Re: Texinfo Priorities

[Randall Sawyer]

On 07/27/2017 02:18 AM, Gavin Smith wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 26, 2017 at 07:06:40PM -0400, Randall Sawyer wrote:
> > The following is a list of the priorities of texinfo as
> > I see them. Please, feel free to correct me if you disagree.
> >
> > Master #1: (La|Te)?TeX: formatted structured content
> > Content of texinfo files are converted into hard copy book or manual.
> >
> > Master #2: info: navigable content
> > Content of texinfo files are converted into info files navigable within a
> > terminal. Formatting is constrained.
> >
> > Peer #1: XML: document content
> > Content of texinfo files are converted into equivalent XML.
> >
> > Client #1: DocBook: structured content
> > Content of texinfo files are converted into electronic book content - which
> > is in turn convertible into other XML formats.
> >
> > Client #2: HTML: navigable structured content
> > Content of texinfo files are converted into HTML content. Formatting
> > provided via CSS.
> >
> > Client #3: plaintext: content
> > Content of texinfo files are converted into into plain text fileas.
> > Formatting is constrained.
> Yes, these are possible formats that makeinfo can convert Texinfo source
> into.  The first item in your list, TeX (it is not LaTeX that is used),
> is different from the others as Texinfo source files are processed by
> the TeX program in combination with the texinfo.tex file.  If makeinfo
> can do DVI or PDF output it is only as a wrapper around TeX, which does
> most of the processing.
Thank you for the clarification about TeX.

The point I was intending is that the texinfo markup language is 
designed initially to generate - as the name implies - TeX 
output/throughput and info output.
 And, that the other output  formats have a lower status in terms of 
how well they are supported.

HTML is stylized - as are the various targets of Tex - dvi, pdf, ps. 
HTML is also navigable as info files are within emacs or a terminal. 
IMHO, I find that the HTML output generated by makeinfo is "clunky", 
that its content is rather info-esque.

Ideally, what I would like is a perl package which provides an object 
containing a file structure tree - along the lines of HTML::Element for 
HTML - which can then be manipulated into customized output in any of 
these formats or in some other format currently not supported.