Re: [eLyXer-users] Full headers in page navigation

[Axel Jacobs]

Hi Alex,

> I have a prerelease version ready for this feature (part titles in the
> --splitpart navigation header), which I will be sending to you
> presently.

This is brilliant news!

> However I have a question to you all: what would you prefer
> to be displayed in this case? The navigation header was until now:
> "Previous: Chapter 5" and now should include the title, but "Previous:
> Chapter 5: How to Make Friends" has one colon too many. I have played
> with a few possibilities:
>    Previous Chapter 5: How to Make Friends
>    Previous Chapter 5: How to Make Friends
>    Previous: Chapter 5  How to Make Friends
>    Previous: Chapter 5, How to Make Friends
>    Previous: Chapter 5. How to Make Friends
>    (Previous) Chapter 5: How to Make Friends
>    [Previous] Chapter 5: How to Make Friends
>    Previous: How to Make Friends
> But none is fully convincing. What do you think?

a) Previous is rather long, how about Prev, Up, Next?

b) I will probably be using the --notoclabels option, provided it 
applies to the splitpart navi header, too:

(We are in 5.1)
Prev: 5 How To Make Friends
Up: 5 How To Make Friends
Next: 5.2 How Not To Make Enemies

c) In a sense, with chapter numbering applied, it should be fairly 
obvious that the three links in the navi header follow a certain 
pattern. Left-to-right languages are based on the concept that left is 
back/previous/past, and that right is fowards/next/future. That would 
mean that the labels Prev, Up and Next are not actually required. 
Considering that some headers might rather long, I am assuming that you 
are shifting the Up: onto a line of its own. This would again provide a 
visual cue.

d) I came across an HTML document that was produced with DocBook. Here 
is an example to add to my state-of-the-art survey from a few days ago: 
http://ds9a.nl/docbook/fancy-css.html
The navi headers are different at the top and bottom of the page. I am 
referring to the one at the bottom.
I find this approach interesting for its good looks as well as for its 
consistency. Observe how it line-wraps with increased font sizes. I even 
like the way that the actual titles are not hyperlinked, only the 
labels: Prev, Up, Home (could be Index or TOC?), and Next. Direct-link 
to the index is quite a handy thing to have, too. Coding-wise this uses 
a table, which is bit ugly, though.

To summarise: d) would be my preferred option.

Cheers

Axel