.04 Ad-hoc Tests: Ad-hoc Tests
06 Technical Support: Technical Support
07 Copyright Notice: Copyright Notice
07.01 GNU General Public License: GNU General Public License
07.02 GNU Free Documentation License: GNU Free Documentation License

A
adjust style definitions: Adjusting Style Definitions
apply CSS to HTML document: Applying the CSS Definitions
arguments, idpp command line: Invoking idpp
auto-generated styles: Default Style Set
automatic post-processing: Infodoc Post-processor

B
basic post-processing: Basic Manual Processing
basic tests, makeinfo: Basic Tests
block command comparison chart: Comparison Chart
block environments: Block Commands
block modifiers: Misc Block Modifiers
body text: Basic Tests
browsers, testing done with: CSS Definition File
bullet lists: Itemized Lists

C
character type and style: Font Modification
commands for data blocks: Block Commands
comparison chart for block commands: Comparison Chart
contact info: Technical Support
contact information: Technical Support

D
date_in_header: Texinfo Build Options
default HTML styles: Default Style Set
display command: Display Commands

E
enumerate command, texinfo: Enumeration Lists
environments, blocks: Block Commands
example command: Example Commands

F
font, modifying: Font Modification
format command: Format Commands

G
global document commands, Texinfo: Texinfo HTML Options

H
headings: Basic Tests
HTML automatic post-processor: Infodoc Post-processor
HTML customization variables: Texinfo HTML Options

I
idpp command line arguments: Invoking idpp
include CSS in texi source: Including Entire CSS File
indentedblock command: Indentedblock Commands
indicators, object-type: Object Indicators
introduction to Infodoc: Overview
invoking idpp: Invoking idpp
itemize command, texinfo: Itemized Lists

L
lisp command: Example Commands
list special processing: List Commands
lists, ordered and unordered: List Commands
lists, post-processing of: Basic Manual Processing
lists, post-processing of: Manual List Processing
logic, interface: Interface Logic

M
main menu: Top
makeinfo basic tests: Basic Tests
makeinfo tables: Table and Multitable
manual post-processing: Manual Post-processing
menus, Texinfo: InfoMenu Structure
miscellaneous makeinfo tests: Misc Formatting
miscellaneous tests: Misc Formatting
modifying font: Font Modification
multitable: Table and Multitable
multitable command: Table and Multitable

N
nuclear annihilation: Adjusting Style Definitions

O
object-type indicator: Object Indicators
ol lists: Enumeration Lists
operational overview: Overview
optional post-processing: Other Manual Processing
ordered lists: Enumeration Lists
other projects: Technical Support
overview: Overview
overview of CSS definitions: Summary of CSS Definitions
overview of testing: Testing Overview

P
panic button: Invoking idpp
paragraph text: Basic Tests
post-processing of lists: Manual List Processing
post-processing, basic: Basic Manual Processing
post-processing, optional: Other Manual Processing

Q
quotation command: Quotation Commands

R
raw HTML output: Post-processing Notes
response file: Interface Logic

S
smalldisplay command: Display Commands
smallexample command: Example Commands
smallformat command: Format Commands
smallindentedblock command: Indentedblock Commands
smalllisp command: Example Commands
smallquotation command: Quotation Commands
smallverbatim command: Verbatim Commands
style definitions, adjusting: Adjusting Style Definitions
style stubs: Default Style Set
support: Technical Support
switches, idpp command line: Invoking idpp

T
table of contents, Texinfo: InfoTOC Structure
tables, makeinfo: Table and Multitable
Technical Support: Technical Support
testing, basic makeinfo: Basic Tests
testing, overview of: Testing Overview
texi-to-HTML converter: Post-processing Notes
texinfo enumerate command: Enumeration Lists
Texinfo global document commands: Texinfo HTML Options
texinfo itemize command: Itemized Lists
Texinfo menus: InfoMenu Structure
Texinfo table of contents: InfoTOC Structure
translate menus to HTML: InfoMenu Structure
translate TOC to HTML: InfoTOC Structure

U
ul lists: Itemized Lists
unordered lists: Itemized Lists

V
variables, HTML customization: Texinfo HTML Options
verbatim command: Verbatim Commands

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Notes on Index Formatting

The generated index looks really good in HTML without any modification
at all. There are only two things we do to style the Index:
 1) We define the ‘a.summary-letter’ class just as it is defined in 
    the raw HTML output. (This prevents the summary letters from being 
    underlined.)
 2) We define the ‘table.index-cp’ class which is called out in the 
    auto-generated Index but never defined. This definition really 
    isn't necessary because the existing table definition works fine. 
    We define ‘index-cp’ anyway because in our experience, things that 
    work correctly by coincidence will eventually return to leave 
    toothmarks on your fanny.

 There is, however, one small artifact in the index which is caused 
 by our redefinition of the HTML <table> element to support the 
 @multitable command (see Multitable Command).
 Our definition causes the <th> (table header) element to be underlined. 
 This in turn causes the <th></th> rows of the ‘Jump to’ tables in the 
 index to be underlined as well. This is very minor, but it is handled 
 automatically by the 'idpp' automatic post-processor. 
 Please refer to see Post-processor Overview for details.