5 :Author: David Goodger (with input from many); open to all Docutils
7 :Contact: docutils-develop@lists.sourceforge.net
10 :Copyright: This document has been placed in the public domain.
12 .. _Docutils: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/
17 Priority items are marked with "@" symbols. The more @s, the higher
18 the priority. Items in question form (containing "?") are ideas which
19 require more thought and debate; they are potential to-do's.
21 Many of these items are awaiting champions. If you see something
22 you'd like to tackle, please do! If there's something you'd like to
23 see done but are unable to implement it yourself, please consider
24 donating to Docutils: |donate|
26 .. |donate| image:: http://images.sourceforge.net/images/project-support.jpg
27 :target: http://sourceforge.net/donate/index.php?group_id=38414
31 :alt: Support the Docutils project!
33 Please see also the Bugs_ document for a list of bugs in Docutils.
35 .. _bugs: ../../BUGS.html
38 Minimum Requirements for Python Standard Library Candidacy
39 ==========================================================
41 Below are action items that must be added and issues that must be
42 addressed before Docutils can be considered suitable to be proposed
43 for inclusion in the Python standard library.
45 Many of these are now handled by Sphinx_
47 * Support for `document splitting`_. May require some major code
50 * Support for subdocuments (see `large documents`_).
52 * `Object numbering and object references`_.
54 * `Nested inline markup`_.
56 * `Python Source Reader`_.
58 * The HTML writer needs to be rewritten (or a second HTML writer
59 added) to allow for custom classes, and for arbitrary splitting
62 * Documentation_ of the architecture. Other docs too.
66 * Suitability for `Python module documentation
67 <http://docutils.sf.net/sandbox/README.html#documenting-python>`_.
69 .. _Sphinx: http://sphinx.pocoo.org/
74 * Encoding of command line arguments can only be guessed:
76 * try UTF-8/strict first, then try the locale's encoding with
77 strict error handling, then ASCII/replace?
79 UTF-8 is almost 100% safe to try first; false positives are rare,
80 The locale's encoding with strict error handling may be a
81 reasonable compromise, but any error would indicate that the
82 locale's encoding is inappropriate. The only safe fallback is
85 * Do not decode argv before option parsing but individual string
88 +1 Allows for separate command-line vs. filesystem encodings,
89 respectively to keep file names encoded.
90 +1 Allows to configure command-line encoding in a config file,
93 Cf. <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2890/focus=2957>.
95 * Improve handling on Windows:
97 - Get graphical installer.
98 - Make rst2html.py an .exe file using py2exe.
102 The user interface is very difficult to use for most Windows users;
103 you can't really expect them to use the command line. We need some
104 kind of GUI that can launch rst2html.py, and save the HTML output to
105 a file, and launch a browser. What's important is that we get
106 settings to work with the GUI. So we need some way to dynamically
107 generate a list of settings for the GUI. The current settings_spec
108 for OptionParser doesn't seem to be usable for this for the
111 - It's biased toward the command line -- there are *two* options for
114 - You cannot have both a one-line description and a longer
115 description for tooltips/help-texts.
117 - It doesn't provide hints for the input type. You cannot easily
118 infer the type of a setting from its validator, because any
119 component can add new validators. In fact, it may be necessary to
120 have both a hint about the input type (e.g. string) and a
121 validator (valid ID), or it may be necessary to have a different
122 set of choices for the CLI (1, INFO, 2, ...) and for the GUI
123 (INFO, WARNING, ...).
125 - It's coupled to the OptionParser. We want to be able to change
126 the underlying system without breaking everything.
128 - It's a bunch of primitive structures. We want an extensible (thus
129 object-oriented) interface.
131 So we probably need to create a class for storing all the settings,
132 and auto-generate the OptionParser data from that.
134 I talked to Stephan Deibel about getting Docutils integrated into
135 Wing IDE. He said it's possible, and he'd be willing to help.
136 There's a scripting interface to Wing, which we'd use. We can
137 dynamically generate a list of preferences and not worry too much
138 about the rendering (from what I understood); Wing's whole GUI is
139 dynamic anyway. The interface could be made usable for other GUIs.
140 For example, we could try to get option support for DocFactory. //
143 * Allow different report levels for STDERR and system_messages inside
146 * Change the docutils-update script (in sandbox/infrastructure), to
147 support arbitrary branch snapshots.
149 * Move some general-interest sandboxes out of individuals'
150 directories, into subprojects?
152 * Add option for file (and URL) access restriction to make Docutils
153 usable in Wikis and similar applications.
155 2005-03-21: added ``file_insertion_enabled`` & ``raw_enabled``
156 settings. These partially solve the problem, allowing or disabling
157 **all** file accesses, but not limited access.
159 * Configuration file handling needs discussion:
161 - There should be some error checking on the contents of config
162 files. How much checking should be done? How loudly should
163 Docutils complain if it encounters an error/problem?
165 - Docutils doesn't complain when it doesn't find a configuration
166 file supplied with the ``--config`` option. Should it? (If yes,
169 * Internationalization:
171 - I18n needs refactoring, the language dictionaries are difficult to
172 maintain. Maybe have a look at gettext or similar tools.
174 (This would make a nice Google Summer of Code project)
176 - Language modules: in accented languages it may be useful to have
177 both accented and unaccented entries in the
178 ``bibliographic_fields`` mapping for versatility.
180 - Add a "--strict-language" option & setting: no English fallback
181 for language-dependent features.
183 Make this the default for output (as opposed to input)?
184 Throw an error with a helpfull message, e.g.
186 Default "contents" title for language %s missing, please specify
191 "attention" title for language %s missing, please use a generic
192 admonition with explicit title.
194 - Add internationalization to _`footer boilerplate text` (resulting
195 from "--generator", "--source-link", and "--date" etc.), allowing
199 * Add validation? See http://pytrex.sourceforge.net, RELAX NG, pyRXP.
201 * In ``docutils.readers.get_reader_class`` (& ``parsers`` &
202 ``writers`` too), should we be importing "standalone" or
203 "docutils.readers.standalone"? (This would avoid importing
204 top-level modules if the module name is not in docutils/readers.
205 Potential nastiness.)
207 * Perhaps store a _`name-to-id mapping file`? This could be stored
208 permanently, read by subsequent processing runs, and updated with
209 new entries. ("Persistent ID mapping"?)
211 * Perhaps the ``Component.supports`` method should deal with
212 individual features ("meta" etc.) instead of formats ("html" etc.)?
214 * Think about _`large documents` made up of multiple subdocument
215 files. Issues: continuity (`persistent sequences`_ above),
216 cross-references (`name-to-id mapping file`_ above and `targets in
217 other documents`_ below), splitting (`document splitting`_ below).
219 When writing a book, the author probably wants to split it up into
220 files, perhaps one per chapter (but perhaps even more detailed).
221 However, we'd like to be able to have references from one chapter to
222 another, and have continuous numbering (pages and chapters, as
223 applicable). Of course, none of this is implemented yet. There has
224 been some thought put into some aspects; see `the "include"
225 directive`__ and the `Reference Merging`_ transform below.
227 When I was working with SGML in Japan, we had a system where there
228 was a top-level coordinating file, book.sgml, which contained the
229 top-level structure of a book: the <book> element, containing the
230 book <title> and empty component elements (<preface>, <chapter>,
231 <appendix>, etc.), each with filename attributes pointing to the
232 actual source for the component. Something like this::
235 <title>Title of the Book</title>
236 <preface inrefid="pr01"></preface>
237 <chapter inrefid="ch01"></chapter>
238 <chapter inrefid="ch02"></chapter>
239 <chapter inrefid="ch03"></chapter>
240 <appendix inrefid="ap01"></appendix>
243 (The "inrefid" attribute stood for "insertion reference ID".)
245 The processing system would process each component separately, but
246 it would recognize and use the book file to coordinate chapter and
247 page numbering, and keep a persistent ID to (title, page number)
248 mapping database for cross-references. Docutils could use a similar
249 system for large-scale, multipart documents.
251 __ ../ref/rst/directives.html#including-an-external-document-fragment
267 As I said earlier in chapter :chapter:`Objects.txt`, the
268 reference count gets increased every time a binding is made.
272 As I said earlier in chapter 2, the
273 reference count gets increased every time a binding is made.
275 The ToC in this form doesn't even need to be references to actual
276 reST documents; I'm simply doing it that way for a minimum of
277 future-proofing, in case I do want to add the ability to pick up
278 references within external chapters.
280 Perhaps, instead of ToC (which would overload the "contents"
281 directive concept already in use), we could use "manifest". A
282 "manifest" directive might associate local reference names with
286 intro: Introduction.txt
291 Then the sample becomes::
293 .. include:: manifest.txt
295 As I said earlier in chapter :chapter:`objects`, the
296 reference count gets increased every time a binding is made.
298 * Add support for _`multiple output files` and _`generic data
301 It should be possible for a component to **emit or reference** data
302 to be either **included or referenced** in the output document.
303 Examples of such data are stylesheets or images.
305 For this, we need a "data" object which stores the data either
306 inline or by referring to a file. The Docutils framework is
307 responsible for either:
309 * storing the data in the appropriate location (e.g. in the
310 directory of the output file, or in a user-specified directory)
311 and providing the paths of the stored files to the writer, *or*
313 * providing the data itself to the writer so that it can be embedded
314 in the output document.
316 This approach decouples data handling from the data source (which
317 can either be embedded or referenced) and the destination (which can
318 either be embedded or referenced as well).
320 See <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3631>.
322 * Add testing for Docutils' front end tools?
324 * Publisher: "Ordinary setup" shouldn't requre specific ordering; at
325 the very least, there ought to be error checking higher up in the
328 ``Publisher.get_settings`` requires that all components be set up
329 before it's called. Perhaps the I/O *objects* shouldn't be set, but
330 I/O *classes*. Then options are set up (``.set_options``), and
331 ``Publisher.set_io`` (or equivalent code) is called with source &
332 destination paths, creating the I/O objects.
