Conference vaxuum::online_bookbuilding

    I enclose the callout list between <ONLINE_POPUP> and <ENDONLINE_POPUP>
    tags.  This creates a hotspot for the callout list.  
    
    However, as a wishlist item, I'd love to see this changed.  It really
    doesn't work that well. If an example reference occurs in the first
    sentence of a long-ish paragraph, the reader doesn't see the callout
    hotspot until he/she scrolls past the end of the paragraph.  Any kind
    of remote reference to the example provides no clue that there is a
    way to access callouts.
    
    My suggestion:  There should be a "Callouts" button next to the 
                    "Close Topic" button at the bottom of the window
    	            that contains the example.  This way the callouts
    		    are always accessible from the example and there
    	            is no need to insert the awkward callout hotspot
                    in a document.
    
    john

    It's already a wishlist item to  make callouts hot; that is, you click
    on the number in the example and the callout text pops up.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Mary

    So, for now, the only way to make the callout list available 
    online while the user is viewing a formal figure or 
    example containing callouts is to code the callout list with the 
    online_popup tag and rely on the user to drag one of the screens
    to the side so he/she can view both the formal figure and the 
    callout list at the same time?
    
    I know callout hotspots are on the wishlist, so this is not a
    criticism. I just want to know if this the best solution right 
    now as I code my files.
    
    Thanks.
    
    - Bob

    Bob, that is certainly a solution.  When reading a figure or example
    with call-outs, I usually just move the figure or example over beside
    the text, leaving them side-by-side.  Sometimes this doesn't work out,
    as when the figure or example is extremely large.
    
    While this is certainly not convenient, I imagine it's what customers
    do.  With the online_popup, won't the callouts pop up on top to the
    figure, possible requiring the user to move two windows (the
    figure/example and the callouts)?  I haven't used this tag, yet; this
    is a serious question.
    
    
    Susan

    RE: 4
    
    Good point actually. In theory, I don't have to use ONLINE_POPUP for the
    callout list, but instead can simply click on the figure and move that
    window to the side next to the remaining text that has the
    callout list, as you suggested. I'll do that in other cases and not
    use a popup window.
    
    In fact, I was just about to leave it at that when I noticed that in this 
    *particular* case, the callout list breaks across two screens in that main 
    topic window, so that I can't display the complete list on one screen. 
    I have to click on MORE to see the second half of the list.
    
    If the list were shorter or if the preceding text and list broke 
    differently, it would work. In this case, however, it works out better to 
    code the list with ONLINE_POPUP because I get the entire list in that one 
    popup window. The only drawback, as you say, is that you have to move two 
    windows (in addition to the main topic window) around instead one, 
    the figure and the popup. But that's probably better than not being able to 
    display the complete callout list on one screen next to the screen
    with the figure.
    
    So I guess for now the popup window is the option if the callout list
    (and other explanatory text you may want to include with it to help 
    interpret the figure) goes on for more than one screen in that 
    main topic window. If it that info is confined to one screen, then I
    guess you don't really need to create another window with a separate 
    popup.
    
    I'm a little new at this, so this is probably no great discovery, but
    it's worth noting I guess.
    
    - Bob
    - Bob

Assuming the callouts text is not terribly long, why can't you just include the
text as part of the formal figure, at the bottom? You should be able to do this
using RAGS.

		 _________________________
		|			  |
      1 ________|_____                    |
		|                     ____|_____ 3
	 2 _____|___                      |
		|                       __|__________ 4
		__________________________

	1 xxx xx xxxx		3 xx xxx xxxxx
	  xxx xxx xxxx            xxxx xxx	

	2 xx xxx xxxx		4 x xxx xxxx
				  xxxxx

  ?

    See the following notesfiles for my announcements of Proto-1: a
    DECwrite Bookreader prototype that uses DECwrite to hotspot callouts on
    a scanned image. The callouts are part of the image.
    
    	QUEEN::DECWRITE
    	BULOVA::BOOKREADER
    	MIDI::ON_HELP
    
    The note following the one described tells how I created the graphic
    hotspots.
    
    Jack Donohue