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 * Move to single source for Python 2 and Python 3.
75 (Cf. `Porting Python 2 Code to Python 3`_ and
76 `clean single-source support for Python 2/3`_.)
78 - Gradually phase out support for Python 2.4 and 2.5 first.
80 .. _Porting Python 2 Code to Python 3:
81 https://docs.python.org/3/howto/pyporting.html
82 .. _clean single-source support for Python 2/3:
83 http://python-future.org
85 * Encoding of command line arguments can only be guessed:
87 * try UTF-8/strict first, then try the locale's encoding with
88 strict error handling, then ASCII/replace?
90 UTF-8 is almost 100% safe to try first; false positives are rare,
91 The locale's encoding with strict error handling may be a
92 reasonable compromise, but any error would indicate that the
93 locale's encoding is inappropriate. The only safe fallback is
96 * Do not decode argv before option parsing but individual string
99 +1 Allows for separate command-line vs. filesystem encodings,
100 respectively to keep file names encoded.
101 +1 Allows to configure command-line encoding in a config file,
104 Cf. <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2890/focus=2957>.
106 * Improve handling on Windows:
108 - Get graphical installer.
109 - Make rst2html.py an .exe file using py2exe.
113 The user interface is very difficult to use for most Windows users;
114 you can't really expect them to use the command line. We need some
115 kind of GUI that can launch rst2html.py, and save the HTML output to
116 a file, and launch a browser. What's important is that we get
117 settings to work with the GUI. So we need some way to dynamically
118 generate a list of settings for the GUI. The current settings_spec
119 for OptionParser doesn't seem to be usable for this for the
122 - It's biased toward the command line -- there are *two* options for
125 - You cannot have both a one-line description and a longer
126 description for tooltips/help-texts.
128 - It doesn't provide hints for the input type. You cannot easily
129 infer the type of a setting from its validator, because any
130 component can add new validators. In fact, it may be necessary to
131 have both a hint about the input type (e.g. string) and a
132 validator (valid ID), or it may be necessary to have a different
133 set of choices for the CLI (1, INFO, 2, ...) and for the GUI
134 (INFO, WARNING, ...).
136 - It's coupled to the OptionParser. We want to be able to change
137 the underlying system without breaking everything.
139 - It's a bunch of primitive structures. We want an extensible (thus
140 object-oriented) interface.
142 So we probably need to create a class for storing all the settings,
143 and auto-generate the OptionParser data from that.
145 I talked to Stephan Deibel about getting Docutils integrated into
146 Wing IDE. He said it's possible, and he'd be willing to help.
147 There's a scripting interface to Wing, which we'd use. We can
148 dynamically generate a list of preferences and not worry too much
149 about the rendering (from what I understood); Wing's whole GUI is
150 dynamic anyway. The interface could be made usable for other GUIs.
151 For example, we could try to get option support for DocFactory. //
154 * Allow different report levels for STDERR and system_messages inside
157 * Change the docutils-update script (in sandbox/infrastructure), to
158 support arbitrary branch snapshots.
160 * Move some general-interest sandboxes out of individuals'
161 directories, into subprojects?
163 * Add option for file (and URL) access restriction to make Docutils
164 usable in Wikis and similar applications.
166 2005-03-21: added ``file_insertion_enabled`` & ``raw_enabled``
167 settings. These partially solve the problem, allowing or disabling
168 **all** file accesses, but not limited access.
170 * Configuration file handling needs discussion:
172 - There should be some error checking on the contents of config
173 files. How much checking should be done? How loudly should
174 Docutils complain if it encounters an error/problem?
176 - Docutils doesn't complain when it doesn't find a configuration
177 file supplied with the ``--config`` option. Should it? (If yes,
180 * Internationalization:
182 - I18n needs refactoring, the language dictionaries are difficult to
183 maintain. Maybe have a look at gettext or similar tools.
185 (This would make a nice Google Summer of Code project)
187 - Language modules: in accented languages it may be useful to have
188 both accented and unaccented entries in the
189 ``bibliographic_fields`` mapping for versatility.
191 - Add a "--strict-language" option & setting: no English fallback
192 for language-dependent features.
194 Make this the default for output (as opposed to input)?
195 Throw an error with a helpfull message, e.g.
197 Default "contents" title for language %s missing, please specify
202 "attention" title for language %s missing, please use a generic
203 admonition with explicit title.
205 - Add internationalization to _`footer boilerplate text` (resulting
206 from "--generator", "--source-link", and "--date" etc.), allowing
210 * Add validation? See http://pytrex.sourceforge.net, RELAX NG, pyRXP.
212 * In ``docutils.readers.get_reader_class`` (& ``parsers`` &
213 ``writers`` too), should we be importing "standalone" or
214 "docutils.readers.standalone"? (This would avoid importing
215 top-level modules if the module name is not in docutils/readers.
216 Potential nastiness.)
218 * Perhaps store a _`name-to-id mapping file`? This could be stored
219 permanently, read by subsequent processing runs, and updated with
220 new entries. ("Persistent ID mapping"?)
222 * Perhaps the ``Component.supports`` method should deal with
223 individual features ("meta" etc.) instead of formats ("html" etc.)?
225 * Think about _`large documents` made up of multiple subdocument
226 files. Issues: continuity (`persistent sequences`_ above),
227 cross-references (`name-to-id mapping file`_ above and `targets in
228 other documents`_ below), splitting (`document splitting`_ below).
230 When writing a book, the author probably wants to split it up into
231 files, perhaps one per chapter (but perhaps even more detailed).
232 However, we'd like to be able to have references from one chapter to
233 another, and have continuous numbering (pages and chapters, as
234 applicable). Of course, none of this is implemented yet. There has
235 been some thought put into some aspects; see `the "include"
236 directive`__ and the `Reference Merging`_ transform below.
238 When I was working with SGML in Japan, we had a system where there
239 was a top-level coordinating file, book.sgml, which contained the
240 top-level structure of a book: the <book> element, containing the
241 book <title> and empty component elements (<preface>, <chapter>,
242 <appendix>, etc.), each with filename attributes pointing to the
243 actual source for the component. Something like this::
246 <title>Title of the Book</title>
247 <preface inrefid="pr01"></preface>
248 <chapter inrefid="ch01"></chapter>
249 <chapter inrefid="ch02"></chapter>
250 <chapter inrefid="ch03"></chapter>
251 <appendix inrefid="ap01"></appendix>
254 (The "inrefid" attribute stood for "insertion reference ID".)
256 The processing system would process each component separately, but
257 it would recognize and use the book file to coordinate chapter and
258 page numbering, and keep a persistent ID to (title, page number)
259 mapping database for cross-references. Docutils could use a similar
260 system for large-scale, multipart documents.
262 __ ../ref/rst/directives.html#including-an-external-document-fragment
278 As I said earlier in chapter :chapter:`Objects.txt`, the
279 reference count gets increased every time a binding is made.
283 As I said earlier in chapter 2, the
284 reference count gets increased every time a binding is made.
286 The ToC in this form doesn't even need to be references to actual
287 reST documents; I'm simply doing it that way for a minimum of
288 future-proofing, in case I do want to add the ability to pick up
289 references within external chapters.
291 Perhaps, instead of ToC (which would overload the "contents"
292 directive concept already in use), we could use "manifest". A
293 "manifest" directive might associate local reference names with
297 intro: Introduction.txt
302 Then the sample becomes::
304 .. include:: manifest.txt
306 As I said earlier in chapter :chapter:`objects`, the
307 reference count gets increased every time a binding is made.
309 * Add support for _`multiple output files` and _`generic data
312 It should be possible for a component to **emit or reference** data
313 to be either **included or referenced** in the output document.
314 Examples of such data are stylesheets or images.
316 For this, we need a "data" object which stores the data either
317 inline or by referring to a file. The Docutils framework is
318 responsible for either:
320 * storing the data in the appropriate location (e.g. in the
321 directory of the output file, or in a user-specified directory)
322 and providing the paths of the stored files to the writer, *or*
324 * providing the data itself to the writer so that it can be embedded
325 in the output document.
327 This approach decouples data handling from the data source (which
328 can either be embedded or referenced) and the destination (which can
329 either be embedded or referenced as well).
331 See <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3631>.
333 * Add testing for Docutils' front end tools?
335 * Publisher: "Ordinary setup" shouldn't requre specific ordering; at
336 the very least, there ought to be error checking higher up in the
339 ``Publisher.get_settings`` requires that all components be set up
340 before it's called. Perhaps the I/O *objects* shouldn't be set, but
341 I/O *classes*. Then options are set up (``.set_options``), and
342 ``Publisher.set_io`` (or equivalent code) is called with source &
343 destination paths, creating the I/O objects.
345 Perhaps I/O objects shouldn't be instantiated until required. For
346 split output, the Writer may be called multiple times, once for each
347 doctree, and each doctree should have a separate Output object (with
348 a different path). Is the "Builder" pattern applicable here?
350 * Perhaps I/O objects should become full-fledged components (i.e.
351 subclasses of ``docutils.Component``, as are Readers, Parsers, and
352 Writers now), and thus have associated option/setting specs and
355 * Multiple file I/O suggestion from Michael Hudson: use a file-like
356 object or something you can iterate over to get file-like objects.
358 * Add an "--input-language" option & setting? Specify a different
359 language module for input (bibliographic fields, directives) than
360 for output. The "--language" option would set both input & output
363 * Auto-generate reference tables for language-dependent features?
364 Could be generated from the source modules. A special command-line
365 option could be added to Docutils front ends to do this. (Idea from
368 * Enable feedback of some kind from internal decisions, such as
369 reporting the successful input encoding. Modify runtime settings?
370 System message? Simple stderr output?
372 * Rationalize Writer settings (HTML/LaTeX/PEP) -- share settings.
374 * Add an "--include file" command-line option (config setting too?),
375 equivalent to ".. include:: file" as the first line of the doc text?