334 Perhaps I/O objects shouldn't be instantiated until required. For
335 split output, the Writer may be called multiple times, once for each
336 doctree, and each doctree should have a separate Output object (with
337 a different path). Is the "Builder" pattern applicable here?
339 * Perhaps I/O objects should become full-fledged components (i.e.
340 subclasses of ``docutils.Component``, as are Readers, Parsers, and
341 Writers now), and thus have associated option/setting specs and
344 * Multiple file I/O suggestion from Michael Hudson: use a file-like
345 object or something you can iterate over to get file-like objects.
347 * Add an "--input-language" option & setting? Specify a different
348 language module for input (bibliographic fields, directives) than
349 for output. The "--language" option would set both input & output
352 * Auto-generate reference tables for language-dependent features?
353 Could be generated from the source modules. A special command-line
354 option could be added to Docutils front ends to do this. (Idea from
357 * Enable feedback of some kind from internal decisions, such as
358 reporting the successful input encoding. Modify runtime settings?
359 System message? Simple stderr output?
361 * Rationalize Writer settings (HTML/LaTeX/PEP) -- share settings.
363 * Merge docs/user/latex.txt info into tools.txt and config.txt?
365 * Add an "--include file" command-line option (config setting too?),
366 equivalent to ".. include:: file" as the first line of the doc text?
367 Especially useful for character entity sets, text transform specs,
370 * Parameterize the Reporter object or class? See the `2004-02-18
371 "rest checking and source path"`_ thread.
373 .. _2004-02-18 "rest checking and source path":
374 http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1112
376 * Add a "disable_transforms" setting? And a dummy Writer subclass
377 that does nothing when its .write() method is called? Would allow
378 for easy syntax checking. See the `2004-02-18 "rest checking and
379 source path"`_ thread.
381 * Add a generic meta-stylesheet mechanism? An external file could
382 associate style names ("class" attributes) with specific elements.
383 Could be generalized to arbitrary output attributes; useful for HTML
384 & XMLs. Aahz implemented something like this in
385 sandbox/aahz/Effective/EffMap.py.
387 * .. _classes for table cells:
389 William Dode suggested that table cells be assigned "class"
390 attributes by columns, so that stylesheets can affect text
391 alignment. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way (in HTML
392 at least) to leverage the "colspec" elements (HTML "col" tags) by
393 adding classes to them. The resulting HTML is very verbose::
395 <td class="col1">111</td>
396 <td class="col2">222</td>
399 At the very least, it should be an option. People who don't use it
400 shouldn't be penalized by increases in their HTML file sizes.
402 Table rows could also be assigned classes (like odd/even). That
403 would be easier to implement.
405 How should it be implemented?
407 * There could be writer options (column classes & row classes) with
410 * The table directive could grow some options. Something like
411 ":cell-classes: col1 col2 col3" (either must match the number of
412 columns, or repeat to fill?) and ":row-classes: odd even" (repeat
413 to fill; body rows only, or header rows too?).
415 Probably per-table directive options are best. The "class" values
416 could be used by any writer, and applying such classes to all tables
417 in a document with writer options is too broad.
419 * Add file-specific settings support to config files, like::
424 Is this even possible? Should the criterion be the name of the
425 input file or the output file? Alternative (more explicit) syntax::
427 [source_file index.txt]
430 [dest_file index.html]
433 Or rather allow settings configuration from the rst source file
434 (see misc.settings_ directive)?
436 * The "validator" support added to OptionParser is very similar to
437 "traits_" in SciPy_. Perhaps something could be done with them?
438 (Had I known about traits when I was implementing docutils.frontend,
439 I may have used them instead of rolling my own.)
441 .. _traits: http://code.enthought.com/traits/
442 .. _SciPy: http://www.scipy.org/
444 * tools/buildhtml.py: Extend the --prune option ("prune" config
445 setting) to accept file names (generic path) in addition to
446 directories (e.g. --prune=docs/user/rst/cheatsheet.txt, which should
447 *not* be converted to HTML).
449 * Add support for _`plugins`.
451 * _`Config directories`: Currently, ~/.docutils, ./docutils.conf/, &
452 /etc/docutils.conf are read as configuration files. Proposal: allow
453 ~/.docutils to be a a configuration *directory*, along with
454 /etc/docutils/ and ./docutils.conf/. Within these directories,
455 check for config.txt files. We can also have subdirectories here,
456 for plugins, S5 themes, components (readers/writers/parsers) etc.
458 Docutils will continue to support configuration files for backwards
461 * Add support for document decorations other than headers & footers?
462 For example, top/bottom/side navigation bars for web pages. Generic
465 Seems like a bad idea as long as it isn't independent from the ouput
466 format (for example, navigation bars are only useful for web pages).
468 * docutils_update: Check for a ``Makefile`` in a directory, and run
469 ``make`` if found? This would allow for variant processing on
470 specific source files, such as running rst2s5.py instead of
473 * Add a "disable table of contents" setting? The S5 writer could set
474 it as a default. Rationale:
476 The ``contents`` (table of contents) directive must not be used
477 [in S5/HTML documents]. It changes the CSS class of headings
478 and they won't show up correctly in the screen presentation.
480 -- `Easy Slide Shows With reStructuredText & S5
481 <../user/slide-shows.html>`_
483 Analogue to the ``sectnum_xform`` setting, it could be used by the
484 latex writer to switch to a LaTeX generated ToC (currently, the latex
485 writer calls it "use_latex_toc").
487 object numbering and object references
488 --------------------------------------
490 For equations, tables & figures.
492 These would be the equivalent of DocBook's "formal" elements.
494 In LaTeX, automatic counters are implemented for sections, equations and
495 floats (figures, tables) (configurable via stylesheets or in the
496 latex-preamble). Objects can be given `reference names`_ with the
497 ``\label{<refname}`` command, ``\ref{<refname>}`` inserts the
498 corresponding number.
500 No such mechanism exists in HTML.
502 * We need _`persistent sequences`, similar to chapter and footnote
503 numbers. See `OpenOffice.org XML`_ "fields".
505 - Should the sequences be automatic or manual (user-specifyable)?
507 * It is already possible to give `reference names`_ to objects via
508 internal hyperlink targets or the "name" directive option::
512 .. figure:: image.png
516 .. figure:: image.png
519 Improve the mapping of "phrase references" to IDs/labels with
520 Literal transcription (i.e. ü -> ue, ß -> ss, å -> aa) instead of just
521 stripping the accents and other non-ASCII chars.
522 Use http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Unidecode?
524 A "table" directive has been implemented, supporting table titles.
526 Perhaps the name could derive from the title/caption?
528 .. _reference names: ../ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#reference-names
530 * We need syntax for object references. Cf. `OpenOffice.org XML`_
533 - Parameterized substitutions are too complicated
534 (cf. `or not to do`: `object references`_)
536 - An interpreted text approach is simpler and better::
538 See Figure :ref:`figure name` and Equation :ref:`eq:identity`.
540 - "equation", "figure", and "page" roles could generate appropriate
543 See :figure:`figure name` on :page:`figure name`.
545 See `Interpreted Text`_ below.
547 Reference boilerplate could be specified in the document
548 (defaulting to nothing)::
551 :prefix-ref: "Figure "
552 :prefix-caption: "Fig. "
555 The position of the role (prefix or suffix) could also be utilized
557 .. _OpenOffice.org XML: http://xml.openoffice.org/
558 .. _object references: rst/alternatives.html#object-references
567 * Add a FAQ entry about using Docutils (with reStructuredText) on a
568 server and that it's terribly slow. See the first paragraphs in
569 <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1584>.
571 * Add document about what Docutils has previously been used for
572 (web/use-cases.txt?).
574 * Improve index in docs/user/config.txt.
580 * Complete `Docutils Runtime Settings <../api/runtime-settings.html>`_.
582 * Improve the internal module documentation (docstrings in the code).
583 Specific deficiencies listed below.
585 - docutils.parsers.rst.states.State.build_table: data structure
586 required (including StringList).
588 - docutils.parsers.rst.states: more complete documentation of parser
591 * docs/ref/doctree.txt: DTD element structural relationships,
592 semantics, and attributes. In progress; element descriptions to be
595 * Document the ``pending`` elements, how they're generated and what
598 * Document the transforms (perhaps in docstrings?): how they're used,
599 what they do, dependencies & order considerations.
601 * Document the HTML classes used by html4css1.py.
603 * Write an overview of the Docutils architecture, as an introduction
604 for developers. What connects to what, why, and how. Either update
605 PEP 258 (see PEPs_ below) or as a separate doc.
607 * Give information about unit tests. Maybe as a howto?
609 * Document the docutils.nodes APIs.
611 * Complete the docs/api/publisher.txt docs.
617 * Creating Docutils Writers
619 * Creating Docutils Readers
621 * Creating Docutils Transforms
623 * Creating Docutils Parsers
625 * Using Docutils as a Library
631 * Complete PEP 258 Docutils Design Specification.
633 - Fill in the blanks in API details.
635 - Specify the nodes.py internal data structure implementation?
637 [Tibs:] Eventually we need to have direct documentation in
638 there on how it all hangs together - the DTD is not enough
639 (indeed, is it still meant to be correct? [Yes, it is.
642 * Rework PEP 257, separating style from spec from tools, wrt Docutils?
643 See Doc-SIG from 2001-06-19/20.
651 * Analyze Tony Ibbs' PySource code.
653 * Analyze Doug Hellmann's HappyDoc project.
655 * Investigate how POD handles literate programming.
657 * Take the best ideas and integrate them into Docutils.
661 * Ask Python-dev for opinions (GvR for a pronouncement) on special
662 variables (__author__, __version__, etc.): convenience vs. namespace
663 pollution. Ask opinions on whether or not Docutils should recognize
666 * If we can detect that a comment block begins with ``##``, a la
667 JavaDoc, it might be useful to indicate interspersed section headers
668 & explanatory text in a module. For example::
670 """Module docstring."""
