ANNOUNCING: CTAN-Web: CTAN Software Map (fwd)

[Petr Sojka]

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Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 11:55:54 -0500
From: norm at ora.com (Norman Walsh)
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Subject: ANNOUNCING: CTAN-Web: CTAN Software Map
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Announcing CTAN-Web: Comprehensive TeX Archive Network Software Map
-------------------------------------------------------------------

CTAN-Web is a WWW interface to the CTAN archives.   Using a WWW browser
to access the CTAN archives has a number of benefits:

  - the directory structure is annotated with descriptions from
    [blatant plug follows] Making TeX Work (my book on TeX software)
    [end of plug], David Jones' TeX-index, and the descriptions
    maintained by the CTAN archivists.

  - Files new or changed in the last 7 and 30 days are listed.

  - Keyword and date searches are possible.  These features require a
    browser that understands forms...

  - The directory structure is available in two ways (as a linked,
    linear structure and graphically, as a tree).

  - The CTAN-Web is built automatically from the FILES.byname listing,
    so it is never (very) out of date.  I'm still experimenting with
    how frequently it should be rebuilt.

Since the CTAN-Web interface first became available, I've done a lot of
work to improve its appearance.  The current CTAN-Web has a number of
improvements over the previous incarnation:

  - Top level directories, and subdirectories in the macros and systems
    directories, now have constant names.  This means that you can store
    links to them in your "hotlist" or "bookmarks" file and they will
    remain correct even when the CTAN-Web is rebuilt.  Previously, the
    link names were dependent on the ordering of files in the FILES.byname
    listing used to construct the archives.

  - Icons (with appropriate alternates for text browsers) are used to
    make it easier to travere around the CTAN-Web.

  - Several HTML bugs (involving unterminated anchors, mostly) have been
    corrected.

Please try it out and let me know what you think.  The CTAN-Web is available
from http://jasper.ora.com/ctan.html.

<P>
That's <a href="http://jasper.ora.com/ctan.html>here</a> for you folks
reading news or email with a browser...
<P>

                                                  Cheers,
                                                    norm
---
Norman Walsh <norm at ora.com> | On a clear disk you can seek forever
Production Tools Specialist |
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. |
90 Sherman Street           |
Cambridge, MA 02140         |------------------------------------------------
(617) 354-5800/661-1116 FAX | URL: http://jasper.ora.com/norm.html