Re: Page Numbers in @ref

[Christopher Dimech]

> Sent: Monday, November 16, 2020 at 6:58 PM
> From: "Gavin Smith" <gavinsmith0123@gmail.com>
> To: "Christopher Dimech" <dimech@gmx.com>
> Cc: "help-texinfo gnu" <help-texinfo@gnu.org>, "Patrice Dumas" 
> <pertusus@free.fr>
> Subject: Re: Page Numbers in @ref
>
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 06:42:06PM +0100, Christopher Dimech wrote:
> > Some have commented that they did not want the page number to be displayed
> > in some documents (e.g. non-printed pdf output)
> >
> > For instance, I have used @ref to refer to bibliographic output, where the
> > page number is not really important - that is, the user can easily find the
> > bibliographic element, without having to absolutely know the page number.
> > In other instances, users find the full nomenclature difficult when they 
> > have
> > multiple references (e.g. in tables) and an abbreviated form would be 
> > pleasantly
> > appreciated.  It was pointed out to me that users will mistake abbreviated
> > versions for a footnote.  However, if the letter 'p' is affixed prior to the
> > pageno, the ambiguation is solved.
> >
> > The abbreviated form will be
> >
> > [Label]\sup{p\pagenumber}
>
> I don't agree with this.  We're not in the business of inventing
> typographical conventions, however good your suggestion may be.

We should be in that business too.  It comes from a problem I have
encountered in my documents where I need the page number bet have a
problem in fitting things in a limited space.  Normally people
will use the long form.  And find it acceptable for those wanting
to hide the page numbers completely.  We need an abbreviated notation.
What alternatives are there for an abbreviated form?  At least the
possibility for an abbreviated form would exist.  How about having a
construct that gives you the page number associated with a given
@ref, @xref, @pref or @anchor, and then people can use it as they
wish.
> > We can have a variable similar to @noindent, where a variable,
> > e.g. @refpageno can be set to 'full', 'abrv', or 'none'.
> >
> > 'none' will not include  the page number.
> >
> > It has been suggested that there would be a global variable for
> > the whole document on how references should be displayed.  But I
> > claim that users would want the flexibility to switch between
> > modes in their documents.  For instance, for long documents with
> > tables and bibliographies, one would want the abbreviated version,
> > whilst in the bibliographies, one would not want page numbers.
> > Whereas in the main text, the author would want to use the full
> > reference description.
>
> Yes, if there ever is an option to hide the page numbers this should
> be a flag set with @set.

So currently, having page numbers with full page description remained.
I fail to understand because the new possibilities are not difficult to
do, yet refuse the change for those who require them.  In writing
mathematical tables, the problem of limited space is real.  Have no
doubt that the abbreviated possibility would not freak people out to
something awful.