683 class MyException(Exception): pass
687 * Should standalone strings also become (module/class) docstrings?
688 Under what conditions? We want to prevent arbitrary strings from
689 becomming docstrings of prior attribute assignments etc. Assume
690 that there must be no blank lines between attributes and attribute
691 docstrings? (Use lineno of NEWLINE token.)
693 Triple-quotes are sometimes used for multi-line comments (such as
694 commenting out blocks of code). How to reconcile?
696 * HappyDoc's idea of using comment blocks when there's no docstring
697 may be useful to get around the conflict between `additional
698 docstrings`_ and ``from __future__ import`` for module docstrings.
699 A module could begin like this::
701 #!/usr/bin/env python
703 # :Copyright: whatever
705 """This is the public module docstring (``__doc__``)."""
707 # More docs, in comments.
708 # All comments at the beginning of a module could be
709 # accumulated as docstrings.
710 # We can't have another docstring here, because of the
711 # ``__future__`` statement.
713 from __future__ import division
715 Using the JavaDoc convention of a doc-comment block beginning with
716 ``##`` is useful though. It allows doc-comments and implementation
719 .. _additional docstrings:
720 ../peps/pep-0258.html#additional-docstrings
722 * HappyDoc uses an initial comment block to set "parser configuration
723 values". Do the same thing for Docutils, to set runtime settings on
724 a per-module basis? I.e.::
726 # Docutils:setting=value
728 Could be used to turn on/off function parameter comment recognition
729 & other marginal features. Could be used as a general mechanism to
730 augment config files and command-line options (but which takes
733 * Multi-file output should be divisible at arbitrary level.
735 * Support all forms of ``import`` statements:
737 - ``import module``: listed as "module"
738 - ``import module as alias``: "alias (module)"
739 - ``from module import identifier``: "identifier (from module)"
740 - ``from module import identifier as alias``: "alias (identifier
742 - ``from module import *``: "all identifiers (``*``) from module"
744 * Have links to colorized Python source files from API docs? And
745 vice-versa: backlinks from the colorized source files to the API
748 * In summaries, use the first *sentence* of a docstring if the first
749 line is not followed by a blank line.
752 reStructuredText Parser
753 =======================
755 Also see the `... Or Not To Do?`__ list.
757 __ rst/alternatives.html#or-not-to-do
762 * Allow embedded references and not only embedded URIs: ```link text
763 <reference_>`_``; see the second half of
764 <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3738>.
766 * Another list problem::
772 This ends up as a definition list. This is more of a usability
775 * This case is probably meant to be a nested list, but it ends up as a
776 list inside a block-quote without an error message::
782 It should probably just be an error.
784 The problem with this is that you don't notice easily in HTML that
785 it's not a nested list but a block-quote -- there's not much of a
788 * Treat enumerated lists that are not arabic and consist of only one
789 item in a single line as ordinary paragraphs. See
790 <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2635>.
792 * The citation syntax could use some improvements. See
793 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2499> (and the
795 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2499/focus=3028>,
796 and the follow-ups at
797 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3087>,
798 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3110>,
799 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3114>),
800 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2443>,
801 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2715>,
802 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3027>,
803 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3120>,
804 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3253>.
806 * The current list-recognition logic has too many false positives, as
813 Here ``V.`` is recognized as an enumerator, which leads to
814 confusion. We need to find a solution that resolves such problems
815 without complicating the spec to much.
817 See <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2524>.
819 * Add indirect links via citation references & footnote references.
822 `Goodger (2005)`_ is helpful.
824 .. _Goodger (2005): [goodger2005]_
825 .. [goodger2005] citation text
827 See <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2499>.
829 * Complain about bad URI characters
830 (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2046) and
831 disallow internal whitespace
832 (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2214).
834 * Create ``info``-level system messages for unnecessarily
835 backslash-escaped characters (as in ``"\something"``, rendered as
836 "something") to allow checking for errors which silently slipped
839 * Add (functional) tests for untested roles.
841 * Add test for ":figwidth: image" option of "figure" directive. (Test
842 code needs to check if PIL is available on the system.)
844 * Add support for CJK double-width whitespace (indentation) &
845 punctuation characters (markup; e.g. double-width "*", "-", "+")?
847 * Add motivation sections for constructs in spec.
849 * Support generic hyperlink references to _`targets in other
850 documents`? Not in an HTML-centric way, though (it's trivial to say
851 ``http://www.example.com/doc#name``, and useless in non-HTML
852 contexts). XLink/XPointer? ``.. baseref::``? See Doc-SIG
855 * .. _adaptable file extensions:
857 In target URLs, it would be useful to not explicitly specify the
858 file extension. If we're generating HTML, then ".html" is
859 appropriate; if PDF, then ".pdf"; etc. How about using ".*" to
860 indicate "choose the most appropriate filename extension"? For
863 .. _Another Document: another.*
865 What is to be done for output formats that don't *have* hyperlinks?
866 For example, LaTeX targeted at print. Hyperlinks may be "called
867 out", as footnotes with explicit URLs. (Don't convert the links.)
869 But then there's also LaTeX targeted at PDFs, which *can* have
870 links. Perhaps a runtime setting for "*" could explicitly provide
871 the extension, defaulting to the output file's extension.
873 Should the system check for existing files? No, not practical.
875 Handle documents only, or objects (images, etc.) also?
877 If this handles images also, how to differentiate between document
878 and image links? Element context (within "image")? Which image
879 extension to use for which document format? Again, a runtime
880 setting would suffice.
882 This may not be just a parser issue; it may need framework support.
884 Mailing list threads: `Images in both HTML and LaTeX`__ (especially
885 `this summary of Lea's objections`__), `more-universal links?`__,
886 `Output-format-sensitive link targets?`__
888 __ http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1239
889 __ http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1278
890 __ http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1915
891 __ http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2438
893 Idea from Jim Fulton: an external lookup table of targets:
895 I would like to specify the extension (e.g. .txt) [in the
896 source, rather than ``filename.*``], but tell the converter to
897 change references to the files anticipating that the files will
902 .. _Another Document: another.txt
904 rst2html.py --convert-links "another.txt bar.txt" foo.txt
906 That is, name the files for which extensions should be converted.
908 Note that I want to refer to original files in the original text
909 (another.txt rather than another.txt) because I want the
910 unconverted text to stand on its own.
912 Note that in most cases, people will be able to use globs::
914 rst2html.py --convert-link-extensions-for "`echo *.txt`" foo.txt
916 It might be nice to be able to use multiple arguments, as in::
918 rst2html.py --convert-link-extensions-for *.txt -- foo.txt
922 > What is to be done for output formats
923 > that don't have hyperlinks?
925 Don't convert the links.
929 > Handle documents only, or objects
930 > (images, etc.) also?
932 No, documents only, but there really is no need for gueswork.
933 Just get the file names as command-line arguments. EIBTI
934 [explicit is better than implicit].
936 For images, we probably need separate solution (which is being
937 worked on), whereas for documents, the issue is basically
938 interlinking between reStructuredText documents. IMO, this cries
939 for support for multiple input and output files, i.e. support for
940 documents which comprise multiple files. Adding adaptable file
941 extensions seems like a kludge. // FW
943 * Implement the header row separator modification to table.el. (Wrote
944 to Takaaki Ota & the table.el mailing list on 2001-08-12, suggesting
945 support for "=====" header rows. On 2001-08-17 he replied, saying
946 he'd put it on his to-do list, but "don't hold your breath".)
948 * Fix the parser's indentation handling to conform with the stricter
949 definition in the spec. (Explicit markup blocks should be strict or
952 .. XXX What does this mean? Can you elaborate, David?
954 * Make the parser modular. Allow syntax constructs to be added or
955 disabled at run-time. Subclassing is probably not enough because it
956 makes it difficult to apply multiple extensions.
958 * Generalize the "doctest block" construct (which is overly
959 Python-centric) to other interactive sessions? "Doctest block"
960 could be renamed to "I/O block" or "interactive block", and each of
961 these could also be recognized as such by the parser:
966 A block beginning with a "$ " prompt is interpreted as a shell
967 session interactive block. As with Doctest blocks, the
968 interactive block ends with the first blank line, and wouldn't
971 - Root shell sessions::
974 A block beginning with a "# " prompt is interpreted as a root
975 shell session (the user is or has to be logged in as root)
976 interactive block. Again, the block ends with a blank line.
978 Other standard (and unambiguous) interactive session prompts could
979 easily be added (such as "> " for WinDOS).
981 Tony Ibbs spoke out against this idea (2002-06-14 Doc-SIG thread
982 "docutils feedback").
984 * Add support for pragma (syntax-altering) directives.
986 Some pragma directives could be local-scope unless explicitly
987 specified as global/pragma using ":global:" options.
989 * Support whitespace in angle-bracketed standalone URLs according to
990 Appendix E ("Recommendations for Delimiting URI in Context") of `RFC
993 .. _RFC 2396: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt
995 * Use the vertical spacing of the source text to determine the
996 corresponding vertical spacing of the output?
998 * [From Mark Nodine] For cells in simple tables that comprise a
999 single line, the justification can be inferred according to the
1002 1. If the text begins at the leftmost column of the cell,
1003 then left justification, ELSE
1004 2. If the text begins at the rightmost column of the cell,
1005 then right justification, ELSE
1006 3. Center justification.
1008 The onus is on the author to make the text unambiguous by adding
1009 blank columns as necessary. There should be a parser setting to
1010 turn off justification-recognition (normally on would be fine).
1012 Decimal justification?
1014 All this shouldn't be done automatically. Only when it's requested
1015 by the user, e.g. with something like this::
1022 Otherwise it will break existing documents.
1024 * Generate a warning or info message for paragraphs which should have
1025 been lists, like this one::
1030 * Generalize the "target-notes" directive into a command-line option
1031 somehow? See docutils-develop 2003-02-13.
