why is \alias{anRpackage} not mandatory?

This shows up in the HTML help system.  It would be better if it showed up
in all help formats, but there are other ways to do that, e.g. creating an
Rd help page pointing to those files.

Or you can just link to them from your website.

I don't think you'd argue with the statement that there's already too
many different ways to find R documentation.  There are plenty of
hacks and work-arounds to jam different types of documentation in
different places, but they are just hacks and work-arounds.  My
feeling is that evolutionary modification of the documentation system
is only going to get us so far, and at some point the entire
foundations need to be rethought.

Of course, the problem is having enough time to do that, and then to
code up the solution!

Hadley

http://had.co.nz/