376 Especially useful for character entity sets, text transform specs,
379 * Parameterize the Reporter object or class? See the `2004-02-18
380 "rest checking and source path"`_ thread.
382 .. _2004-02-18 "rest checking and source path":
383 http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1112
385 * Add a "disable_transforms" setting? And a dummy Writer subclass
386 that does nothing when its .write() method is called? Would allow
387 for easy syntax checking. See the `2004-02-18 "rest checking and
388 source path"`_ thread.
390 * Add a generic meta-stylesheet mechanism? An external file could
391 associate style names ("class" attributes) with specific elements.
392 Could be generalized to arbitrary output attributes; useful for HTML
393 & XMLs. Aahz implemented something like this in
394 sandbox/aahz/Effective/EffMap.py.
396 * .. _classes for table cells:
398 William Dode suggested that table cells be assigned "class"
399 attributes by columns, so that stylesheets can affect text
400 alignment. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way (in HTML
401 at least) to leverage the "colspec" elements (HTML "col" tags) by
402 adding classes to them. The resulting HTML is very verbose::
404 <td class="col1">111</td>
405 <td class="col2">222</td>
408 At the very least, it should be an option. People who don't use it
409 shouldn't be penalized by increases in their HTML file sizes.
411 Table rows could also be assigned classes (like odd/even). That
412 would be easier to implement.
414 How should it be implemented?
416 * There could be writer options (column classes & row classes) with
419 * The table directive could grow some options. Something like
420 ":cell-classes: col1 col2 col3" (either must match the number of
421 columns, or repeat to fill?) and ":row-classes: odd even" (repeat
422 to fill; body rows only, or header rows too?).
424 Probably per-table directive options are best. The "class" values
425 could be used by any writer, and applying such classes to all tables
426 in a document with writer options is too broad.
428 * Add file-specific settings support to config files, like::
433 Is this even possible? Should the criterion be the name of the
434 input file or the output file? Alternative (more explicit) syntax::
436 [source_file index.txt]
439 [dest_file index.html]
442 Or rather allow settings configuration from the rst source file
443 (see misc.settings_ directive)?
445 * The "validator" support added to OptionParser is very similar to
446 "traits_" in SciPy_. Perhaps something could be done with them?
447 (Had I known about traits when I was implementing docutils.frontend,
448 I may have used them instead of rolling my own.)
450 .. _traits: http://code.enthought.com/traits/
451 .. _SciPy: http://www.scipy.org/
453 * tools/buildhtml.py: Extend the --prune option ("prune" config
454 setting) to accept file names (generic path) in addition to
455 directories (e.g. --prune=docs/user/rst/cheatsheet.txt, which should
456 *not* be converted to HTML).
458 * Add support for _`plugins`.
460 * _`Config directories`: Currently, ~/.docutils, ./docutils.conf/, &
461 /etc/docutils.conf are read as configuration files. Proposal: allow
462 ~/.docutils to be a a configuration *directory*, along with
463 /etc/docutils/ and ./docutils.conf/. Within these directories,
464 check for config.txt files. We can also have subdirectories here,
465 for plugins, S5 themes, components (readers/writers/parsers) etc.
467 Docutils will continue to support configuration files for backwards
470 * Add support for document decorations other than headers & footers?
471 For example, top/bottom/side navigation bars for web pages. Generic
474 Seems like a bad idea as long as it isn't independent from the ouput
475 format (for example, navigation bars are only useful for web pages).
477 * docutils_update: Check for a ``Makefile`` in a directory, and run
478 ``make`` if found? This would allow for variant processing on
479 specific source files, such as running rst2s5.py instead of
482 * Add a "disable table of contents" setting? The S5 writer could set
483 it as a default. Rationale:
485 The ``contents`` (table of contents) directive must not be used
486 [in S5/HTML documents]. It changes the CSS class of headings
487 and they won't show up correctly in the screen presentation.
489 -- `Easy Slide Shows With reStructuredText & S5
490 <../user/slide-shows.html>`_
492 Analogue to the ``sectnum_xform`` setting, it could be used by the
493 latex writer to switch to a LaTeX generated ToC (currently, the latex
494 writer calls it "use_latex_toc").
496 object numbering and object references
497 --------------------------------------
499 For equations, tables & figures.
501 These would be the equivalent of DocBook's "formal" elements.
503 In LaTeX, automatic counters are implemented for sections, equations and
504 floats (figures, tables) (configurable via stylesheets or in the
505 latex-preamble). Objects can be given `reference names`_ with the
506 ``\label{<refname}`` command, ``\ref{<refname>}`` inserts the
507 corresponding number.
509 No such mechanism exists in HTML.
511 * We need _`persistent sequences`, similar to chapter and footnote
512 numbers. See `OpenOffice.org XML`_ "fields".
514 - Should the sequences be automatic or manual (user-specifyable)?
516 * It is already possible to give `reference names`_ to objects via
517 internal hyperlink targets or the "name" directive option::
521 .. figure:: image.png
525 .. figure:: image.png
528 Improve the mapping of "phrase references" to IDs/labels with
529 Literal transcription (i.e. ü -> ue, ß -> ss, å -> aa) instead of just
530 stripping the accents and other non-ASCII chars.
531 Use http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Unidecode?
533 A "table" directive has been implemented, supporting table titles.
535 Perhaps the name could derive from the title/caption?
537 .. _reference names: ../ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#reference-names
539 * We need syntax for object references. Cf. `OpenOffice.org XML`_
542 - Parameterized substitutions are too complicated
543 (cf. `or not to do`: `object references`_)
545 - An interpreted text approach is simpler and better::
547 See Figure :ref:`figure name` and Equation :ref:`eq:identity`.
549 - "equation", "figure", and "page" roles could generate appropriate
552 See :figure:`figure name` on :page:`figure name`.
554 See `Interpreted Text`_ below.
556 Reference boilerplate could be specified in the document
557 (defaulting to nothing)::
560 :prefix-ref: "Figure "
561 :prefix-caption: "Fig. "
564 The position of the role (prefix or suffix) could also be utilized
566 .. _OpenOffice.org XML: http://xml.openoffice.org/
567 .. _object references: rst/alternatives.html#object-references
569 See also the `Modified rst2html
570 <http://www.loria.fr/~rougier/coding/article/rst2html.py>`__
571 by Nicolas Rougier for a sample implementation.
580 * Add a FAQ entry about using Docutils (with reStructuredText) on a
581 server and that it's terribly slow. See the first paragraphs in
582 <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1584>.
584 * Add document about what Docutils has previously been used for
585 (web/use-cases.txt?).
587 * Improve index in docs/user/config.txt.
593 * Complete `Docutils Runtime Settings <../api/runtime-settings.html>`_.
595 * Improve the internal module documentation (docstrings in the code).
596 Specific deficiencies listed below.
598 - docutils.parsers.rst.states.State.build_table: data structure
599 required (including StringList).
601 - docutils.parsers.rst.states: more complete documentation of parser
604 * docs/ref/doctree.txt: DTD element structural relationships,
605 semantics, and attributes. In progress; element descriptions to be
608 * Document the ``pending`` elements, how they're generated and what
611 * Document the transforms (perhaps in docstrings?): how they're used,
612 what they do, dependencies & order considerations.
614 * Document the HTML classes used by html4css1.py.
616 * Write an overview of the Docutils architecture, as an introduction
617 for developers. What connects to what, why, and how. Either update
618 PEP 258 (see PEPs_ below) or as a separate doc.
620 * Give information about unit tests. Maybe as a howto?
622 * Document the docutils.nodes APIs.
624 * Complete the docs/api/publisher.txt docs.
630 * Creating Docutils Writers
632 * Creating Docutils Readers
634 * Creating Docutils Transforms
636 * Creating Docutils Parsers
638 * Using Docutils as a Library
644 * Complete PEP 258 Docutils Design Specification.
646 - Fill in the blanks in API details.
648 - Specify the nodes.py internal data structure implementation?
650 [Tibs:] Eventually we need to have direct documentation in
651 there on how it all hangs together - the DTD is not enough
652 (indeed, is it still meant to be correct? [Yes, it is.
655 * Rework PEP 257, separating style from spec from tools, wrt Docutils?
656 See Doc-SIG from 2001-06-19/20.
664 * Analyze Tony Ibbs' PySource code.
666 * Analyze Doug Hellmann's HappyDoc project.
668 * Investigate how POD handles literate programming.
670 * Take the best ideas and integrate them into Docutils.
674 * Ask Python-dev for opinions (GvR for a pronouncement) on special
675 variables (__author__, __version__, etc.): convenience vs. namespace
676 pollution. Ask opinions on whether or not Docutils should recognize
679 * If we can detect that a comment block begins with ``##``, a la
680 JavaDoc, it might be useful to indicate interspersed section headers
681 & explanatory text in a module. For example::
683 """Module docstring."""
696 class MyException(Exception): pass
700 * Should standalone strings also become (module/class) docstrings?
701 Under what conditions? We want to prevent arbitrary strings from
702 becomming docstrings of prior attribute assignments etc. Assume
703 that there must be no blank lines between attributes and attribute
704 docstrings? (Use lineno of NEWLINE token.)
706 Triple-quotes are sometimes used for multi-line comments (such as
707 commenting out blocks of code). How to reconcile?
709 * HappyDoc's idea of using comment blocks when there's no docstring
710 may be useful to get around the conflict between `additional
711 docstrings`_ and ``from __future__ import`` for module docstrings.
712 A module could begin like this::
714 #!/usr/bin/env python
716 # :Copyright: whatever
718 """This is the public module docstring (``__doc__``)."""
720 # More docs, in comments.
721 # All comments at the beginning of a module could be
722 # accumulated as docstrings.
723 # We can't have another docstring here, because of the
724 # ``__future__`` statement.