1033 * Allow a "::"-only paragraph (first line, actually) to introduce a
1034 _`literal block without a blank line`? (Idea from Paul Moore.) ::
1037 This is a literal block
1039 Is indentation enough to make the separation between a paragraph
1040 which contains just a ``::`` and the literal text unambiguous?
1041 (There's one problem with this concession: If one wants a definition
1042 list item which defines the term "::", we'd have to escape it.) It
1043 would only be reasonable to apply it to "::"-only paragraphs though.
1044 I think the blank line is visually necessary if there's text before
1047 The text in this paragraph needs separation
1048 from the literal block following::
1049 This doesn't look right.
1051 * Add new syntax for _`nested inline markup`? Or extend the parser to
1052 parse nested inline markup somehow? See the `collected notes
1053 <rst/alternatives.html#nested-inline-markup>`__.
1055 * Drop the backticks from embedded URIs with omitted reference text?
1056 Should the angle brackets be kept in the output or not? ::
1060 Probably not worth the trouble.
1062 * How about a syntax for alternative hyperlink behavior, such as "open
1063 in a new window" (as in HTML's ``<a target="_blank">``)?
1065 The MoinMoin wiki uses a caret ("^") at the beginning of the URL
1066 ("^" is not a legal URI character). That could work for both inline
1067 and explicit targets::
1069 The `reference docs <^url>`__ may be handy.
1073 This may be too specific to HTML. It hasn't been requested very
1076 * Add an option to add URI schemes at runtime.
1078 * _`Segmented lists`::
1080 : segment : segment : segment
1081 : segment : segment : very long
1083 : segment : segment : segment
1085 The initial colon (":") can be thought of as a type of bullet
1087 We could even have segment titles::
1089 :: title : title : title
1090 : segment : segment : segment
1091 : segment : segment : segment
1093 This would correspond well to DocBook's SegmentedList. Output could
1094 be tabular or "name: value" pairs, as described in DocBook's docs.
1096 * Allow backslash-escaped colons in field names::
1098 :Case Study\: Event Handling: This chapter will be dropped.
1100 * Enable grid _`tables inside XML comments`, where "--" ends comments.
1101 I see three implementation possibilities:
1103 1. Make the table syntax characters into "table" directive options.
1104 This is the most flexible but most difficult, and we probably
1105 don't need that much flexibility.
1107 2. Substitute "~" for "-" with a specialized directive option
1110 3. Make the standard table syntax recognize "~" as well as "-", even
1111 without a directive option. Individual tables would have to be
1112 internally consistent.
1114 Directive options are preferable to configuration settings, because
1115 tables are document-specific. A pragma directive would be another
1116 approach, to set the syntax once for a whole document.
1118 In the meantime, the list-table_ directive is a good replacement for
1119 grid tables inside XML comments.
1121 .. _list-table: ../ref/rst/directives.html#list-table
1123 * Generalize docinfo contents (bibliographic fields): remove specific
1124 fields, and have only a single generic "field"?
1126 Inline markup recognition rules
1127 -------------------------------
1129 The `inline markup`_ recognition rules were devised intentionally to allow
1130 90% of non-markup uses of "*", "`", "_", and "|" *without* resorting to
1131 backslashes. For 9% of the remaining 10%, use inline literals or literal
1132 blocks. Only those who understand the escaping and inline markup rules
1133 should attempt the remaining 1%. ;-)
1135 .. _inline markup: ../ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#inline-markup
1137 Changes need to be done in `parsers.rst.states.Inliner`.
1141 a) Use `Unicode categories`_ for all chars (ASCII or not)
1143 +1 comprehensible, standards based,
1144 -1 many "false positives" need escaping,
1145 -1 not backwards compatible.
1147 b) full backwards compatibility
1149 :Pi: only before start-string
1150 :Pf: only behind end-string
1151 :Po: "conservative" sorting of other punctuation:
1156 +1 backwards compatible,
1157 +1 logical extension of the existing rules,
1158 -1 exception list for "other" punctuation needed,
1159 -1 rules even more complicated,
1160 -1 not clear how to sort "other" punctuation that is currently not
1162 -2 international quoting convention like
1163 »German ›angular‹ quotes« not recognized.
1165 .. _Unicode categories:
1166 http://www.unicode.org/Public/5.1.0/ucd/UCD.html#General_Category_Values
1172 Since Docutils 0.8, a "math" role and directive using LaTeX math
1173 syntax as input format is part of reStructuredText.
1175 Provide for `alternative input formats`__?
1177 __ ./rst/alternatives.html#math-markup
1179 Try to be compatible with `Math support in Sphinx`_?
1181 * The ``:label:`` option selects a label for the equation, by which it
1182 can be cross-referenced, and causes an equation number to be issued.
1183 In Docutils, this would be called ``:name:``.
1185 * Option ``:nowrap:`` prevents wrapping of the given math in a
1186 math environment (you have to specify the math environment in the
1189 .. _Math support in Sphinx: http://sphinx.pocoo.org/ext/math.html
1195 Which equation environments should be supported by the math directive?
1199 + numbered: `equation`
1200 + unnumbered: `equation*`
1202 * multiline (test for ``\\`` outside of a nested environment
1203 (e.g. `array` or `cases`)
1205 + numbered: `align` (number every line)
1207 (To give one common number to all lines, put them in a `split`
1208 environment. Docutils then places it in an `equation` environment.)
1210 + unnumbered: `align*`
1212 + Sphinx math also supports `gather` (checking for blank lines in
1213 the content). Docutils puts content blocks separated by blank
1214 lines in separate math-block doctree nodes. (The only difference of
1215 `gather` to two consecutive "normal" environments seems to be that
1216 page-breaks between the two are prevented.)
1218 See http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~hildebr/tex/displays.html.
1224 There is no native math support in HTML.
1227 Converters from LaTeX to MathML include
1229 * latex_math_ (Python) by Jens Jørgen Mortensen in the Docutils sandbox
1232 * TeX4ht_ (TeX based)
1234 * itex_ (also `used in Abiword`__)
1235 * TtM_ (C, non free, free binary for Linux) with an `online-trial page`__
1236 * `Steve’s LATEX-to-MathML translator`_
1237 ('mini-language', javascript, Python)
1239 latex_math_ is the base for the current latex2mathml_ module used
1240 with ``--math-output=MathML``.
1242 * Write a new converter based on:
1244 * a generic tokenizer (see e.g. a `latex-codec recipe`_,
1245 `updated latex-codec`_, )
1246 * the Unicode-Char <-> LaTeX mappings database unimathsymbols_
1248 __ http://msevior.livejournal.com/26377.html
1249 __ http://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/mml/ttmmozform.html
1250 .. _MathML: http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML2/
1251 .. _latex_math: ../../../sandbox/jensj/latex_math/
1252 .. _latex2mathml: ../../docutils/math/latex2mathml.py
1253 .. _Blahtex: http://gva.noekeon.org/blahtexml/
1254 .. _MathToWeb: http://www.mathtoweb.com/
1255 .. _TeX4ht: http://www.tug.org/applications/tex4ht/mn.html
1256 .. _LaTeXML: http://dlmf.nist.gov/LaTeXML/
1257 .. _itex: http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/blog/itex2MMLcommands.html
1258 .. _ttm: http://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/mml/
1259 .. _Steve’s LATEX-to-MathML translator:
1260 http://www.gold-saucer.org/mathml/greasemonkey/dist/display-latex
1261 .. _latex-codec recipe:
1262 http://code.activestate.com/recipes/252124-latex-codec/
1263 .. _updated latex-codec:
1264 http://mirror.ctan.org/biblio/bibtex/utils/mab2bib/latex.py
1265 .. _unimathsymbols: http://milde.users.sourceforge.net/LUCR/Math/
1268 .. _itex: http://pear.math.pitt.edu/mathzilla/itex2mmlItex.html
1272 format math in standard HTML enhanced by CSS rules
1273 (Overview__, `Examples and experiments`__).
1275 LaTeX-math to HTML/CSS converters include
1278 * Hevea_ (Objective Caml)
1281 The ``math-output=html`` option uses the converter from eLyXer.
1283 __ http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/math/
1284 __ http://www.zipcon.net/~swhite/docs/math/math.html
1285 .. _TtH: ttp://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/index.html
1286 .. _Hevea: http://para.inria.fr/~maranget/hevea/
1287 .. _elyxer: http://elyxer.nongnu.org/
1290 (PNG or SVG) like e.g. Wikipedia. (e.g. with dvisvgm_ or the
1291 pure-python MathML->SVG converter SVGMath_)
1293 .. _dvisvgm: http://dvisvgm.sourceforge.net/
1294 .. _SVGMath: http://www.grigoriev.ru/svgmath/
1300 * The `OpenDocument standard`_ version 1.1 says:
1302 Mathematical content is represented by MathML 2.0
1304 However, putting MathML into an ODP file seems tricky as these
1305 (maybe outdated) links suppose:
1306 http://idippedut.dk/post/2008/01/25/Do-your-math-ODF-and-MathML.aspx
1307 http://idippedut.dk/post/2008/03/03/Now-I-get-it-ODF-and-MathML.aspx
1309 .. _OpenDocument standard:
1310 http://www.oasis-open.org/standards#opendocumentv1.1
1312 * OOoLaTeX__: "a set of macros designed to bring the power of LaTeX
1315 __ http://ooolatex.sourceforge.net/
1321 Directives below are often referred to as "module.directive", the
1322 directive function. The "module." is not part of the directive name
1323 when used in a document.
1325 * Allow for field lists in list tables. See
1326 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3392>.
1330 Unify table implementations and unify options of table directives
1331 (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1857).
1333 * Allow directives to be added at run-time?
1335 * Use the language module for directive option names?
1337 * Add "substitution_only" and "substitution_ok" function attributes,
1338 and automate context checking?
1340 * Implement options or features on existing directives:
1342 - All directives that produce titled elements should grow implicit
1343 reference names based on the titles.
1345 - Allow the _`:trim:` option for all directives when they occur in a
1346 substitution definition, not only the unicode_ directive.
