custom content for DM help file

Page: 1 2
May 21 2011, 1:11 am
Falacy wrote:
If these library help files were listed in a separate tab, then I could see it being a useful idea. Just mixing them in with everything else might get confusing though.

I agree with this one 100%.

Either another tab, or an 'included library' reference.

If it were to be made so F1 brings up normal reference, and something else brings up library references there should also be a button to switch between the two.
May 21 2011, 2:21 am
If it were to be made so F1 brings up normal reference, and something else brings up library references there should also be a button to switch between the two.

I've explained this already, but:

The point is to allow for better integration of libraries. You can already make a help file for a library that is a webpage users can access, but that's not integrated with DM. People already know to press F1 in DM to get help, there's no reason not to leverage that. If users have to press, for example, ctrl+F1 to get help on library topics, they might as well press alt+tab to switch to a web browser window that contains the library's online documentation.

I'm not sure why people would want it to be a separate tab. Are you afraid that the list would become cluttered? The library's reference pages would only be added to the reference if the library is included in the project. There are about 550 DM reference pages to begin with and most libraries would have just a few reference pages.
May 22 2011, 11:55 am
I know a good reason for seperation even if one mode contained both, so you can see what stuff the library specifically added quickly at a glance because it's not clutter from the library im worried about it's clutter from BYOND's already large reference cluttering up the ability to find the library references.
May 22 2011, 1:23 pm
It's not so much worrying about the libraries cluttering the Reference, but the reference cluttering the libraries. Personally, I'd just pull up the reference and look at whatever the libraries have to offer.
May 22 2011, 2:06 pm
Superbike32 wrote:
I know a good reason for seperation even if one mode contained both, so you can see what stuff the library specifically added quickly at a glance because it's not clutter from the library im worried about it's clutter from BYOND's already large reference cluttering up the ability to find the library references.

You can make (or it could even be generated for you) a page that describes the library and has links to all of its reference pages.

The DM reference comes with over 550 pages, many of them may never be of interest to you (at a single point in time, most are irrelevant). The 549 other pages don't stop you from finding the one you need now.
May 22 2011, 3:27 pm
Just because there are a lot of pages now, that doesn't mean that the new pages shouldn't be organized. What do you have against the reference looking nice?
May 23 2011, 3:37 am
Hiro the Dragon King wrote:
Just because there are a lot of pages now, that doesn't mean that the new pages shouldn't be organized. What do you have against the reference looking nice?

The point is to make libraries as transparent as possible. People can hit F1 to get help without thinking "is this part of a library?" The user won't have to know where DM ends and the library begins. If the pages for the library are going to be separate you lose this benefit and might as well use existing means of making separate help files.

As I said in the last comment, there can be an index page for each library that lists all reference pages the library contains. If you want to see what the library gives you, you can use that page or the "see also" links on each page to explore the new features. If you want to force organization, the library's index page could be generated for you. You don't need to split up the reference to make it organized. It already contains a mix of different things (movement procs, operators, mouse procs, etc.) but you can still find things.
May 23 2011, 8:21 am
Well they need to be marked as library or not to stop you from thinking something didn't need a library & you forget & try & do it without the lib, wasting time searching for it in a project that doesn't have the lib included.

As for everything else it may be desirable to search the libs for a function even when not included to remember which lib gave you what without much trouble even when you use quite a few & need it for another project for example(not need to open the other project to find the libs name.)
Jun 22 2015, 11:44 pm
This was a fantastic request. For larger projects, this would be invaluable (I'm looking at you, SS13.)
Page: 1 2