726 from __future__ import division
728 Using the JavaDoc convention of a doc-comment block beginning with
729 ``##`` is useful though. It allows doc-comments and implementation
732 .. _additional docstrings:
733 ../peps/pep-0258.html#additional-docstrings
735 * HappyDoc uses an initial comment block to set "parser configuration
736 values". Do the same thing for Docutils, to set runtime settings on
737 a per-module basis? I.e.::
739 # Docutils:setting=value
741 Could be used to turn on/off function parameter comment recognition
742 & other marginal features. Could be used as a general mechanism to
743 augment config files and command-line options (but which takes
746 * Multi-file output should be divisible at arbitrary level.
748 * Support all forms of ``import`` statements:
750 - ``import module``: listed as "module"
751 - ``import module as alias``: "alias (module)"
752 - ``from module import identifier``: "identifier (from module)"
753 - ``from module import identifier as alias``: "alias (identifier
755 - ``from module import *``: "all identifiers (``*``) from module"
757 * Have links to colorized Python source files from API docs? And
758 vice-versa: backlinks from the colorized source files to the API
761 * In summaries, use the first *sentence* of a docstring if the first
762 line is not followed by a blank line.
765 reStructuredText Parser
766 =======================
768 Also see the `... Or Not To Do?`__ list.
770 __ rst/alternatives.html#or-not-to-do
775 * Another list problem::
781 This ends up as a definition list. This is more of a usability
784 * This case is probably meant to be a nested list, but it ends up as a
785 list inside a block-quote without an error message::
791 It should probably just be an error.
793 The problem with this is that you don't notice easily in HTML that
794 it's not a nested list but a block-quote -- there's not much of a
797 * Treat enumerated lists that are not arabic and consist of only one
798 item in a single line as ordinary paragraphs. See
799 <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2635>.
801 * The citation syntax could use some improvements. See
802 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2499> (and the
804 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2499/focus=3028>,
805 and the follow-ups at
806 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3087>,
807 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3110>,
808 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3114>),
809 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2443>,
810 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2715>,
811 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3027>,
812 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3120>,
813 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3253>.
815 * The current list-recognition logic has too many false positives, as
822 Here ``V.`` is recognized as an enumerator, which leads to
823 confusion. We need to find a solution that resolves such problems
824 without complicating the spec to much.
826 See <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2524>.
828 * Add indirect links via citation references & footnote references.
831 `Goodger (2005)`_ is helpful.
833 .. _Goodger (2005): [goodger2005]_
834 .. [goodger2005] citation text
836 See <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2499>.
838 * Complain about bad URI characters
839 (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2046) and
840 disallow internal whitespace
841 (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2214).
843 * Create ``info``-level system messages for unnecessarily
844 backslash-escaped characters (as in ``"\something"``, rendered as
845 "something") to allow checking for errors which silently slipped
848 * Add (functional) tests for untested roles.
850 * Add test for ":figwidth: image" option of "figure" directive. (Test
851 code needs to check if PIL is available on the system.)
853 * Add support for CJK double-width whitespace (indentation) &
854 punctuation characters (markup; e.g. double-width "*", "-", "+")?
856 * Add motivation sections for constructs in spec.
858 * Support generic hyperlink references to _`targets in other
859 documents`? Not in an HTML-centric way, though (it's trivial to say
860 ``http://www.example.com/doc#name``, and useless in non-HTML
861 contexts). XLink/XPointer? ``.. baseref::``? See Doc-SIG
864 * .. _adaptable file extensions:
866 In target URLs, it would be useful to not explicitly specify the
867 file extension. If we're generating HTML, then ".html" is
868 appropriate; if PDF, then ".pdf"; etc. How about using ".*" to
869 indicate "choose the most appropriate filename extension"? For
872 .. _Another Document: another.*
874 What is to be done for output formats that don't *have* hyperlinks?
875 For example, LaTeX targeted at print. Hyperlinks may be "called
876 out", as footnotes with explicit URLs. (Don't convert the links.)
878 But then there's also LaTeX targeted at PDFs, which *can* have
879 links. Perhaps a runtime setting for "*" could explicitly provide
880 the extension, defaulting to the output file's extension.
882 Should the system check for existing files? No, not practical.
884 Handle documents only, or objects (images, etc.) also?
886 If this handles images also, how to differentiate between document
887 and image links? Element context (within "image")? Which image
888 extension to use for which document format? Again, a runtime
889 setting would suffice.
891 This may not be just a parser issue; it may need framework support.
893 Mailing list threads: `Images in both HTML and LaTeX`__ (especially
894 `this summary of Lea's objections`__), `more-universal links?`__,
895 `Output-format-sensitive link targets?`__
897 __ http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1239
898 __ http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1278
899 __ http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1915
900 __ http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/2438
902 Idea from Jim Fulton: an external lookup table of targets:
904 I would like to specify the extension (e.g. .txt) [in the
905 source, rather than ``filename.*``], but tell the converter to
906 change references to the files anticipating that the files will
911 .. _Another Document: another.txt
913 rst2html.py --convert-links "another.txt bar.txt" foo.txt
915 That is, name the files for which extensions should be converted.
917 Note that I want to refer to original files in the original text
918 (another.txt rather than another.txt) because I want the
919 unconverted text to stand on its own.
921 Note that in most cases, people will be able to use globs::
923 rst2html.py --convert-link-extensions-for "`echo *.txt`" foo.txt
925 It might be nice to be able to use multiple arguments, as in::
927 rst2html.py --convert-link-extensions-for *.txt -- foo.txt
931 > What is to be done for output formats
932 > that don't have hyperlinks?
934 Don't convert the links.
938 > Handle documents only, or objects
939 > (images, etc.) also?
941 No, documents only, but there really is no need for gueswork.
942 Just get the file names as command-line arguments. EIBTI
943 [explicit is better than implicit].
945 For images, we probably need separate solution (which is being
946 worked on), whereas for documents, the issue is basically
947 interlinking between reStructuredText documents. IMO, this cries
948 for support for multiple input and output files, i.e. support for
949 documents which comprise multiple files. Adding adaptable file
950 extensions seems like a kludge. // FW
952 * Implement the header row separator modification to table.el. (Wrote
953 to Takaaki Ota & the table.el mailing list on 2001-08-12, suggesting
954 support for "=====" header rows. On 2001-08-17 he replied, saying
955 he'd put it on his to-do list, but "don't hold your breath".)
957 * Fix the parser's indentation handling to conform with the stricter
958 definition in the spec. (Explicit markup blocks should be strict or
961 .. XXX What does this mean? Can you elaborate, David?
963 * Make the parser modular. Allow syntax constructs to be added or
964 disabled at run-time. Subclassing is probably not enough because it
965 makes it difficult to apply multiple extensions.
967 * Generalize the "doctest block" construct (which is overly
968 Python-centric) to other interactive sessions? "Doctest block"
969 could be renamed to "I/O block" or "interactive block", and each of
970 these could also be recognized as such by the parser:
975 A block beginning with a "$ " prompt is interpreted as a shell
976 session interactive block. As with Doctest blocks, the
977 interactive block ends with the first blank line, and wouldn't
980 - Root shell sessions::
983 A block beginning with a "# " prompt is interpreted as a root
984 shell session (the user is or has to be logged in as root)
985 interactive block. Again, the block ends with a blank line.
987 Other standard (and unambiguous) interactive session prompts could
988 easily be added (such as "> " for WinDOS).
990 Tony Ibbs spoke out against this idea (2002-06-14 Doc-SIG thread
991 "docutils feedback").
993 * Add support for pragma (syntax-altering) directives.
995 Some pragma directives could be local-scope unless explicitly
996 specified as global/pragma using ":global:" options.
998 * Support whitespace in angle-bracketed standalone URLs according to
999 Appendix E ("Recommendations for Delimiting URI in Context") of `RFC
1002 .. _RFC 2396: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt
1004 * Use the vertical spacing of the source text to determine the
1005 corresponding vertical spacing of the output?
1007 * [From Mark Nodine] For cells in simple tables that comprise a
1008 single line, the justification can be inferred according to the
1011 1. If the text begins at the leftmost column of the cell,
1012 then left justification, ELSE
1013 2. If the text begins at the rightmost column of the cell,
1014 then right justification, ELSE
1015 3. Center justification.
1017 The onus is on the author to make the text unambiguous by adding
1018 blank columns as necessary. There should be a parser setting to
1019 turn off justification-recognition (normally on would be fine).
1021 Decimal justification?
1023 All this shouldn't be done automatically. Only when it's requested
1024 by the user, e.g. with something like this::
1031 Otherwise it will break existing documents.
1033 * Generate a warning or info message for paragraphs which should have
1034 been lists, like this one::
1039 * Generalize the "target-notes" directive into a command-line option
1040 somehow? See docutils-develop 2003-02-13.
1042 * Allow a "::"-only paragraph (first line, actually) to introduce a
1043 _`literal block without a blank line`? (Idea from Paul Moore.) ::
1046 This is a literal block
1048 Is indentation enough to make the separation between a paragraph
1049 which contains just a ``::`` and the literal text unambiguous?
1050 (There's one problem with this concession: If one wants a definition
1051 list item which defines the term "::", we'd have to escape it.) It
1052 would only be reasonable to apply it to "::"-only paragraphs though.
1053 I think the blank line is visually necessary if there's text before
1056 The text in this paragraph needs separation
1057 from the literal block following::
1058 This doesn't look right.
1060 * Add new syntax for _`nested inline markup`? Or extend the parser to
1061 parse nested inline markup somehow? See the `collected notes
1062 <rst/alternatives.html#nested-inline-markup>`__.
1064 * Drop the backticks from embedded URIs with omitted reference text?
1065 Should the angle brackets be kept in the output or not? ::
1069 Probably not worth the trouble.
1071 * How about a syntax for alternative hyperlink behavior, such as "open
1072 in a new window" (as in HTML's ``<a target="_blank">``)?
1074 The MoinMoin wiki uses a caret ("^") at the beginning of the URL
1075 ("^" is not a legal URI character). That could work for both inline
1076 and explicit targets::
1078 The `reference docs <^url>`__ may be handy.
1082 This may be too specific to HTML. It hasn't been requested very
1085 * Add an option to add URI schemes at runtime.