1348 .. _unicode: ../ref/rst/directives.html#unicode-character-codes
1350 - Add the "class" option to the unicode_ directive. For example, you
1351 might want to get characters or strings with borders around them.
1353 - _`images.figure`: "title" and "number", to indicate a formal
1356 - _`parts.sectnum`: "local"?, "refnum"
1358 A "local" option could enable numbering for sections from a
1359 certain point down, and sections in the rest of the document are
1360 not numbered. For example, a reference section of a manual might
1361 be numbered, but not the rest. OTOH, an all-or-nothing approach
1362 would probably be enough.
1364 The "sectnum" directive should be usable multiple times in a
1365 single document. For example, in a long document with "chapter"
1366 and "appendix" sections, there could be a second "sectnum" before
1367 the first appendix, changing the sequence used (from 1,2,3... to
1368 A,B,C...). This is where the "local" concept comes in. This part
1369 of the implementation can be left for later.
1371 A "refnum" option (better name?) would insert reference names
1372 (targets) consisting of the reference number. Then a URL could be
1373 of the form ``http://host/document.html#2.5`` (or "2-5"?). Allow
1374 internal references by number? Allow name-based *and*
1375 number-based ids at the same time, or only one or the other (which
1376 would the table of contents use)? Usage issue: altering the
1377 section structure of a document could render hyperlinks invalid.
1379 - _`parts.contents`: Add a "suppress" or "prune" option? It would
1380 suppress contents display for sections in a branch from that point
1381 down. Or a new directive, like "prune-contents"?
1383 Add an option to include topics in the TOC? Another for sidebars?
1384 The "topic" directive could have a "contents" option, or the
1385 "contents" directive" could have an "include-topics" option. See
1386 docutils-develop 2003-01-29.
1388 - _`parts.header` & _`parts.footer`: Support multiple, named headers
1389 & footers? For example, separate headers & footers for odd, even,
1390 and the first page of a document.
1392 This may be too specific to output formats which have a notion of
1397 - Add a ``:parent:`` option for setting the parent's class
1398 (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3165).
1402 - Option to label lines?
1404 - How about an environment variable, say RSTINCLUDEPATH or
1405 RSTPATH, for standard includes (as in ``.. include:: <name>``)?
1406 This could be combined with a setting/option to allow
1407 user-defined include directories.
1409 - Add support for inclusion by URL? ::
1412 :url: http://www.example.org/inclusion.txt
1414 - Strip blank lines from begin and end of a literal included file or
1415 file section. This would correspond to the way a literal block is
1418 As nodes.literal_block expects (and we have) the text as a string
1419 (rather than a list of lines), using a regexp seems the way.
1421 - _`misc.raw`: add a "destination" option to the "raw" directive? ::
1428 It needs thought & discussion though, to come up with a consistent
1429 set of destination labels and consistent behavior.
1431 And placing HTML code inside the <head> element of an HTML
1432 document is rather the job of a templating system.
1434 - _`body.sidebar`: Allow internal section structure? Adornment
1435 styles would be independent of the main document.
1437 That is really complicated, however, and the document model
1438 greatly benefits from its simplicity.
1440 * Implement directives. Each of the list items below begins with an
1441 identifier of the form, "module_name.directive_function_name". The
1442 directive name itself could be the same as the
1443 directive_function_name, or it could differ.
1447 It has the disadvantage that it's only easily implementable for
1448 HTML, so it's specific to one output format.
1450 (For non-HTML writers, the imagemap would have to be replaced with
1453 - _`parts.endnotes` (or "footnotes"): See `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_.
1455 - _`parts.citations`: See `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_.
1457 - _`misc.language`: Specify (= change) the language of a document at
1460 * The misc.settings_ directive suggested below offers a more generic
1463 * The language of document parts can be indicated by the "special class
1464 value" ``"language-"`` + `BCP 47`_ language code. Class arguments to
1465 the title are attached to the document's base node - hence titled
1466 documents can be given a different language at parse time. However,
1467 "language by class attribute" does not change parsing (localized
1468 directives etc.), only supporting writers.
1470 .. _BCP 47: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/bcp/bcp47.txt
1473 - _`misc.settings`: Set any(?) Docutils runtime setting from within
1474 a document? Needs much thought and discussion.
1476 Security concerns need to be taken into account (it shouldn't be
1477 possible to enable ``file_insertion_enabled`` from within a
1478 document), and settings that only would have taken effect before
1479 the directive (like ``tab-width``) shouldn't be accessible either.
1481 See this sub-thread:
1482 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3620/focus=3649>
1484 - _`misc.gather`: Gather (move, or copy) all instances of a specific
1485 element. A generalization of the `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_
1488 - Add a custom "directive" directive, equivalent to "role"? For
1493 .. class:: incremental
1497 "``.. incr::``" above is equivalent to "``.. class:: incremental``".
1501 .. directive:: printed-links
1507 :class: print-inline
1509 This acts like macros. The directive contents will have to be
1510 evaluated when referenced, not when defined.
1512 * Needs a better name? "Macro", "substitution"?
1513 * What to do with directive arguments & options when the
1514 macro/directive is referenced?
1516 - Make the meaning of block quotes overridable? Only a 1-shot
1517 though; doesn't solve the general problem.
1519 - .. _conditional directives:
1521 .. note:: See also the implementation in Sphinx_.
1523 Docutils already has the ability to say "use this content for
1524 Writer X" via the "raw" directive. It also does have the ability
1525 to say "use this content for any Writer other than X" via the
1526 "strip-elements with class" config value. However, using "raw"
1527 input just to select a special writer is inconvenient in many
1529 It wouldn't be difficult to get more straightforward support, though.
1531 My first idea would be to add a set of conditional directives.
1532 Let's call them "writer-is" and "writer-is-not" for discussion
1533 purposes (don't worry about implemention details). We might
1536 .. writer-is:: text-only
1552 .. figure:: protocol_stack.eps
1554 .. writer-is-not:: text-only pdf
1556 .. figure:: protocol_stack.png
1558 This could be an interface to the Filter transform
1559 (docutils.transforms.components.Filter).
1561 The ideas in `adaptable file extensions`_ above may also be
1564 SVG's "switch" statement may provide inspiration.
1566 Here's an example of a directive that could produce multiple
1567 outputs (*both* raw troff pass-through *and* a GIF, for example)
1568 and allow the Writer to select. ::
1575 %sum from i=o to inf c sup i~=~lim from {m -> inf}
1576 sum from i=0 to m sup i%
1581 - _`body.example`: Examples; suggested by Simon Hefti. Semantics as
1582 per Docbook's "example"; admonition-style, numbered, reference,
1583 with a caption/title.
1585 - _`body.index`: Index targets.
1587 See `Index Entries & Indexes
1588 <./rst/alternatives.html#index-entries-indexes>`__.
1590 - _`body.literal`: Literal block, possibly "formal" (see `object
1591 numbering and object references`_ above). Possible options:
1593 - "highlight" a range of lines
1595 - include only a specified range of lines
1597 - "number" or "line-numbers"
1599 - "styled" could indicate that the directive should check for
1600 style comments at the end of lines to indicate styling or
1603 Specific derivatives (i.e., a "python-interactive" directive)
1604 could interpret style based on cues, like the ">>> " prompt and
1605 "input()"/"raw_input()" calls.
1607 See docutils-users 2003-03-03.
1609 - _`body.listing`: Code listing with title (to be numbered
1610 eventually), equivalent of "figure" and "table" directives.
1612 - _`pysource.usage`: Extract a usage message from the program,
1613 either by running it at the command line with a ``--help`` option
1614 or through an exposed API. [Suggestion for Optik.]
1620 Interpreted text is entirely a reStructuredText markup construct, a
1621 way to get around built-in limitations of the medium. Some roles are
1622 intended to introduce new doctree elements, such as "title-reference".
1623 Others are merely convenience features, like "RFC".
1625 All supported interpreted text roles must already be known to the
1626 Parser when they are encountered in a document. Whether pre-defined
1627 in core/client code, or in the document, doesn't matter; the roles
1628 just need to have already been declared. Adding a new role may
1629 involve adding a new element to the DTD and may require extensive
1630 support, therefore such additions should be well thought-out. There
1631 should be a limited number of roles.
1633 The only place where no limit is placed on variation is at the start,
1634 at the Reader/Parser interface. Transforms are inserted by the Reader
1635 into the Transformer's queue, where non-standard elements are
1636 converted. Once past the Transformer, no variation from the standard
1637 Docutils doctree is possible.
1639 An example is the Python Source Reader, which will use interpreted
1640 text extensively. The default role will be "Python identifier", which
1641 will be further interpreted by namespace context into <class>,
1642 <method>, <module>, <attribute>, etc. elements (see pysource.dtd),
1643 which will be transformed into standard hyperlink references, which
1644 will be processed by the various Writers. No Writer will need to have
1645 any knowledge of the Python-Reader origin of these elements.
1647 * Add explicit interpreted text roles for the rest of the implicit
1648 inline markup constructs: named-reference, anonymous-reference,
1649 footnote-reference, citation-reference, substitution-reference,
1650 target, uri-reference (& synonyms).
1652 * Add directives for each role as well? This would allow indirect
1655 This text contains |nested inline markup|.
1657 .. |nested inline markup| emphasis::
1659 nested ``inline`` markup
1663 - "_`raw-wrapped`" (or "_`raw-wrap`"): Base role to wrap raw text
1664 around role contents.
1666 For example, the following reStructuredText source ... ::
1668 .. role:: red(raw-formatting)
1670 :html: <font color="red">
1671 :latex: {\color{red}
1678 ... will yield the following document fragment::
1682 <inline classes="red">
1685 <raw format="latex">
1687 <inline classes="red">
1691 <raw format="latex">
1694 Possibly without the intermediate "inline" node.
1696 - _`"acronym" and "abbreviation"`: Associate the full text with a
1697 short form. Jason Diamond's description:
1699 I want to translate ```reST`:acronym:`` into ``<acronym
1700 title='reStructuredText'>reST</acronym>``. The value of the
1701 title attribute has to be defined out-of-band since you can't
1702 parameterize interpreted text. Right now I have them in a
1703 separate file but I'm experimenting with creating a directive
1704 that will use some form of reST syntax to let you define them.
