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Next: <a href="Cross-Reference-Commands.html#Cross-Reference-Commands" accesskey="n" rel="next">Cross Reference Commands</a>, Up: <a href="Cross-References.html#Cross-References" accesskey="u" rel="up">Cross References</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html#Command-and-Variable-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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<a name="What-References-Are-For"></a>
<h3 class="section">6.1 What References Are For</h3>

<p>Often, but not always, a printed document should be designed so that
it can be read sequentially.  People tire of flipping back and forth
to find information that should be presented to them as they need
it.
</p>
<p>However, in any document, some information will be too detailed for
the current context, or incidental to it; use cross-references to
provide access to such information.  Also, an online help system or a
reference manual is not like a novel; few read such documents in
sequence from beginning to end.  Instead, people look up what they
need.  For this reason, such creations should contain many cross
references to help readers find other information that they may not
have read.
</p>
<p>In a printed manual, a cross-reference results in a page reference,
unless it is to another manual altogether, in which case the
cross-reference names that manual.  In Info, a cross-reference results
in an entry that you can follow using the Info &lsquo;<samp>f</samp>&rsquo; command.
(See <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/info/html_node/Help_002dXref.html#Help_002dXref">Following cross-references</a> in <cite>Info</cite>.)  In HTML, a
cross-reference results in an hyperlink.
</p>
<p>The various cross-reference commands use nodes (or anchors,
see <a href="_0040anchor.html#g_t_0040anchor"><code>@anchor</code></a>) to define cross-reference locations.
TeX needs nodes to define cross-reference locations.  When TeX
generates a DVI file, it records each node&rsquo;s page number and uses the 
page numbers in making references.  Thus, even if you are writing a 
manual that will only be printed, and not used online, you must 
nonetheless write <code>@node</code> lines in order to name the places to 
which you make cross-references.
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