1087 * _`Segmented lists`::
1089 : segment : segment : segment
1090 : segment : segment : very long
1092 : segment : segment : segment
1094 The initial colon (":") can be thought of as a type of bullet
1096 We could even have segment titles::
1098 :: title : title : title
1099 : segment : segment : segment
1100 : segment : segment : segment
1102 This would correspond well to DocBook's SegmentedList. Output could
1103 be tabular or "name: value" pairs, as described in DocBook's docs.
1105 * Allow backslash-escaped colons in field names::
1107 :Case Study\: Event Handling: This chapter will be dropped.
1109 * Enable grid _`tables inside XML comments`, where "``--``" ends comments.
1111 Implementation possibilities:
1113 1. Make the table syntax characters into "table" directive options.
1114 This is the most flexible but most difficult, and we probably
1115 don't need that much flexibility.
1117 2. Substitute "~" for "-" with a specialized directive option
1120 3. Make the standard table syntax recognize "~" as well as "-", even
1121 without a directive option. Individual tables would have to be
1122 internally consistent.
1124 4. Allow Unicode box characters for table markup
1125 (`feature request [6]`_)
1127 Directive options are preferable to configuration settings, because
1128 tables are document-specific. A pragma directive would be another
1129 approach, to set the syntax once for a whole document.
1131 Unicode box character markup would kill two birds with one stone.
1133 In the meantime, the list-table_ directive is a good replacement for
1134 grid tables inside XML comments.
1136 .. _feature request [6]:
1137 http://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/feature-requests/6
1138 .. _list-table: ../ref/rst/directives.html#list-table
1141 * Generalize docinfo contents (bibliographic fields): remove specific
1142 fields, and have only a single generic "field"?
1144 * _`Line numbers` and "source" in system messages:
1146 - Add "source" and "line" keyword arguments to all Reporter calls?
1147 This would require passing source/line arguments along all
1148 intermediate functions (where currently only `line` is used).
1150 Or rather specify "line" only if actually needed?
1152 Currently, `document.reporter` uses a state machine instance to
1153 determine the "source" and "line" info from
1154 `statemachine.input_lines` if not given explicitely. Except for
1155 special cases, the "line" argument is not needed because,
1156 `document.statemachine` keeps record of the current line number.
1158 - For system messages generated after the parsing is completed (i.e. by
1159 transforms or the writer) "line" info must be present in the doctree
1162 Elements' .line assignments should be checked. (Assign to .source
1163 too? Add a set_info method? To what?)
1165 The "source" (and line number in the source) can either be added
1166 explicitely to the elements or determined from the “raw” line
1167 number by `document.statemachine.get_source_and_line`.
1169 - Some line numbers in elements are not being set properly
1170 (explicitly), just implicitly/automatically. See rev. 1.74 of
1171 docutils/parsers/rst/states.py for an example of how to set.
1173 - The line numbers of definition list items are wrong::
1175 $ rst2pseudoxml.py --expose-internal-attribute line
1184 <document source="<stdin>">
1186 <definition_list_item internal:line="3">
1190 <paragraph internal:line="2">
1193 <definition_list_item internal:line="6">
1197 <paragraph internal:line="6">
1203 Quite a few nodes are getting a "None" source attribute as well. In
1204 particular, see the bodies of definition lists.
1211 Since Docutils 0.8, a "math" role and directive using LaTeX math
1212 syntax as input format is part of reStructuredText.
1216 * Use a "Transform" for math format conversions as extensively discussed in
1217 the "math directive issues" thread in May 2008
1218 (http://osdir.com/ml/text.docutils.devel/2008-05/threads.html)?
1220 * Generic "math-output" option (currently specific to HTML).
1221 (List of math-output preferences?)
1223 * Try to be compatible with `Math support in Sphinx`_?
1225 * The ``:label:`` option selects a label for the equation, by which it
1226 can be cross-referenced, and causes an equation number to be issued.
1227 In Docutils, the option ``:name:`` sets the label.
1228 Equation numbering is not implemented yet.
1230 * Option ``:nowrap:`` prevents wrapping of the given math in a
1231 math environment (you have to specify the math environment in the
1234 .. _Math support in Sphinx: http://sphinx.pocoo.org/ext/math.html
1236 * Equation numbering and references. (Should be handled in a unified way
1237 with other numbered entities like formal tables and images.)
1239 alternative input formats
1240 `````````````````````````
1242 Use a directive option to specify an alternative input format, e.g. (but not
1246 Not for hand-written code but maybe usefull when pasted in (or included
1249 For an overview of MathML implementations and tests, see, e.g.,
1250 the `mathweb wiki`_ or the `ConTeXT MathML page`_.
1252 .. _MathML: http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML2/
1253 .. _mathweb wiki: http://www.mathweb.org/wiki/MathML
1254 .. _ConTeXT MathML page: http://wiki.contextgarden.net/MathML
1258 Simple, ASCII based math input language (see also `ASCIIMath tutorial`_).
1260 * The Python module ASCIIMathML_ translates a string with ASCIIMath into a
1261 MathML tree. Used, e.g., by MultiMarkdown__.
1263 A more comprehensive implementation is ASCIIMathPython_ by
1264 Paul Trembley (also used in his sandbox projects).
1266 * For conversion to LaTeX, there is a JavaScript script at
1267 http://dlippman.imathas.com/asciimathtex/ASCIIMath2TeX.js
1269 .. _ASCIIMath: http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/mathml/asciimath.html
1270 .. _ASCIIMath tutorial:
1271 http://www.wjagray.co.uk/maths/ASCIIMathTutorial.html
1272 .. _ASCIIMathML: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/asciimathml/
1273 .. _ASCIIMathPython: http://sourceforge.net/projects/asciimathpython/
1274 __ http://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/
1276 `Unicode Nearly Plain Text Encoding of Mathematics`_
1277 format for lightly marked-up representation of mathematical
1278 expressions in Unicode.
1280 (Unicode Technical Note. Sole responsibility for its contents rests
1281 with the author(s). Publication does not imply any endorsement by
1282 the Unicode Consortium.)
1284 .. _Unicode Nearly Plain Text Encoding of Mathematics:
1285 http://www.unicode.org/notes/tn28/
1288 See `the culmination of a relevant discussion in 2003
1289 <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/118>`__.
1296 Which equation environments should be supported by the math directive?
1300 + numbered: `equation`
1301 + unnumbered: `equation*`
1303 * multiline (test for ``\\`` outside of a nested environment
1304 (e.g. `array` or `cases`)
1306 + numbered: `align` (number every line)
1308 (To give one common number to all lines, put them in a `split`
1309 environment. Docutils then places it in an `equation` environment.)
1311 + unnumbered: `align*`
1313 + Sphinx math also supports `gather` (checking for blank lines in
1314 the content). Docutils puts content blocks separated by blank
1315 lines in separate math-block doctree nodes. (The only difference of
1316 `gather` to two consecutive "normal" environments seems to be that
1317 page-breaks between the two are prevented.)
1319 See http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~hildebr/tex/displays.html.
1325 There is no native math support in HTML.
1328 Converters from LaTeX to MathML include
1330 * latex_math_ (Python) by Jens Jørgen Mortensen in the Docutils sandbox
1332 This is the base for Docutils latex2mathml_ module used by
1333 default with ``--math-output=MathML``.
1335 * blahtexml_ (C++), supported with ``--math-output=MathML blahtexml``.
1337 Fast conversion, support for many symbols and environments, but
1338 no "align" (or other equation-aligning) environment.
1340 * LaTeXML_ (Perl), supported with ``--math-output=MathML latexml``.
1342 Comprehensive macro support but very slow
1344 * TtM_ (C), ``--math-output=MathML ttm``, support may be removed.
1346 No "matrix", "align" and "cases" environments.
1349 * TeX4ht_ (TeX based)
1350 * itex_ (also `used in Abiword`__)
1351 * `Steve’s LATEX-to-MathML translator`_
1352 ('mini-language', javascript, Python)
1355 * Write a new converter? E.g. based on:
1357 * a generic tokenizer (see e.g. a `latex-codec recipe`_,
1358 `updated latex-codec`_, )
1359 * the Unicode-Char <-> LaTeX mappings database unimathsymbols_
1361 __ http://msevior.livejournal.com/26377.html
1362 .. _MathML: http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML2/
1363 .. _latex_math: ../../../sandbox/jensj/latex_math/
1364 .. _latex2mathml: ../../docutils/math/latex2mathml.py
1365 .. _blahtexml: http://gva.noekeon.org/blahtexml/
1366 .. _LaTeXML: http://dlmf.nist.gov/LaTeXML/
1367 .. _ttm: http://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/mml/
1368 .. _TeX4ht: http://www.tug.org/applications/tex4ht/mn.html
1369 .. _MathToWeb: http://www.mathtoweb.com/
1370 .. _itex: http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/blog/itex2MMLcommands.html
1371 .. _Steve’s LATEX-to-MathML translator:
1372 http://www.gold-saucer.org/mathml/greasemonkey/dist/display-latex
1373 .. _latex-codec recipe:
1374 http://code.activestate.com/recipes/252124-latex-codec/
1375 .. _updated latex-codec:
1376 http://mirror.ctan.org/biblio/bibtex/utils/mab2bib/latex.py
1377 .. _unimathsymbols: http://milde.users.sourceforge.net/LUCR/Math/
1380 .. _itex: http://pear.math.pitt.edu/mathzilla/itex2mmlItex.html
1384 format math in standard HTML enhanced by CSS rules
1385 (Overview__, `Examples and experiments`__).
1387 The ``math-output=html`` option uses the converter from eLyXer_
1388 (included with Docutils).
