[dev] Hiding help entries

[Eric Jon Rostetter]

Quoting Oliver Kuhl <okuhl at netcologne.de>:

> I'm currently reviewing the german help for several modules and have
> to remove parts which are disabled in the prefs in our configuration.
> Searching the mail archives I found an old thread about this:
> http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.horde.devel/6187/

One could make an argument that help files and documentation files should
include all the docs, even if the site can disable them.  Of course,
I completely understand the opposite argument also.

I'd feel better doing this for configuration items than I would for
preferences.  Something disabled in the configuration is much easier
to test for and detect reliably.

> If I didn't miss anything, nothing regarding this is implemented right
> now. What do people think about this? To summarize: It would be nice
> to hide *locked* or otherwise completely disabled functionality
> automatically.

What if I lock a preference not to disable it, but to enable it in
a fixed way?  I don't want to remove the documentation (help) since
the feature is still available.  We'd need to check for things which
can be locked in a disabled state, versus locked in an enabled state.

> In my case, I have to manually remove only the parts in the german
> help files. But people supporting multiple languages need much time
> for this.

Is it really that important that it be removed.  An alternative could be
simply testing for locked state and annotating the entry rather than removing
it.  I bet there are other options too... Maybe we hide it from "non-admin"
users but for admin users we annotate it with the information that it is
disabled, and how to enable it?

> The performance overhead should be ok due to few usage of the help   
> in general.
>
> So is there anything planed regarding this one?

I don't know of anything, but I would say it really needs some thought
to do right.  Just because it is locked doesn't mean it is disabled.
To hide based solely on the locked state is bound to cause documentation
loss.

There's also the idea of if something is disabled and not locked, should
we tell them how to enable it, and so on.

And last, should we not implement this for configuration as well as
preferences?

> Gruss,
>     Oliver.

-- 
Eric Rostetter
The Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin

Go Longhorns!