UX issues?

[ndw]

Via email.

From: Sasha Unknown
Subject: Bug report related to tdg.docbook.org
Date: September 20, 2021 at 10:38:46 MDT
To: [email protected]

Hello.

This message is really not a proposal but a bug report about the web-interface of the “DocBook 5.2: The Definitive Guide”
book https://tdg.docbook.org/tdg/5.2/index.html (probably it relates to other book versions as well, but I've just tried to
read 5.2). Sorry, if I've chosen a wrong recipient, but I've spend some time to find a proper one and this e-mail address is
the only active thing I've found (the SourceForge-backed bug tracker for DocBook seems to be dead for several years, while GitHub repo for DocBook seems to related only to the stylesheets, not to the documentation). I would be grad if you redirect my letter to the correct recipient or suggest me the one.

I thank you very much for the content of the book. But the web interface makes the book almost unreadable by
unexpectedly redefining hotkeys that are the most used during reading. Examples:

• I press Up/Down to scroll the current page. But absolutely unexpectedly, when I press Up, instead of scrolling the page up, web-browser (Google Chrome 93.0.4577.82) jumps to another page.

• I then press Alt+Left in attempt to return to the previous page. But absolutely unexpectedly browser redirects me some third page, not the one that I've just left (so I can't even return to the page which was taken away when I tried to scroll it page in a convenient way).

• And this happens so-o-o many times during reading and annoys so much.

• Pressing Home in order to return to the top of the page also leads to some unpredictable results.

I understand that you (or whoever implemented these scripts on the pages) tried to do it for good; that you intentionally
assigned Up key for going one level up, Left and Right keys for switching to the previous/next chapter and Home key to do
something useful as well. But, to be honest, all these functions are much much less useful than the original meanings of
these hotkeys. The ability to scroll up and down is crucial. (And no, PgUp and PgDown keys don't substitute the Up and
Down keys for real. PgUp and PgDown keys jump sharply. When a reader wants to scroll smoothly, just 1-2 lines, without
losing the focus point, they press Up and Down). Just try to compare how often you scroll up and down and how often you
need to jump the one-level-up page. While jumping level up is useful per se, but not at the cost of scrolling. Overriding
browser standard hotkeys like Alt+Left (Back) and Alt+Right (Forward) is a no way either.

Thanks for your attention. I really hope such pity but easy-to-fix peculiarities will be fixed soon.