1390 Alternatives: LaTeX-math to HTML/CSS converters include
1393 * Hevea_ (Objective Caml)
1395 __ http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/math/
1396 __ http://www.zipcon.net/~swhite/docs/math/math.html
1397 .. _elyxer: http://elyxer.nongnu.org/
1398 .. _TtH: ttp://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/index.html
1399 .. _Hevea: http://para.inria.fr/~maranget/hevea/
1402 (PNG or SVG) like e.g. Wikipedia. (e.g. with dvisvgm_ or the
1403 pure-python MathML->SVG converter SVGMath_)
1405 .. _dvisvgm: http://dvisvgm.sourceforge.net/
1406 .. _SVGMath: http://www.grigoriev.ru/svgmath/
1412 * The `OpenDocument standard`_ version 1.1 says:
1414 Mathematical content is represented by MathML 2.0
1416 However, putting MathML into an ODP file seems tricky as these
1417 (maybe outdated) links suppose:
1418 http://idippedut.dk/post/2008/01/25/Do-your-math-ODF-and-MathML.aspx
1419 http://idippedut.dk/post/2008/03/03/Now-I-get-it-ODF-and-MathML.aspx
1421 .. _OpenDocument standard:
1422 http://www.oasis-open.org/standards#opendocumentv1.1
1424 * OOoLaTeX__: "a set of macros designed to bring the power of LaTeX
1427 __ http://ooolatex.sourceforge.net/
1433 Directives below are often referred to as "module.directive", the
1434 directive function. The "module." is not part of the directive name
1435 when used in a document.
1437 * Allow for field lists in list tables. See
1438 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3392>.
1442 Unify table implementations and unify options of table directives
1443 (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/1857).
1445 * Allow directives to be added at run-time?
1447 * Use the language module for directive option names?
1449 * Add "substitution_only" and "substitution_ok" function attributes,
1450 and automate context checking?
1452 * Implement options or features on existing directives:
1454 - All directives that produce titled elements should grow implicit
1455 reference names based on the titles.
1457 - Allow the _`:trim:` option for all directives when they occur in a
1458 substitution definition, not only the unicode_ directive.
1460 .. _unicode: ../ref/rst/directives.html#unicode-character-codes
1462 - Add the "class" option to the unicode_ directive. For example, you
1463 might want to get characters or strings with borders around them.
1465 - _`images.figure`: "title" and "number", to indicate a formal
1468 - _`parts.sectnum`: "local"?, "refnum"
1470 A "local" option could enable numbering for sections from a
1471 certain point down, and sections in the rest of the document are
1472 not numbered. For example, a reference section of a manual might
1473 be numbered, but not the rest. OTOH, an all-or-nothing approach
1474 would probably be enough.
1476 The "sectnum" directive should be usable multiple times in a
1477 single document. For example, in a long document with "chapter"
1478 and "appendix" sections, there could be a second "sectnum" before
1479 the first appendix, changing the sequence used (from 1,2,3... to
1480 A,B,C...). This is where the "local" concept comes in. This part
1481 of the implementation can be left for later.
1483 A "refnum" option (better name?) would insert reference names
1484 (targets) consisting of the reference number. Then a URL could be
1485 of the form ``http://host/document.html#2.5`` (or "2-5"?). Allow
1486 internal references by number? Allow name-based *and*
1487 number-based ids at the same time, or only one or the other (which
1488 would the table of contents use)? Usage issue: altering the
1489 section structure of a document could render hyperlinks invalid.
1491 - _`parts.contents`: Add a "suppress" or "prune" option? It would
1492 suppress contents display for sections in a branch from that point
1493 down. Or a new directive, like "prune-contents"?
1495 Add an option to include topics in the TOC? Another for sidebars?
1496 The "topic" directive could have a "contents" option, or the
1497 "contents" directive" could have an "include-topics" option. See
1498 docutils-develop 2003-01-29.
1500 - _`parts.header` & _`parts.footer`: Support multiple, named headers
1501 & footers? For example, separate headers & footers for odd, even,
1502 and the first page of a document.
1504 This may be too specific to output formats which have a notion of
1509 - Add a ``:parent:`` option for setting the parent's class
1510 (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3165).
1514 - Option to label lines?
1516 - How about an environment variable, say RSTINCLUDEPATH or
1517 RSTPATH, for standard includes (as in ``.. include:: <name>``)?
1518 This could be combined with a setting/option to allow
1519 user-defined include directories.
1521 - Add support for inclusion by URL? ::
1524 :url: http://www.example.org/inclusion.txt
1526 - Strip blank lines from begin and end of a literal included file or
1527 file section. This would correspond to the way a literal block is
1530 As nodes.literal_block expects (and we have) the text as a string
1531 (rather than a list of lines), using a regexp seems the way.
1533 - _`misc.raw`: add a "destination" option to the "raw" directive? ::
1540 It needs thought & discussion though, to come up with a consistent
1541 set of destination labels and consistent behavior.
1543 And placing HTML code inside the <head> element of an HTML
1544 document is rather the job of a templating system.
1546 - _`body.sidebar`: Allow internal section structure? Adornment
1547 styles would be independent of the main document.
1549 That is really complicated, however, and the document model
1550 greatly benefits from its simplicity.
1552 * Implement directives. Each of the list items below begins with an
1553 identifier of the form, "module_name.directive_function_name". The
1554 directive name itself could be the same as the
1555 directive_function_name, or it could differ.
1559 It has the disadvantage that it's only easily implementable for
1560 HTML, so it's specific to one output format.
1562 (For non-HTML writers, the imagemap would have to be replaced with
1565 - _`parts.endnotes` (or "footnotes"): See `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_.
1567 - _`parts.citations`: See `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_.
1569 - _`misc.language`: Specify (= change) the language of a document at
1572 * The misc.settings_ directive suggested below offers a more generic
1575 * The language of document parts can be indicated by the "special class
1576 value" ``"language-"`` + `BCP 47`_ language code. Class arguments to
1577 the title are attached to the document's base node - hence titled
1578 documents can be given a different language at parse time. However,
1579 "language by class attribute" does not change parsing (localized
1580 directives etc.), only supporting writers.
1582 .. _BCP 47: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/bcp/bcp47.txt
1585 - _`misc.settings`: Set any(?) Docutils runtime setting from within
1586 a document? Needs much thought and discussion.
1588 Security concerns need to be taken into account (it shouldn't be
1589 possible to enable ``file_insertion_enabled`` from within a
1590 document), and settings that only would have taken effect before
1591 the directive (like ``tab-width``) shouldn't be accessible either.
1593 See this sub-thread:
1594 <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.user/3620/focus=3649>
1596 - _`misc.gather`: Gather (move, or copy) all instances of a specific
1597 element. A generalization of the `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_
1600 - Add a custom "directive" directive, equivalent to "role"? For
1605 .. class:: incremental
1609 "``.. incr::``" above is equivalent to "``.. class:: incremental``".
1613 .. directive:: printed-links
1619 :class: print-inline
1621 This acts like macros. The directive contents will have to be
1622 evaluated when referenced, not when defined.
1624 * Needs a better name? "Macro", "substitution"?
1625 * What to do with directive arguments & options when the
1626 macro/directive is referenced?
1628 - Make the meaning of block quotes overridable? Only a 1-shot
1629 though; doesn't solve the general problem.
1631 - _`conditional directives`:
1633 .. note:: See also the implementation in Sphinx_.
1635 Docutils already has the ability to say "use this content for
1636 Writer X" via the "raw" directive. It also does have the ability
1637 to say "use this content for any Writer other than X" via the
1638 "strip-elements with class" config value. However, using "raw"
1639 input just to select a special writer is inconvenient in many
1641 It wouldn't be difficult to get more straightforward support, though.
1643 My first idea would be to add a set of conditional directives.
1644 Let's call them "writer-is" and "writer-is-not" for discussion
1645 purposes (don't worry about implemention details). We might
1648 .. writer-is:: text-only
1664 .. figure:: protocol_stack.eps
1666 .. writer-is-not:: text-only pdf
1668 .. figure:: protocol_stack.png
1670 This could be an interface to the Filter transform
1671 (docutils.transforms.components.Filter).
1673 The ideas in `adaptable file extensions`_ above may also be
1676 SVG's "switch" statement may provide inspiration.
1678 Here's an example of a directive that could produce multiple
1679 outputs (*both* raw troff pass-through *and* a GIF, for example)
1680 and allow the Writer to select. ::
1687 %sum from i=o to inf c sup i~=~lim from {m -> inf}
1688 sum from i=0 to m sup i%
1693 - _`body.example`: Examples; suggested by Simon Hefti. Semantics as
1694 per Docbook's "example"; admonition-style, numbered, reference,
1695 with a caption/title.
1697 - _`body.index`: Index targets.
1699 See `Index Entries & Indexes
1700 <./rst/alternatives.html#index-entries-indexes>`__.
1702 - _`body.literal`: Literal block, possibly "formal" (see `object
1703 numbering and object references`_ above). Possible options:
1705 - "highlight" a range of lines
1707 - include only a specified range of lines
1709 - "number" or "line-numbers"? (since 0.9 available with "code" directive)
1711 - "styled" could indicate that the directive should check for
1712 style comments at the end of lines to indicate styling or
1715 Specific derivatives (i.e., a "python-interactive" directive)
1716 could interpret style based on cues, like the ">>> " prompt and
1717 "input()"/"raw_input()" calls.
1719 See docutils-users 2003-03-03.
1721 - _`body.listing`: Code listing with title (to be numbered
1722 eventually), equivalent of "figure" and "table" directives.
1724 - _`pysource.usage`: Extract a usage message from the program,
1725 either by running it at the command line with a ``--help`` option
1726 or through an exposed API. [Suggestion for Optik.]
1732 Interpreted text is entirely a reStructuredText markup construct, a
1733 way to get around built-in limitations of the medium. Some roles are
1734 intended to introduce new doctree elements, such as "title-reference".
1735 Others are merely convenience features, like "RFC".
1737 All supported interpreted text roles must already be known to the
1738 Parser when they are encountered in a document. Whether pre-defined
1739 in core/client code, or in the document, doesn't matter; the roles
1740 just need to have already been declared. Adding a new role may
1741 involve adding a new element to the DTD and may require extensive
1742 support, therefore such additions should be well thought-out. There
1743 should be a limited number of roles.
