Re: RFC: Central document registry (long)

Christoph Weber (cweber@oci.unizh.ch)
Mon, 6 Mar 95 18:10:10 +0100

Hi all,

I'm glad my posting is getting a positive echo.

Peter brought up some interesting things. Let me add here some more comments
from a users perspective:

I believe in active registration. This is simply so because we *have* something
to say, otherwise we wouldn't produce documents. On top of that, I believe that
every author has the best knowledge to adequately index his/her work.
Besides, active registration is an effective first quality control in itself.

But we need more than a searchable index. I envisage a tool that lets me keep
crossreferences within a document up-to-date. My favorite scenario is a button
at the bottom of the page which would submit the entire document to the index
for marking up. This way, I can read a hopefully well laid out document with a
few important links, but when I really want to know what related material there
is 'right now', then (and only then) I clutter it up with all sorts of cross
references to the index, which I could follow, if I wish so.

I personally dislike having to go to a search service first. That's why I like
the concept of the web, where the next station is reachable from within the
current document. From its popularity, I figure this appeals to others too.

My 2 cts.
Cheers,
Christoph

-- 
Dr. Christoph Weber                 email: cweber@oci.unizh.ch
OCI  Uni Zurich                     phone: +41 1 257 4219
Winterthurerstr. 190                FAX:   +41 1 361 9895
CH-8057 Zurich,  Switzerland