1706 Should Docutils complain about undefined acronyms or
1709 What to do if there are multiple definitions? How to
1710 differentiate between CSS (Content Scrambling System) and CSS
1711 (Cascading Style Sheets) in a single document? David Priest
1714 The short answer is: you don't. Anyone who did such a thing
1715 would be writing very poor documentation indeed. (Though I
1716 note that `somewhere else in the docs`__, there's mention of
1717 allowing replacement text to be associated with the
1718 abbreviation. That takes care of the duplicate
1719 acronyms/abbreviations problem, though a writer would be
1720 foolish to ever need it.)
1722 __ `inline parameter syntax`_
1724 How to define the full text? Possibilities:
1726 1. With a directive and a definition list? ::
1733 Docstring Processing System
1735 Would this list remain in the document as a glossary, or would
1736 it simply build an internal lookup table? A "glossary"
1737 directive could be used to make the intention clear.
1738 Acronyms/abbreviations and glossaries could work together.
1740 Then again, a glossary could be formed by gathering individual
1741 definitions from around the document.
1743 2. Some kind of `inline parameter syntax`_? ::
1745 `reST <reStructuredText>`:acronym: is `WYSIWYG <what you
1746 see is what you get>`:acronym: plaintext markup.
1748 .. _inline parameter syntax:
1749 rst/alternatives.html#parameterized-interpreted-text
1751 3. A combination of 1 & 2?
1753 The multiple definitions issue could be handled by establishing
1754 rules of priority. For example, directive-based lookup tables
1755 have highest priority, followed by the first inline definition.
1756 Multiple definitions in directive-based lookup tables would
1757 trigger warnings, similar to the rules of `implicit hyperlink
1760 __ ../ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#implicit-hyperlink-targets
1762 4. Using substitutions? ::
1764 .. |reST| acronym:: reST
1765 :text: reStructuredText
1767 What do we do for other formats than HTML which do not support
1768 tool tips? Put the full text in parentheses?
1770 - "figure", "table", "listing", "chapter", "page", etc: See `object
1771 numbering and object references`_ above.
1773 - "glossary-term": This would establish a link to a glossary. It
1774 would require an associated "glossary-entry" directive, whose
1775 contents could be a definition list::
1784 This would allow entries to be defined anywhere in the document,
1785 and collected (via a "glossary" directive perhaps) at one point.
1791 The number of doctree nodes can be reduced by "normalizing" some related
1792 nodes. This makes the document model and the writers somewhat simpler.
1794 * The "doctest" element should go away. The construct could simply be
1795 a front-end to generic literal blocks. We could immediately (in 0.7)
1796 remove the doctest node from the doctree, but leave the
1797 syntax in reST. The reST parser could represent doctest blocks as
1798 literal blocks with a class attribute. The syntax could be left in
1799 reST (for a set period of time?).
1801 * "Normalize" special admonitions (note, hint, warning, ...) during parsing
1802 (similar to _`transforms.writer_aux.Admonitions`). There is no need to
1803 keep them as distinct elements in the doctree specification.
1805 Keep the special admonition directives in reStructuredText syntax?
1807 * _`Line numbers` and "source" in system messages:
1809 - Add "source" and "line" keyword arguments to all Reporter calls?
1810 This would require passing source/line arguments along all
1811 intermediate functions (where currently only `line` is used).
1813 Or rather specify "line" only if actually needed?
1815 Currently, `document.reporter` uses a state machine instance to
1816 determine the "source" and "line" info from
1817 `statemachine.input_lines` if not given explicitely. Except for
1818 special cases, the "line" argument is not needed because,
1819 `document.statemachine` keeps record of the current line number.
1821 - For system messages generated after the parsing is completed (i.e. by
1822 transforms or the writer) "line" info must be present in the doctree
1825 Elements' .line assignments should be checked. (Assign to .source
1826 too? Add a set_info method? To what?)
1828 The "source" (and line number in the source) can either be added
1829 explicitely to the elements or determined from the “raw” line
1830 number by `document.statemachine.get_source_and_line`.
1832 - Some line numbers in elements are not being set properly
1833 (explicitly), just implicitly/automatically. See rev. 1.74 of
1834 docutils/parsers/rst/states.py for an example of how to set.
1836 - The line numbers of definition list items are wrong::
1838 $ rst2pseudoxml.py --expose-internal-attribute line
1847 <document source="<stdin>">
1849 <definition_list_item internal:line="3">
1853 <paragraph internal:line="2">
1856 <definition_list_item internal:line="6">
1860 <paragraph internal:line="6">
1866 Quite a few nodes are getting a "None" source attribute as well. In
1867 particular, see the bodies of definition lists.
1871 Unimplemented Transforms
1872 ========================
1874 * _`Footnote & Citation Gathering`
1876 Collect and move footnotes & citations to the end of a document or the
1877 place of a "footnotes" or "citations" directive
1878 (see `<./ref/rst/directives.html>_`)
1881 Collect all footnotes that are referenced in the document before the
1882 directive (and after an eventually preceding ``.. footnotes::``
1883 directive) and insert at this place.
1885 Allows "endnotes" at a configurable place.
1888 Collect citations that are referenced ...
1892 a) defined in the document as citation elements
1894 b) auto-generated from entries in a bibliographic database.
1896 + based on bibstuff_?
1897 + also have a look at
1899 * CrossTeX_, a backwards-compatible, improved bibtex
1900 re-implementation in Python (including HTML export).
1901 (development stalled since 2 years)
1903 * Pybtex_,a drop-in replacement for BibTeX written in Python.
1905 * BibTeX styles & (experimental) pythonic style API.
1906 * Database in BibTeX, BibTeXML and YAML formats.
1907 * full Unicode support.
1908 * Write to TeX, HTML and plain text.
1910 * `Zotero plain <http://e6h.org/%7Eegh/hg/zotero-plain/>`__
1911 supports Zotero databases and CSL_ styles with Docutils with an
1914 .. _CSL: http://www.citationstyles.org/
1917 * Automatically insert a "References" heading?
1919 .. _CrossTeX: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/egs/crosstex/
1920 .. _Pybtex: http://pybtex.sourceforge.net/
1922 * _`Reference Merging`
1924 When merging two or more subdocuments (such as docstrings),
1925 conflicting references may need to be resolved. There may be:
1927 * duplicate reference and/or substitution names that need to be made
1929 * duplicate footnote numbers that need to be renumbered.
1931 Should this be done before or after reference-resolving transforms
1932 are applied? What about references from within one subdocument to
1935 * _`Document Splitting`
1937 If the processed document is written to multiple files (possibly in
1938 a directory tree), it will need to be split up. Internal references
1939 will have to be adjusted.
1941 (HTML only? Initially, yes. Eventually, anything should be
1946 - Insert a "destination" attribute into the root element of each
1947 split-out document, containing the path/filename. The Output
1948 object or Writer will recognize this attribute and split out the
1949 files accordingly. Must allow for common headers & footers,
1950 prev/next, breadcrumbs, etc.
1952 - Transform a single-root document into a document containing
1953 multiple subdocuments, recursively. The content model of the
1954 "document" element would have to change to::
1957 ( (title, subtitle?)?,
1959 (docinfo, transition?)?,
1963 (I.e., add the last line -- 0 or more document elements.)
1965 Let's look at the case of hierarchical (directories and files)
1966 HTML output. Each document element containing further document
1967 elements would correspond to a directory (with an index.html file
1968 for the content preceding the subdocuments). Each document
1969 element containing no subdocuments (i.e., structure model elements
1970 only) corresponds to a concrete file with no directory.
1972 The natural transform would be to map sections to subdocuments,
1973 but possibly only a given number of levels deep.
1977 If a document is split up, each segment will need navigation links:
1978 parent, children (small TOC), previous (preorder), next (preorder).
1979 Part of `Document Splitting`_?
1981 * _`List of System Messages`
1983 The ``system_message`` elements are inserted into the document tree,
1984 adjacent to the problems themselves where possible. Some (those
1985 generated post-parse) are kept until later, in
1986 ``document.messages``, and added as a special final section,
1987 "Docutils System Messages".
1989 Docutils could be made to generate hyperlinks to all known
1990 system_messages and add them to the document, perhaps to the end of
1991 the "Docutils System Messages" section.
1993 Fred L. Drake, Jr. wrote:
1995 I'd like to propose that both parse- and transformation-time
1996 messages are included in the "Docutils System Messages" section.
1997 If there are no objections, I can make the change.
1999 The advantage of the current way of doing things is that parse-time
2000 system messages don't require a transform; they're already in the
2001 document. This is valuable for testing (unit tests,
2002 tools/quicktest.py). So if we do decide to make a change, I think
2003 the insertion of parse-time system messages ought to remain as-is
2004 and the Messages transform ought to move all parse-time system
2005 messages (remove from their originally inserted positions, insert in
2006 System Messages section).
2008 * _`Index Generation`
2012 Convert quotes and dashes to typographically correct entities.
2013 Sphinx does this with ``smartypants.py``.
2015 Write a generic version that uses Unicode chars
2016 (let the writer replace these if required).
2018 Some arguments for "smart quotes" are collected in a `mail to
2019 docutils-user by Jörg W. Mittag from 2006-03-13`__.
2021 Also see the "... Or Not To Do?" list entry for
2022 `Character Processing`_
2024 __ http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2765
2026 .. _Character Processing: rst/alternatives.html#character-processing
2032 * Make it easier to find out fragment names (#foo-bar) of ``_`inline
2033 targets```. Currently you have to either look at the source or
2036 For example, we could add support for self-referencing targets
2037 (i.e. inline targets would [unobtrusively] link to themselves, so
2038 that you can just click them and then copy the address). Or we
2039 could add support for titles that display the fragment name (as in
2040 <http://subversion.tigris.org/mailing-list-guidelines.html>; just
2041 hover the paragraphs).