1745 The only place where no limit is placed on variation is at the start,
1746 at the Reader/Parser interface. Transforms are inserted by the Reader
1747 into the Transformer's queue, where non-standard elements are
1748 converted. Once past the Transformer, no variation from the standard
1749 Docutils doctree is possible.
1751 An example is the Python Source Reader, which will use interpreted
1752 text extensively. The default role will be "Python identifier", which
1753 will be further interpreted by namespace context into <class>,
1754 <method>, <module>, <attribute>, etc. elements (see pysource.dtd),
1755 which will be transformed into standard hyperlink references, which
1756 will be processed by the various Writers. No Writer will need to have
1757 any knowledge of the Python-Reader origin of these elements.
1759 * Add explicit interpreted text roles for the rest of the implicit
1760 inline markup constructs: named-reference, anonymous-reference,
1761 footnote-reference, citation-reference, substitution-reference,
1762 target, uri-reference (& synonyms).
1764 * Add directives for each role as well? This would allow indirect
1767 This text contains |nested inline markup|.
1769 .. |nested inline markup| emphasis::
1771 nested ``inline`` markup
1775 - "_`raw-wrapped`" (or "_`raw-wrap`"): Base role to wrap raw text
1776 around role contents.
1778 For example, the following reStructuredText source ... ::
1780 .. role:: red(raw-formatting)
1782 :html: <font color="red">
1783 :latex: {\color{red}
1790 ... will yield the following document fragment::
1794 <inline classes="red">
1797 <raw format="latex">
1799 <inline classes="red">
1803 <raw format="latex">
1806 Possibly without the intermediate "inline" node.
1808 - _`"acronym" and "abbreviation"`: Associate the full text with a
1809 short form. Jason Diamond's description:
1811 I want to translate ```reST`:acronym:`` into ``<acronym
1812 title='reStructuredText'>reST</acronym>``. The value of the
1813 title attribute has to be defined out-of-band since you can't
1814 parameterize interpreted text. Right now I have them in a
1815 separate file but I'm experimenting with creating a directive
1816 that will use some form of reST syntax to let you define them.
1818 Should Docutils complain about undefined acronyms or
1821 What to do if there are multiple definitions? How to
1822 differentiate between CSS (Content Scrambling System) and CSS
1823 (Cascading Style Sheets) in a single document? David Priest
1826 The short answer is: you don't. Anyone who did such a thing
1827 would be writing very poor documentation indeed. (Though I
1828 note that `somewhere else in the docs`__, there's mention of
1829 allowing replacement text to be associated with the
1830 abbreviation. That takes care of the duplicate
1831 acronyms/abbreviations problem, though a writer would be
1832 foolish to ever need it.)
1834 __ `inline parameter syntax`_
1836 How to define the full text? Possibilities:
1838 1. With a directive and a definition list? ::
1845 Docstring Processing System
1847 Would this list remain in the document as a glossary, or would
1848 it simply build an internal lookup table? A "glossary"
1849 directive could be used to make the intention clear.
1850 Acronyms/abbreviations and glossaries could work together.
1852 Then again, a glossary could be formed by gathering individual
1853 definitions from around the document.
1855 2. Some kind of `inline parameter syntax`_? ::
1857 `reST <reStructuredText>`:acronym: is `WYSIWYG <what you
1858 see is what you get>`:acronym: plaintext markup.
1860 .. _inline parameter syntax:
1861 rst/alternatives.html#parameterized-interpreted-text
1863 3. A combination of 1 & 2?
1865 The multiple definitions issue could be handled by establishing
1866 rules of priority. For example, directive-based lookup tables
1867 have highest priority, followed by the first inline definition.
1868 Multiple definitions in directive-based lookup tables would
1869 trigger warnings, similar to the rules of `implicit hyperlink
1872 __ ../ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#implicit-hyperlink-targets
1874 4. Using substitutions? ::
1876 .. |reST| acronym:: reST
1877 :text: reStructuredText
1879 What do we do for other formats than HTML which do not support
1880 tool tips? Put the full text in parentheses?
1882 - "figure", "table", "listing", "chapter", "page", etc: See `object
1883 numbering and object references`_ above.
1885 - "glossary-term": This would establish a link to a glossary. It
1886 would require an associated "glossary-entry" directive, whose
1887 contents could be a definition list::
1896 This would allow entries to be defined anywhere in the document,
1897 and collected (via a "glossary" directive perhaps) at one point.
1903 The number of doctree nodes can be reduced by "normalizing" some related
1904 nodes. This makes the document model and the writers somewhat simpler.
1906 * The "doctest" element should go away. The construct could simply be
1907 a front-end to generic literal blocks. We could immediately (in 0.7)
1908 remove the doctest node from the doctree, but leave the
1909 syntax in reST. The reST parser could represent doctest blocks as
1910 literal blocks with a class attribute. The syntax could be left in
1911 reST (for a set period of time?).
1913 * "Normalize" special admonitions (note, hint, warning, ...) during parsing
1914 (similar to _`transforms.writer_aux.Admonitions`). There is no need to
1915 keep them as distinct elements in the doctree specification.
1917 Keep the special admonition directives in reStructuredText syntax?
1920 Unimplemented Transforms
1921 ========================
1923 * _`Footnote & Citation Gathering`
1925 Collect and move footnotes & citations to the end of a document or the
1926 place of a "footnotes" or "citations" directive
1927 (see `<./ref/rst/directives.html>_`)
1930 Collect all footnotes that are referenced in the document before the
1931 directive (and after an eventually preceding ``.. footnotes::``
1932 directive) and insert at this place.
1934 Allows "endnotes" at a configurable place.
1937 Collect citations that are referenced ...
1941 a) defined in the document as citation elements
1943 b) auto-generated from entries in a bibliographic database.
1945 + based on bibstuff_?
1946 + also have a look at
1948 * CrossTeX_, a backwards-compatible, improved bibtex
1949 re-implementation in Python (including HTML export).
1950 (development stalled since 2 years)
1952 * Pybtex_,a drop-in replacement for BibTeX written in Python.
1954 * BibTeX styles & (experimental) pythonic style API.
1955 * Database in BibTeX, BibTeXML and YAML formats.
1956 * full Unicode support.
1957 * Write to TeX, HTML and plain text.
1959 * `Zotero plain <http://e6h.org/%7Eegh/hg/zotero-plain/>`__
1960 supports Zotero databases and CSL_ styles with Docutils with an
1963 * `sphinxcontrib-bibtex`_ Sphinx extension with "bibliography"
1964 directive and "cite" role supporting BibTeX databases.
1966 * `Modified rst2html
1967 <http://www.loria.fr/~rougier/coding/article/rst2html.py>`__ by
1971 * Automatically insert a "References" heading?
1973 .. _CrossTeX: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/egs/crosstex/
1974 .. _Pybtex: http://pybtex.sourceforge.net/
1975 .. _CSL: http://www.citationstyles.org/
1976 .. _sphinxcontrib-bibtex: http://sphinxcontrib-bibtex.readthedocs.org/
1978 * _`Reference Merging`
1980 When merging two or more subdocuments (such as docstrings),
1981 conflicting references may need to be resolved. There may be:
1983 * duplicate reference and/or substitution names that need to be made
1985 * duplicate footnote numbers that need to be renumbered.
1987 Should this be done before or after reference-resolving transforms
1988 are applied? What about references from within one subdocument to
1991 * _`Document Splitting`
1993 If the processed document is written to multiple files (possibly in
1994 a directory tree), it will need to be split up. Internal references
1995 will have to be adjusted.
1997 (HTML only? Initially, yes. Eventually, anything should be
2002 - Insert a "destination" attribute into the root element of each
2003 split-out document, containing the path/filename. The Output
2004 object or Writer will recognize this attribute and split out the
2005 files accordingly. Must allow for common headers & footers,
2006 prev/next, breadcrumbs, etc.
2008 - Transform a single-root document into a document containing
2009 multiple subdocuments, recursively. The content model of the
2010 "document" element would have to change to::
2013 ( (title, subtitle?)?,
2015 (docinfo, transition?)?,
2019 (I.e., add the last line -- 0 or more document elements.)
2021 Let's look at the case of hierarchical (directories and files)
2022 HTML output. Each document element containing further document
2023 elements would correspond to a directory (with an index.html file
2024 for the content preceding the subdocuments). Each document
2025 element containing no subdocuments (i.e., structure model elements
2026 only) corresponds to a concrete file with no directory.
2028 The natural transform would be to map sections to subdocuments,
2029 but possibly only a given number of levels deep.
2033 If a document is split up, each segment will need navigation links:
2034 parent, children (small TOC), previous (preorder), next (preorder).
2035 Part of `Document Splitting`_?
2037 * _`List of System Messages`
2039 The ``system_message`` elements are inserted into the document tree,
2040 adjacent to the problems themselves where possible. Some (those
2041 generated post-parse) are kept until later, in
2042 ``document.messages``, and added as a special final section,
2043 "Docutils System Messages".
2045 Docutils could be made to generate hyperlinks to all known
2046 system_messages and add them to the document, perhaps to the end of
2047 the "Docutils System Messages" section.
2049 Fred L. Drake, Jr. wrote:
2051 I'd like to propose that both parse- and transformation-time
2052 messages are included in the "Docutils System Messages" section.
2053 If there are no objections, I can make the change.
2055 The advantage of the current way of doing things is that parse-time
2056 system messages don't require a transform; they're already in the
2057 document. This is valuable for testing (unit tests,
2058 tools/quicktest.py). So if we do decide to make a change, I think
2059 the insertion of parse-time system messages ought to remain as-is
2060 and the Messages transform ought to move all parse-time system
2061 messages (remove from their originally inserted positions, insert in
2062 System Messages section).
2064 * _`Index Generation`
2070 * Make it easier to find out fragment names (#foo-bar) of ``_`inline
2071 targets```. Currently you have to either look at the source or
2074 For example, we could add support for self-referencing targets
2075 (i.e. inline targets would [unobtrusively] link to themselves, so
2076 that you can just click them and then copy the address). Or we
2077 could add support for titles that display the fragment name (as in
2078 <http://subversion.tigris.org/mailing-list-guidelines.html>; just
2079 hover the paragraphs).
