Node:Menus, Next:Cross References, Previous:Nodes, Up:Top

Menus

Menus contain pointers to subordinate nodes.¹ In Info, you use menus to go to such nodes. Menus have no effect in printed manuals and do not appear in them.

By convention, a menu is put at the end of a node since a reader who uses the menu may not see text that follows it. Furthermore, a node that has a menu should not contain much text. If you have a lot of text and a menu, move most of the text into a new subnode--all but a few lines. Otherwise, a reader with a terminal that displays only a few lines may miss the menu and its associated text. As a practical matter, you should locate a menu within 20 lines of the beginning of the node.

• Menu Location: Put a menu in a short node.
• Writing a Menu: What is a menu?
• Menu Parts: A menu entry has three parts.
• Less Cluttered Menu Entry: Two part menu entry.
• Menu Example: Two and three part menu entries.
• Other Info Files: How to refer to a different Info file.

Footnotes

1. Menus can carry you to any node, regardless of the hierarchical structure; even to nodes in a different Info file. However, the GNU Emacs Texinfo mode updating commands work only to create menus of subordinate nodes. Conventionally, cross references are used to refer to other nodes.