There have recently been big changes to the documentation on this site. It's been transferred from a Wiki format to a GitHub Markdown format.

For example, my commonest referral is to the Client configuration page of the user manual. Notice anything different?

The old Wiki version used to have
at the top. Personally, without that guidance and quick access to the various subsections, I find the manual close to useless. What do others think?

All the target anchor points still exist in the new version (just hover your mouse down the left-hand edge of the page), so does anyone here have the skills and the patience to re-instate the links in Markdown?

Close to useless - me thinks you are being far to polite.

What was actually wrong with the old format apart from not being "sexy"? It was easy to navigate on just about any device, you didn't need to scroll down a large page to (possibly) find what you were looking for.

Close to useless - me thinks you are being far to polite.

Agreed. Especially for anyone without a lot of experience. It is almost as if they don't want anyone who isn't already an expert to use it.

On Ubuntu 24.04 using a Chromium browser, I do NOT have the left-hand target anchor points you mention. There is no navigation to any section at all. It just is one monolithic page and useless as commented.

They show in Firefox under Linux Mint, but you have to mouse hover over the the right spot.

I looked at the page source around the 'Options' anchor, and found I was, for once, using the right word!

<div class="markdown-heading"><h4 class="heading-element">Options</h4><a id="user-content-options" class="anchor" aria-label="Permalink: Options" href="#options"><svg class="octicon octicon-link" viewBox="0 0 16 16" version="1.1" width="16" height="16" aria-hidden="true"><path d="m7.775 3.275 1.25-1.25a3.5 3.5 0 1 1 4.95 4.95l-2.5 2.5a3.5 3.5 0 0 1-4.95 0 .751.751 0 0 1 .018-1.042.751.751 0 0 1 1.042-.018 1.998 1.998 0 0 0 2.83 0l2.5-2.5a2.002 2.002 0 0 0-2.83-2.83l-1.25 1.25a.751.751 0 0 1-1.042-.018.751.751 0 0 1-.018-1.042Zm-4.69 9.64a1.998 1.998 0 0 0 2.83 0l1.25-1.25a.751.751 0 0 1 1.042.018.751.751 0 0 1 .018 1.042l-1.25 1.25a3.5 3.5 0 1 1-4.95-4.95l2.5-2.5a3.5 3.5 0 0 1 4.95 0 .751.751 0 0 1-.018 1.042.751.751 0 0 1-1.042.018 1.998 1.998 0 0 0-2.83 0l-2.5 2.5a1.998 1.998 0 0 0 0 2.83Z"></path></svg></a></div>
<p>The <tt></tt> section contains settings that control the behavior of BOINC
(default values will be used for any options not specified):</p>

It doesn't look like a human being wrote that: I presume it was some sort of translation bot. Anyone throw any light on that empty <tt></tt> tag>? It shows up as a grey blob.

Tee-hee. Some of the dialogs in BOINC Manager (e.g. Advanced View, computing preferences or exclusive applications) have 'help' buttons. They take you to the old, 'Wiki', format of this user manual. Not necessarily the right page, but close enough. That's true, even for the latest published version of the Manager, v8.0.3 Alpha.

What was actually wrong with the old format apart from not being "sexy"?

David: The main goal is to reduce dependence on the BOINC server here at Berkeley.

The full email I got:

I converted the BOINC mediawiki (i.e. the User Manual) to Github markdown,
using a script I developed.
The main goal is to reduce dependence on the BOINC server here at Berkeley.

The result is here:
https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/User_manual

I've checked most of the pages and they look OK.
Feel free to check yourself and let me know of any problems.

Notes:
- The script starts from User_manual and recursively converts
pages that are linked to.
This leaves out some pages in the Mediawiki,
e.g. project description pages.
That's OK - these pages are way out of date.
- There are no tables of contents.
Markdown may have a way of producing these
but I can't find it. Probably doesn't matter.

- There are no tables of contents.
Markdown may have a way of producing these
but I can't find it. Probably doesn't matter.

It does matter.

And Markdown can certainly produce them. From the writer's own pages:

https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax

(NOTE: This document is itself written using Markdown)

Right, but instead of adding something like TOC to each page, you have to write the Table of Contents yourself. See https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax.text

I'm having a discussion with David about it, will leave details on what the outcome is, tomorrow.

Right, but instead of adding something like TOC to each page, you have to write the Table of Contents yourself. See https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax.text

Tried that out. To find whether there are any anchors in the file, and if so, what they are, try this:

findstr ### "D:\Users\Richard Haselgrove\Documents\client-configuration.txt"
###  Client configuration
####  Options
####  Logging flags
###  Project-level configuration
###  Branded-client configuration
####  Startup options
####  Debugging options

(translate to Linux as needed)

Convert to Markdown, as per the example text:

*   [Client configuration](#Client configuration)
    *   [Options](#Options)
    *   [Logging flags](#Logging flags)
*   [Project-level configuration](#Project-level configuration)
*   [Branded-client configuration](#Branded-client configuration)
    *   [Startup options](#Startup options)
    *   [Debugging options](#Debugging options)

and paste into the file.

That feels doable, and probably even scriptable.

David's talking about using a script as well, but that means every page gets a TOC, something that isn't necessary. He also said something else, that I have to check upon, but I need a full PC for that, not a mobile phone.

David's talking about using a script as well, but that means every page gets a TOC, something that isn't necessary.

He should be able to skip processing any file where no anchors are found?

I think we can add these ourselves. And only add them to the larger pages.
What David said was the sidebar showing the major sections of the wiki, people might be confused when they also have a TOC on the page.

I don't see the sidebar when on my mobile, but do see it now on PC and there could be something said for that.

Okay, I can edit the wiki, and I am using preview to see what happens when I just add the above TOC to the client configuration page... Only Options is a link, the rest isn't. Might be because of spaces in 'titles'?

Ah, looking at the example, it's the long names for the words between parenthesis. Those should be just single words, not full description.

I added a TOC, but it doesn't work for me in Firefox. Anyone?
https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/Client-configuration

lol, only Options works...

Edit2: I have to give each header an ID with the name I gave it between parenthesis.

Okay, all fixed.

That's pretty labour-intensive.

I don't think this can be done via a script.

Here's the order of things to do:
- Find all chapters in the text, decide which ones to add to TOC.
- Add an <h2 id="something">Chapter</h2> for large header letters.
- Add an <h3 id="something-else">Sub-chapter</h3> for smaller chapter letters.
Maybe we can do with numbering.

Then add all chapters and sub-chapters at the top of the page, like a TOC.
In the form of

*   [Chapter 1](#Chap1)
    *   [Sub-chap1](#Sub-chap1)
    *   [Sub-chap2](#Sub-chap2)
*   [Chapter 2](#Chap2)
*   [Chapter 3](#Chap3)
    *   [Sub-chap3](#Sub-chap3)

etc.

The ID in the headers points to the (#ID) in the TOC. I suppose they can have spaces. And it doesn't matter if one uses capitals or not. Options is the same as options in the ID, I tested that.

The annoying thing, there's no "return to top" option. And back button on my mouse doesn't always work.

The most difficult one thus far?

https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/Advanced-view