2081 Either way it should be optional and deactivated by default.
2083 This would be useful for documents like Docutils' bug list or to-do
2086 * Make the _`list compacting` logic more generic: For example, allow
2087 for literal blocks or line blocks inside of compact list items.
2089 This is not implementable as long as list compacting is done by
2090 omitting ``<p>`` tags. List compacting would need to be done by
2091 adjusting CSS margins instead.
2093 :2015-04-02: The new html writer no longer strips <p> tags but adds the
2094 class value ``simple`` to the list.
2095 Formatting is done by CSS --- configurable by a custom style
2098 Auto-compactization can be overridden by the ``open`` vs.
2099 ``compact`` class arguments.
2101 * Idea for field-list rendering: hanging indent::
2103 Field name (bold): First paragraph of field body begins
2104 with the field name inline.
2106 If the first item of a field body is not a paragraph,
2107 it would begin on the following line.
2109 :2015-04-02: The new html writer writes field-lists as definition lists
2110 with class ``field-list``.
2111 Formatting is done by CSS --- configurable by a custom style
2112 sheet. The default style sheet has some examples, including a
2113 run-in field-list style.
2115 * Add more support for <link> elements, especially for navigation
2118 The framework does not have a notion of document relationships, so
2119 probably raw.destination_ should be used.
2121 We'll have framework support for document relationships when support
2122 for `multiple output files`_ is added. The HTML writer could
2123 automatically generate <link> elements then.
2125 .. _raw.destination: misc.raw_
2127 * Base list compaction on the spacing of source list? Would require
2128 parser support. (Idea: fantasai, 16 Dec 2002, doc-sig.)
2130 * Add a tool tip ("title" attribute?) to footnote back-links
2131 identifying them as such. Text in Docutils language module.
2137 * Remove the generic style information (duplicated from html4css1.css)
2138 from pep.css to avoid redundancy.
2140 Set ``stylesheet-path`` to "html4css.css,pep.css" and the
2141 ``stylesheet-dirs`` accordingly instead. (See the xhtml11 writer for an
2148 * Add a way to begin an untitled slide.
2150 * Add a way to begin a new slide, continuation, using the same title
2151 as the previous slide? (Unnecessary?) You need that if you have a
2152 lot of items in one section which don't fit on one slide.
2154 Maybe either this item or the previous one can be realized using
2157 * Have a timeout on incremental items, so the colour goes away after 1
2160 * Add an empty, black last slide (optionally). Currently the handling
2161 of the last slide is not very nice, it re-cycles through the
2162 incremental items on the last slide if you hit space-bar after the
2165 * Add a command-line option to disable advance-on-click.
2167 * Add a speaker's master document, which would contain a small version
2168 of the slide text with speaker's notes interspersed. The master
2169 document could use ``target="whatever"`` to direct links to a
2170 separate window on a second monitor (e.g., a projector).
2172 .. Note:: This item and the following items are partially
2173 accomplished by the S5 1.2 code (currently in alpha), which has
2174 not yet been integrated into Docutils.
2176 * Speaker's notes -- how to intersperse? Could use reST comments
2177 (".."), but make them visible in the speaker's master document. If
2178 structure is necessary, we could use a "comment" directive (to avoid
2179 nonsensical DTD changes, the "comment" directive could produce an
2180 untitled topic element).
2182 The speaker's notes could (should?) be separate from S5's handout
2185 * The speaker's master document could use frames for easy navigation:
2186 TOC on the left, content on the right.
2188 - It would be nice if clicking in the TOC frame simultaneously
2189 linked to both the speaker's notes frame and to the slide window,
2190 synchronizing both. Needs JavaScript?
2192 - TOC would have to be tightly formatted -- minimal indentation.
2194 - TOC auto-generated, as in the PEP Reader. (What if there already
2195 is a "contents" directive in the document?)
2197 - There could be another frame on the left (top-left or bottom-left)
2198 containing a single "Next" link, always pointing to the next slide
2199 (synchronized, of course). Also "Previous" link? FF/Rew go to
2200 the beginning of the next/current parent section? First/Last
2201 also? Tape-player-style buttons like ``|<< << < > >> >>|``?
2206 Add epub as an output format.
2208 epub is an open file format for ebooks based on HTML, specified by the
2209 `International Digital Publishing Forum`_. Thus, documents in epub
2210 format are suited to be read with `electronic reading devices`_.
2212 Pack the output of a HTML writer and supporting files (e.g. images)
2213 into one single epub document.
2215 There are `links to two 3rd party ePub writers`__ in the Docutils link list.
2216 Test and consider moving the better one into the docutils core.
2218 __ ../user/links.html#ePub
2219 .. _International Digital Publishing Forum: http://www.idpf.org/
2220 .. _electronic reading devices:
2221 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers
2227 Also see the Problems__ section in the `latex writer documentation`_.
2229 __ ../user/latex.html#problems
2231 .. _latex writer documentation: ../user/latex.html
2234 ../../../sandbox/latex-variants/README.html
2239 * A multirow cell in a table expects empty cells in the spanned rows while
2240 the doctree contains only the remaining cells ("Exchange Table Model", see
2241 docs/ref/soextblx.dtd).
2243 Needs bookkeeping of "open" multirow cells (how many how long) and
2244 insertion of additional '&'s.
2246 See `<../../test/functional/input/data/latex.txt>`__
2248 * Too deeply nested lists fail: generate a warning and provide
2251 * Spaces in inline literal text::
2254 spacing between the words of this sentence (words
2255 should be grouped in pairs).
2257 Discuss the desired behaviour and implement a consistent one.
2259 * An enumerated list in the docinfo fails (\newcounter definition inside
2262 * File names of included graphics (see also `grffile` package).
2264 Generate clean and configurable LaTeX source
2265 ----------------------------------------------
2267 * Check the generated source with package `nag`.
2269 Configurable placement of figure and table floats
2270 `````````````````````````````````````````````````
2272 * Special class argument to individually place figures?
2276 placement-<optional arg> -> \figure[<optional arg>]{...}
2278 e.g. ``.. class:: placement-htb``,
2283 :h: place-here-if-possible
2286 :p: place-on-extra-page
2288 e.g.: ``.. class:: place-here-if-possible place-top place-bottom``
2290 Maybe support both variants?
2293 LaTeX constructs and packages instead of re-implementations
2294 ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2296 Which packages do we want to use?
2298 + base and "recommended" packages
2300 (packages that should be in a "reasonably sized and reasonably modern
2301 LaTeX installation like the `texlive-latex-recommended` Debian package,
2304 + No "fancy" or "exotic" requirements.
2306 + pointers to advanced packages and their use in the `latex writer
2309 * ``alltt`` environment for literal block.
2313 + True footnotes with LaTeX auto-numbering (as option ``--latex-footnotes``)
2314 (also for target-footnotes):
2316 - attach footnote text to footnote-symobol node
2317 - write \footnote{<footnote text>}
2318 - consider cases where LaTeX does not support footnotes
2319 (inside tables, headings, ...)?
2320 - consider multiple footnote refs to common footnote text.
2324 If the symbol you want is not one of the ones listed, you'll need to
2325 redefine ``\@fnsymbol`` and add it, e.g. perhaps like::
2327 \def\@fnsymbol#1{\ifcase#1\hbox{}\or *\or \dagger\or \ddagger\or
2328 \mathchar "278\or \mathchar "27B\or \|\or **\or \dagger\dagger \or
2329 \ddagger\ddagger \or \mathchar"27C \else\@ctrerr\fi\relax}
2331 which would allow \symbolfootnote[10]{footnote} to have a club as its
2334 + document customization (links to how-to and packages):
2336 .. Footnote packages:
2338 :footnote: texlive-latex-recommended % savenotes environment
2339 :footmisc: texlive-latex-extra % formatting options
2340 :manyfoot: texlive-latex-extra
2341 :bigfoot: texlive-latex-extra
2342 :perpage: texlive-latex-extra
2343 :ftnxtra: new on CTAN
2344 fixes the issue of footnote inside \caption{},
2345 tabular environment and \section{} like commands.
2349 http://www2.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~ahamann/studies/footnotes.pdf
2353 `Footnotes whose texts are identical
2354 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=repfootnote>`__
2356 * label per hand or use footmisc
2358 `More than one sequence of footnotes
2359 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=multfoot>`__
2363 `Footnotes in tables
2364 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=footintab>`__
2366 * `tabularx` and longtable allow footnotes.
2367 * `footnote` provides a "savenotes" environment which collects all
2368 footnotes and emits them at ``end{savenotes}``
2370 `Footnotes in LaTeX section headings
2371 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=ftnsect>`__
2373 * Take advantage of the fact that the mandatory argument doesn't
2374 move if the optional argument is present::
2376 \section[title] {title\footnote{title ftnt}}
2378 * Use the footmisc package, with package option stable - this modifies
2379 footnotes so that they softly and silently vanish away if used in a
2384 `Footnotes numbered per page
2385 <http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=footnpp>`__
2387 * perpage provides a general mechanism for resetting counters per page
2388 * footmisc provides a package option perpage
2390 * use `eqlist` or `enumitem` (texlive-latex-extra) for field-lists?
2392 * ``--use-latex-when-possible`` »super option« that would set the
2395 --no-section-numbering
2398 --use-latex-abstract
2399 --use-latex-footnotes
2400 --use-latex-citations
2402 ? (My preference is to default to use-latex-* whenever possible [GM])
2408 * Use italic instead of slanted for titlereference?
2410 * Start a new paragraph after lists (as currently)
2411 or continue (no blank line in source, no parindent in output)?
2415 * continue if the `compound paragraph`_ directive is used, or
2416 * force a new paragraph with an empty comment.