2043 Either way it should be optional and deactivated by default.
2045 This would be useful for documents like Docutils' bug list or to-do
2048 * Make the _`list compacting` logic more generic: For example, allow
2049 for literal blocks or line blocks inside of compact list items.
2051 This is not implementable as long as list compacting is done by
2052 omitting ``<p>`` tags. List compacting would need to be done by
2053 adjusting CSS margins instead.
2055 * Idea for field-list rendering: hanging indent::
2057 Field name (bold): First paragraph of field body begins
2058 with the field name inline.
2060 If the first item of a field body is not a paragraph,
2061 it would begin on the following line.
2063 * Add more support for <link> elements, especially for navigation
2066 The framework does not have a notion of document relationships, so
2067 probably raw.destination_ should be used.
2069 We'll have framework support for document relationships when support
2070 for `multiple output files`_ is added. The HTML writer could
2071 automatically generate <link> elements then.
2073 .. _raw.destination: misc.raw_
2075 * Base list compaction on the spacing of source list? Would require
2076 parser support. (Idea: fantasai, 16 Dec 2002, doc-sig.)
2078 * Add a tool tip ("title" attribute?) to footnote back-links
2079 identifying them as such. Text in Docutils language module.
2085 * Remove the generic style information (duplicated from html4css1.css)
2086 from pep.css to avoid redundancy.
2088 Needs support for multiple stylesheets in the PEP writer
2089 (is this inherited from HTML?).
2095 * Add a way to begin an untitled slide.
2097 * Add a way to begin a new slide, continuation, using the same title
2098 as the previous slide? (Unnecessary?) You need that if you have a
2099 lot of items in one section which don't fit on one slide.
2101 Maybe either this item or the previous one can be realized using
2104 * Have a timeout on incremental items, so the colour goes away after 1
2107 * Add an empty, black last slide (optionally). Currently the handling
2108 of the last slide is not very nice, it re-cycles through the
2109 incremental items on the last slide if you hit space-bar after the
2112 * Add a command-line option to disable advance-on-click.
2114 * Add a speaker's master document, which would contain a small version
2115 of the slide text with speaker's notes interspersed. The master
2116 document could use ``target="whatever"`` to direct links to a
2117 separate window on a second monitor (e.g., a projector).
2119 .. Note:: This item and the following items are partially
2120 accomplished by the S5 1.2 code (currently in alpha), which has
2121 not yet been integrated into Docutils.
2123 * Speaker's notes -- how to intersperse? Could use reST comments
2124 (".."), but make them visible in the speaker's master document. If
2125 structure is necessary, we could use a "comment" directive (to avoid
2126 nonsensical DTD changes, the "comment" directive could produce an
2127 untitled topic element).
2129 The speaker's notes could (should?) be separate from S5's handout
2132 * The speaker's master document could use frames for easy navigation:
2133 TOC on the left, content on the right.
2135 - It would be nice if clicking in the TOC frame simultaneously
2136 linked to both the speaker's notes frame and to the slide window,
2137 synchronizing both. Needs JavaScript?
2139 - TOC would have to be tightly formatted -- minimal indentation.
2141 - TOC auto-generated, as in the PEP Reader. (What if there already
2142 is a "contents" directive in the document?)
2144 - There could be another frame on the left (top-left or bottom-left)
2145 containing a single "Next" link, always pointing to the next slide
2146 (synchronized, of course). Also "Previous" link? FF/Rew go to
2147 the beginning of the next/current parent section? First/Last
2148 also? Tape-player-style buttons like ``|<< << < > >> >>|``?
2153 Add epub as an output format.
2155 Pack the output of a HTML writer and supporting files (e.g. images)
2156 into one single epub document.
2158 epub is an open file format for ebooks based on HTML, specified by the
2159 `International Digital Publishing Forum`_. Thus, documents in epub
2160 format are suited to be read with `electronic reading devices`_. The
2161 epub format comprises:
2163 * `Open Publication Structure (OPS)
2164 <http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops/OPS_2.0_final_spec.html>`_
2165 * `Open Packaging Format (OPF)
2166 <http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf/OPF_2.0_final_spec.html>`_
2167 * `OEBPS Container Format (OCF)
2168 <http://www.idpf.org/ocf/ocf1.0/download/ocf10.htm>`_
2172 There is a project for epub support with sphinx providing a
2173 (hopefully) reusable framework.
2175 .. _rst2epub: http://bitbucket.org/wierob/rst2epub/
2176 .. _International Digital Publishing Forum: http://www.idpf.org/
2177 .. _electronic reading devices:
2178 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers
2180 Also, the plasTeX_ Python package has an EPUB renderer:
2182 It simply calls the XHTML renderer and does the epub packaging in
2185 .. _plasTeX: http://plastex.sourceforge.net/
2191 Also see the Problems__ section in the `latex writer documentation`_.
2193 __ ../user/latex.html#problems
2195 .. _latex writer documentation: ../user/latex.html
2198 ../../../sandbox/latex-variants/README.html
2203 * A multirow cell in a table expects empty cells in the spanned rows while
2204 the doctree contains only the remaining cells ("Exchange Table Model", see
2205 docs/ref/soextblx.dtd).
2207 Needs bookkeeping of "open" multirow cells (how many how long) and
2208 insertion of additional '&'s.
2210 See `<../../test/functional/input/data/latex.txt>`__
2212 * Too deeply nested lists fail: generate a warning and provide
2215 * Spaces in inline literal text::
2218 spacing between the words of this sentence (words
2219 should be grouped in pairs).
2221 Discuss the desired behaviour and implement a consistent one.
2223 * An enumerated list in the docinfo fails (\newcounter definition inside
2226 * File names of included graphics (see also `grffile` package).
2228 Generate clean and configurable LaTeX source
2229 ----------------------------------------------
2231 * Check the generated source with package `nag`.
2233 Configurable placement of figure and table floats
2234 `````````````````````````````````````````````````
2236 * Special class argument to individually place figures?
2240 placement-<optional arg> -> \figure[<optional arg>]{...}
2242 e.g. ``.. class:: placement-htb``,
2247 :h: place-here-if-possible
2250 :p: place-on-extra-page
2252 e.g.: ``.. class:: place-here-if-possible place-top place-bottom``
2254 Maybe support both variants?
2257 LaTeX constructs and packages instead of re-implementations
2258 ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2260 Which packages do we want to use?
2262 + base and "recommended" packages
2264 (packages that should be in a "reasonably sized and reasonably modern
2265 LaTeX installation like the `texlive-latex-recommended` Debian package,
2268 + No "fancy" or "exotic" requirements.
2270 + pointers to advanced packages and their use in the `latex writer
2273 * ``alltt`` environment for literal block.
2277 + True footnotes with LaTeX auto-numbering (as option ``--latex-footnotes``)
2278 (also for target-footnotes):
2280 - attach footnote text to footnote-symobol node
2281 - write \footnote{<footnote text>}
2282 - consider cases where LaTeX does not support footnotes
2283 (inside tables, headings, ...)?
2284 - consider multiple footnote refs to common footnote text.
2288 If the symbol you want is not one of the ones listed, you'll need to
2289 redefine ``\@fnsymbol`` and add it, e.g. perhaps like::
2291 \def\@fnsymbol#1{\ifcase#1\hbox{}\or *\or \dagger\or \ddagger\or
2292 \mathchar "278\or \mathchar "27B\or \|\or **\or \dagger\dagger \or
2293 \ddagger\ddagger \or \mathchar"27C \else\@ctrerr\fi\relax}
2295 which would allow \symbolfootnote[10]{footnote} to have a club as its
2298 + document customization (links to how-to and packages):
2300 .. Footnote packages:
2302 :footnote: texlive-latex-recommended % savenotes environment
2303 :footmisc: texlive-latex-extra % formatting options
2304 :manyfoot: texlive-latex-extra
2305 :bigfoot: texlive-latex-extra
2306 :perpage: texlive-latex-extra
2307 :ftnxtra: new on CTAN
2308 fixes the issue of footnote inside \caption{},
2309 tabular environment and \section{} like commands.
2313 http://www2.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~ahamann/studies/footnotes.pdf
2317 `Footnotes whose texts are identical
2318 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=repfootnote>`__
2320 * label per hand or use footmisc
2322 `More than one sequence of footnotes
2323 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=multfoot>`__
2327 `Footnotes in tables
2328 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=footintab>`__
2330 * `tabularx` and longtable allow footnotes.
2331 * `footnote` provides a "savenotes" environment which collects all
2332 footnotes and emits them at ``end{savenotes}``
2334 `Footnotes in LaTeX section headings
2335 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=ftnsect>`__
2337 * Take advantage of the fact that the mandatory argument doesn't
2338 move if the optional argument is present::
2340 \section[title] {title\footnote{title ftnt}}
2342 * Use the footmisc package, with package option stable - this modifies
2343 footnotes so that they softly and silently vanish away if used in a
2348 `Footnotes numbered per page
2349 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=footnpp>`__
2351 * perpage provides a general mechanism for resetting counters per page
2352 * footmisc provides a package option perpage
2354 * enumeration environment, field list
2356 * use `mdwlist` from texlive-latex-recommended?
2358 * use `eqlist` (texlive-latex-extra) for field-lists?
2361 * ``--use-latex-when-possible`` »super option« that would set the
2364 --no-section-numbering
2367 --use-latex-abstract
2368 --use-latex-footnotes
2369 --use-latex-citations
2371 ? (My preference is to default to use-latex-* whenever possible [GM])
2377 * Use italic instead of slanted for titlereference?
2379 * Start a new paragraph after lists (as currently)
2380 or continue (no blank line in source, no parindent in output)?
2384 * continue if the `compound paragraph`_ directive is used, or
2385 * force a new paragraph with an empty comment.
