NetLogo 7.04 does not include the static version of manual pages. I often do modelling without the internet and so do not then have access to docs.netlogo.org. The PDF is just nowhere as good as a modern browser+HTML in terms of keeping context and control of viewing (e.g. font sizes for those with less good vision).
In addition, when using F1 for help, there is no (easy) way to go to the “top” of the NetLogo Dictionary.
My expectation was that it would be uncontroversial to get rid of the static HTML documentation, since we already provide the documentation in two other forms (including one that’s available offline), and generating static HTML pages from the new documentation website was going to require substantial added effort on our end, while producing something that was seemingly redundant. I didn’t expect that the positives of a static HTML manual outweighed the cost to us, but I’m open to bringing it back in the next release, if people feel strongly about this.
For my own part, I’m not facing the same problems that are being described here, when I open the PDF in my viewer (Okular on Ubuntu). I can zoom way in and still see text rendered clearly. I can bookmark sections of the document to come back to later, and open multiple copies of the document. I can type “dictionary” into the search box for the sections of the document, and click a link to go to the top of the dictionary. The way I experience it, the PDF viewer feels more powerful than a web browser for this. Might the situation improve for you by changing PDF viewers?
Do you have other things that are only handled well in the browser? Details about further problems are compelling to me. I admit that it’s possible that we simply made a misstep with this change.
It’s worth noting that the content of the 7.0.4 manual does not differ greatly from that of the 7.0.3 manual, so it shouldn’t hinder you much to browse the 7.0.3 pages, in the meantime.
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When using F1, NetLogo opens the browser anyway, so PDF is shown in the browser. Using another PDF viewer is not really an option then (and using another browser? no way).
Links inside the document are often half a page off; mostly, ending up too far down, but occasionally too far up. This seems independent of opening in the browser or a dedicated viewer.
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In the PDF viewer I tried the navigation pane for finding the NetLogo Dictionary quickly. There are just way too many headings at level 1, and the fact that the NetLogo Dictionary starts at page 521 / 630 does not help either.
So, for the purposes of the NetLogo Dictionary the PDF just does not work well.
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