2418 * Sidebar handling (environment with `framed`, `marginnote`, `wrapfig`,
2421 * Use optionlist for docinfo?
2423 * Keep literal-blocks together on a page, avoid pagebreaks.
2425 Failed experiments up to now: samepage, minipage, pagebreak 1 to 4 before
2428 Should be possible with ``--literal-block-env==lstlistings`` and some
2431 * More space between title and subtitle? ::
2434 + \\[0.5em] % subtitle%
2436 .. _PSNFSS documentation:
2437 http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/required/psnfss/psnfss2e.pdf
2438 .. _compound paragraph:
2439 ../ref/rst/directives.html#compound-paragraph
2441 http://mirror.ctan.org/help/Catalogue/entries/fixltx2e.html
2446 * Improve/simplify logic to set the column width in the output.
2448 + Assumed reST line length for table width setting configurable, or
2449 + use `ltxtable` (a combination of `tabularx` (auto-width) and
2450 `longtable` (page breaks)), or
2451 + use tabularx column type ``X`` and let LaTeX decide width, or
2455 http://tug.ctan.org/cgi-bin/ctanPackageInformation.py?id=tabulary
2457 * From comp.text.tex (13. 4. 2011):
2459 When using fixed width columns, you should ensure that the total
2460 width does not exceed \linewidth: if the first column is p{6cm}
2461 the second one should be p{\dimexpr\linewidth-6cm-4\tabcolsep}
2462 because the glue \tabcolsep is added twice at every column edge.
2463 You may also consider to set \tabcolsep to a different value...
2465 * csv-tables do not have a colwidth.
2467 * Add more classes or options, e.g. for
2469 + column width set by latex,
2470 + horizontal alignment and rules.
2471 + long table vs. tabular (see next item).
2473 * Use tabular instead of longtable for tables in legends or generally
2476 Alternatively, default to tabular and use longtable only if specified
2477 by config setting or class argument (analogue to booktable)?
2479 * Table heads and footer for longtable (firstpage lastpage ..)?
2481 * In tools.txt the option tables right column, there should be some more
2482 spacing between the description and the next paragraph "Default:".
2484 * Paragraph separation in tables is hairy.
2485 see http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=struttab
2487 - The strut solution did not work.
2488 - setting extrarowheight added ad top of row not between paragraphs in
2489 a cell. ALTHOUGH i set it to 2pt because, text is too close to the topline.
2490 - baselineskip/stretch does not help.
2492 * Should there be two hlines after table head and on table end?
2494 * Place titled tables in a float ('table' environment)?
2496 The 'table', 'csv-table', and 'list-table' directives support an (optional)
2497 table title. In analogy to the 'figure' directive this should map to a
2500 Image and figure directives
2501 ```````````````````````````
2503 * compare the test case in:
2505 + `<../../test/functional/input/data/standard.txt>`__
2506 + `<../../test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_html4css1.html>`__
2507 + `<../../test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_latex.tex>`__
2509 * According to the HTML standard
2510 http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#adef-align-IMG a right- or
2511 left-aligned image should be floated alongside the paragraph.
2513 + Use this default also for LaTeX?
2515 + Wrap text around figures/images with class argument "wrap"
2516 (like the odt writer)?
2518 Use `wrapfig` (or other recommended) package.
2520 * support more graphic formats (especially SVG, the only standard
2521 vector format for HTML)
2523 There is a `SWF package`_ at CTAN.
2526 http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/flashmovie
2532 * support "figwidth" argument for figures.
2534 As the 'figwidth' argument is still ignored and the "natural width" of
2535 a figure in LaTeX is 100 % of the text width, setting the 'align'
2536 argument has currently no effect on the LaTeX output.
2539 * Let `meta` directive insert PDF-keywords into header?
2541 * Multiple author entries in docinfo (same thing as in html).
2544 * Consider supporting the "compact" option and class argument (from
2545 rst2html) as some lists look better compact and others need the space.
2547 * Better citation support
2548 (see `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_).
2550 * If ``use-latex-citations`` is used, a bibliography is inserted right at the
2551 end of the document.
2553 Put in place of the to-be-implemented "citations" directive
2554 (see `Footnote & Citation Gathering`_).
2560 The `LyX <http://www.lyx.org>`_ document processor has a comprehensive
2561 Unicode to LaTeX conversion feature with a file called ``unicodesymbols``
2562 that lists LaTeX counterparts for a wide range of Unicode characters.
2564 * Use this in the LaTeXTranslator?
2565 Think of copyright issues!
2567 * The "ucs" package has many translations in ...doc/latex/ucs/config/
2569 * The bibstuff_ tool ships a `latex_codec` Python module!
2571 .. _bibstuff: http://code.google.com/p/bibstuff/
2573 Allow choice between utf8 (standard) and utf8x (extended) encodings
2574 ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2576 * Allow the user to select *utf8* or *utf8x* LaTeX encoding. (Docutil's
2577 output encoding becomes LaTeX's input encoding.)
2579 The `ucs` package provides extended support for UTF-8 encoding in LaTeX
2580 via the `inputenc`-option ``utf8x``. It is, however, a non-standard
2581 extension and no longer developed.
2584 a) Python has 4 names for the UTF-8 encoding (``utf_8, U8, UTF, utf8``)
2585 give a special meaning to one of the aliases,
2587 b) scan "stylesheets" and "latex-preamble" options and use ``utf8x``
2588 if it contains ``ucs``
2593 * Glyphs missing in the font are left out in the PDF without warning
2594 (e.g. ⇔ left-right double arrow in the functional test output).
2596 * Disable word-wrap (hyphenation) in literal text locally with
2597 ``providecommand{\nohyphenation}{\addfontfeatures{HyphenChar=None}}``?
2603 * ^^ LaTeX's special syntax for characters results in "strange" replacements
2604 (both with \href and \url).
2606 `file with ^^ <../strange^^name>`__:
2607 `<../strange^^name>`__
2609 * Unbalanced braces, { or }, will fail (both with \href and \url)::
2611 `file with { <../strange{name>`__
2612 `<../strange{name>`__
2614 Currently, a warning is written to the error output stream.
2616 For correct printing, we can
2618 * use the \href command with "normal" escaped name argument, or
2619 * define a url-command in the preamble ::
2621 \urldef{\fragileURLi}\nolinkurl{myself%node@gateway.net}
2623 but need to find a way to insert it as href argument.
2625 The following fails::
2627 \href{http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema^^dev}{\fragileURLi}
2629 Use %-replacement like http://nowhere/url_with%28parens%29 ?
2631 -> does not work for file paths (with pdflatex and xpdf).
2634 add-stylesheet option
2635 `````````````````````
2637 From http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.docutils.devel/3429/
2639 The problem is that since we have a default value, we have to
2640 differentiate between adding another stylesheet and replacing the
2641 default. I suggest that the existing --stylesheet & --stylesheet-path
2642 options keep their semantics to replace the existing settings. We
2643 could introduce new --add-stylesheet & --add-stylesheet-path options,
2644 which accumulate; further --stylesheet/--stylesheet-path options would
2645 clear these lists. The stylesheet or stylesheet_path setting (only
2646 one may be set), plus the added_stylesheets and added_stylesheet_paths
2647 settings, describe the combined styles.
2649 For example, this run will have only one custom stylesheet:
2651 rstpep2html.py --stylesheet-path custom.css ...
2653 This run will use the default stylesheet, and the custom one:
2655 rstpep2html.py --add-stylesheet-path custom.css ...
2657 This run will use the default stylesheet, a custom local stylesheet,
2658 and an external stylesheet:
2660 rstpep2html.py --add-stylesheet-path custom.css \
2661 --add-stylesheet http://www.example.org/external.css ...
2663 This run will use only the second custom stylesheet:
2665 rstpep2html.py --add-stylesheet-path custom.css \
2666 --stylesheet-path second.css ...
2674 * What about if we don't know which Reader and/or Writer we are
2675 going to use? If the Reader/Writer is specified on the
2676 command-line? (Will this ever happen?)
2678 Perhaps have different types of front ends:
2680 a) _`Fully qualified`: Reader and Writer are hard-coded into the
2681 front end (e.g. ``pep2html [options]``, ``pysource2pdf
2684 b) _`Partially qualified`: Reader is hard-coded, and the Writer is
2685 specified a sub-command (e.g. ``pep2 html [options]``,
2686 ``pysource2 pdf [options]``). The Writer is known before option
2687 processing happens, allowing the OptionParser to be built
2688 dynamically. Alternatively, the Writer could be hard-coded and
2689 the Reader specified as a sub-command (e.g. ``htmlfrom pep
2692 c) _`Unqualified`: Reader and Writer are specified as subcommands
2693 (e.g. ``publish pep html [options]``, ``publish pysource pdf
2694 [options]``). A single front end would be sufficient, but
2695 probably only useful for testing purposes.
2697 d) _`Dynamic`: Reader and/or Writer are specified by options, with
2698 defaults if unspecified (e.g. ``publish --writer pdf
2699 [options]``). Is this possible? The option parser would have
2700 to be told about new options it needs to handle, on the fly.
2701 Component-specific options would have to be specified *after*
2702 the component-specifying option.
2704 Allow common options before subcommands, as in CVS? Or group all
2705 options together? In the case of the `fully qualified`_
2706 front ends, all the options will have to be grouped together
2707 anyway, so there's no advantage (we can't use it to avoid
2708 conflicts) to splitting common and component-specific options
2711 * Parameterize help text & defaults somehow? Perhaps a callback? Or
2712 initialize ``settings_spec`` in ``__init__`` or ``init_options``?
2714 * Disable common options that don't apply?
2715 (This should now be easier with ``frontend.filter_settings_spec``.)
2717 * Add ``--section-numbering`` command line option. The "sectnum"
2718 directive should override the ``--no-section-numbering`` command
2721 * Create a single dynamic_ or unqualified_ front end that can be
2728 indent-tabs-mode: nil
2729 sentence-end-double-space: t