2387 * Sidebar handling (environment with `framed`, `marginnote`, `wrapfig`,
2390 * Use optionlist for docinfo?
2392 * Keep literal-blocks together on a page, avoid pagebreaks.
2394 Failed experiments up to now: samepage, minipage, pagebreak 1 to 4 before
2397 Should be possible with ``--literal-block-env==lstlistings`` and some
2400 * More space between title and subtitle? ::
2403 + \\[0.5em] % subtitle%
2405 .. _PSNFSS documentation:
2406 http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/required/psnfss/psnfss2e.pdf
2407 .. _compound paragraph:
2408 ../ref/rst/directives.html#compound-paragraph
2410 http://mirror.ctan.org/help/Catalogue/entries/fixltx2e.html
2415 * Improve/simplify logic to set the column width in the output.
2417 + Assumed reST line length for table width setting configurable, or
2418 + use `ltxtable` (a combination of `tabularx` (auto-width) and
2419 `longtable` (page breaks)), or
2420 + use tabularx column type ``X`` and let LaTeX decide width, or
2424 http://tug.ctan.org/cgi-bin/ctanPackageInformation.py?id=tabulary
2426 * From comp.text.tex (13. 4. 2011):
2428 When using fixed width columns, you should ensure that the total
2429 width does not exceed \linewidth: if the first column is p{6cm}
2430 the second one should be p{\dimexpr\linewidth-6cm-4\tabcolsep}
2431 because the glue \tabcolsep is added twice at every column edge.
2432 You may also consider to set \tabcolsep to a different value...
2434 * csv-tables do not have a colwidth.
2436 * Add more classes or options, e.g. for
2438 + column width set by latex,
2439 + horizontal alignment and rules.
2440 + long table vs. tabular (see next item).
2442 * Use tabular instead of longtable for tables in legends or generally
2445 Alternatively, default to tabular and use longtable only if specified
2446 by config setting or class argument (analogue to booktable)?
2448 * Table heads and footer for longtable (firstpage lastpage ..)?
2450 * In tools.txt the option tables right column, there should be some more
2451 spacing between the description and the next paragraph "Default:".
2453 * Paragraph separation in tables is hairy.
2454 see http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=struttab
2456 - The strut solution did not work.
2457 - setting extrarowheight added ad top of row not between paragraphs in
2458 a cell. ALTHOUGH i set it to 2pt because, text is too close to the topline.
2459 - baselineskip/stretch does not help.
2461 * Should there be two hlines after table head and on table end?
2463 * Place titled tables in a float ('table' environment)?
2465 The 'table', 'csv-table', and 'list-table' directives support an (optional)
2466 table title. In analogy to the 'figure' directive this should map to a
2469 Image and figure directives
2470 ```````````````````````````
2472 * compare the test case in:
2474 + `<../../test/functional/input/data/standard.txt>`__
2475 + `<../../test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_html4css1.html>`__
2476 + `<../../test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_latex.tex>`__
2478 * According to the HTML standard
2479 http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#adef-align-IMG a right- or
2480 left-aligned image should be floated alongside the paragraph.
2482 + Use this default also for LaTeX?
2484 + Wrap text around figures/images with class argument "wrap"
2485 (like the odt writer)?
2487 Use `wrapfig` (or other recommended) package.
2489 * support more graphic formats (especially SVG, the only standard
2490 vector format for HTML)
2492 There is a `SWF package`_ at CTAN.
2495 http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/flashmovie
2501 * support "figwidth" argument for figures.
2503 As the 'figwidth' argument is still ignored and the "natural width" of
2504 a figure in LaTeX is 100 % of the text width, setting the 'align'
2505 argument has currently no effect on the LaTeX output.
2508 * Let `meta` directive insert PDF-keywords into header?
2510 * Multiple author entries in docinfo (same thing as in html).
2513 * Consider supporting the "compact" option and class argument (from
2514 rst2html) as some lists look better compact and others need the space.
2516 * Better citation support
2517 (see `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_).
2519 * If ``use-latex-citations`` is used, a bibliography is inserted right at the
2520 end of the document.
2522 Put in place of the to-be-implemented "citations" directive
2523 (see `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_).
2529 The `LyX <http://www.lyx.org>`_ document processor has a comprehensive
2530 Unicode to LaTeX conversion feature with a file called ``unicodesymbols``
2531 that lists LaTeX counterparts for a wide range of Unicode characters.
2533 * Use this in the LaTeXTranslator?
2534 Think of copyright issues!
2536 * The "ucs" package has many translations in ...doc/latex/ucs/config/
2538 * The bibstuff_ tool ships a `latex_codec` Python module!
2540 .. _bibstuff: http://code.google.com/p/bibstuff/
2542 Allow choice between utf8 (standard) and utf8x (extended) encodings
2543 ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2545 * Allow the user to select *utf8* or *utf8x* LaTeX encoding. (Docutil's
2546 output encoding becomes LaTeX's input encoding.)
2548 The `ucs` package provides extended support for UTF-8 encoding in LaTeX
2549 via the `inputenc`-option ``utf8x``. It is, however, a non-standard
2550 extension and no longer developed.
2553 a) Python has 4 names for the UTF-8 encoding (``utf_8, U8, UTF, utf8``)
2554 give a special meaning to one of the aliases,
2556 b) scan "stylesheets" and "latex-preamble" options and use ``utf8x``
2557 if it contains ``ucs``
2562 * Glyphs missing in the font are left out in the PDF without warning
2563 (e.g. ⇔ left-right double arrow in the functional test output).
2565 * Disable word-wrap (hyphenation) in literal text locally with
2566 ``providecommand{\nohyphenation}{\addfontfeatures{HyphenChar=None}}``?
2572 * ^^ LaTeX's special syntax for characters results in "strange" replacements
2573 (both with \href and \url).
2575 `file with ^^ <../strange^^name>`__:
2576 `<../strange^^name>`__
2578 * Unbalanced braces, { or }, will fail (both with \href and \url)::
2580 `file with { <../strange{name>`__
2581 `<../strange{name>`__
2583 Currently, a warning is written to the error output stream.
2585 For correct printing, we can
2587 * use the \href command with "normal" escaped name argument, or
2588 * define a url-command in the preamble ::
2590 \urldef{\fragileURLi}\nolinkurl{myself%node@gateway.net}
2592 but need to find a way to insert it as href argument.
2594 The following fails::
2596 \href{http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema^^dev}{\fragileURLi}
2598 Use %-replacement like http://nowhere/url_with%28parens%29 ?
2600 -> does not work for file paths (with pdflatex and xpdf).
2603 add-stylesheet option
2604 `````````````````````
2606 From http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3429/
2608 The problem is that since we have a default value, we have to
2609 differentiate between adding another stylesheet and replacing the
2610 default. I suggest that the existing --stylesheet & --stylesheet-path
2611 options keep their semantics to replace the existing settings. We
2612 could introduce new --add-stylesheet & --add-stylesheet-path options,
2613 which accumulate; further --stylesheet/--stylesheet-path options would
2614 clear these lists. The stylesheet or stylesheet_path setting (only
2615 one may be set), plus the added_stylesheets and added_stylesheet_paths
2616 settings, describe the combined styles.
2618 For example, this run will have only one custom stylesheet:
2620 rstpep2html.py --stylesheet-path custom.css ...
2622 This run will use the default stylesheet, and the custom one:
2624 rstpep2html.py --add-stylesheet-path custom.css ...
2626 This run will use the default stylesheet, a custom local stylesheet,
2627 and an external stylesheet:
2629 rstpep2html.py --add-stylesheet-path custom.css \
2630 --add-stylesheet http://www.example.org/external.css ...
2632 This run will use only the second custom stylesheet:
2634 rstpep2html.py --add-stylesheet-path custom.css \
2635 --stylesheet-path second.css ...
2643 * What about if we don't know which Reader and/or Writer we are
2644 going to use? If the Reader/Writer is specified on the
2645 command-line? (Will this ever happen?)
2647 Perhaps have different types of front ends:
2649 a) _`Fully qualified`: Reader and Writer are hard-coded into the
2650 front end (e.g. ``pep2html [options]``, ``pysource2pdf
2653 b) _`Partially qualified`: Reader is hard-coded, and the Writer is
2654 specified a sub-command (e.g. ``pep2 html [options]``,
2655 ``pysource2 pdf [options]``). The Writer is known before option
2656 processing happens, allowing the OptionParser to be built
2657 dynamically. Alternatively, the Writer could be hard-coded and
2658 the Reader specified as a sub-command (e.g. ``htmlfrom pep
2661 c) _`Unqualified`: Reader and Writer are specified as subcommands
2662 (e.g. ``publish pep html [options]``, ``publish pysource pdf
2663 [options]``). A single front end would be sufficient, but
2664 probably only useful for testing purposes.
2666 d) _`Dynamic`: Reader and/or Writer are specified by options, with
2667 defaults if unspecified (e.g. ``publish --writer pdf
2668 [options]``). Is this possible? The option parser would have
2669 to be told about new options it needs to handle, on the fly.
2670 Component-specific options would have to be specified *after*
2671 the component-specifying option.
2673 Allow common options before subcommands, as in CVS? Or group all
2674 options together? In the case of the `fully qualified`_
2675 front ends, all the options will have to be grouped together
2676 anyway, so there's no advantage (we can't use it to avoid
2677 conflicts) to splitting common and component-specific options
2680 * Parameterize help text & defaults somehow? Perhaps a callback? Or
2681 initialize ``settings_spec`` in ``__init__`` or ``init_options``?
2683 * Disable common options that don't apply?
2684 (This should now be easier with ``frontend.filter_settings_spec``.)
2686 * Add ``--section-numbering`` command line option. The "sectnum"
2687 directive should override the ``--no-section-numbering`` command
2690 * Create a single dynamic_ or unqualified_ front end that can be
2697 indent-tabs-mode: nil
2698 sentence-end-double-space: t