Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 15:13:58 -0400 From: Randy Pratt <rpratt@ezwv.com> To: bmah@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: Nik Clayton <nik@FreeBSD.ORG>, freebsd-docs@FreeBSD.ORG, Doug Young <dougy@gargoyle.apana.org.au>, Murray Stokely <murray@osd.bsdi.com>, Jim Mock <jim@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Install Preview (was Re: (was) I'm leaving, now something like "anti official docs rant" :) ) Message-ID: <01051515135804.00373@k6-2.weeble.com> In-Reply-To: <200105151727.f4FHRos64816@bmah-freebsd-0.cisco.com> References: <01051513051703.00373@k6-2.weeble.com> <200105151727.f4FHRos64816@bmah-freebsd-0.cisco.com>
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On Tuesday 15 May 2001 13:27, you wrote: > If memory serves me right, Randy Pratt wrote: > > There is now a 4.3 version of my "Install Preview" now posted at: > > > > http://people.freebsd.org/~rpratt/43/index.html > > Wow. I'd heard of this before but I didn't really look at it until now. > I must say I'm very impressed. > > A few comments....mostly food-for-thought in nature.... > > > There is a series of these dating back to the 2.x release and have been > > linked from the http://www.freebsd.org/tutorials/ page for quite some > > time. > > > > I've also created a version for the 4.3 that uses png captures of the > > html tables for purposes of conversion to sgml. These are available at: > > You mean the screenshots right? The versions prior to 4.3 used html tables as "screenshots" with a lot of formatting to produce views that were very close to that seen during installation. I used XV to capture the html table views and convert them to 8 bit png images. These were used instead of the html tables to ease the conversion to sgml. If you take a look at the source of the 4.2 previews, the tables would be difficult (if not impossible) to convert to sgml and a problem to maintain. > > http://people.freebsd.org/~rpratt/newprev/ > > > > and in tarball from: > > > > http://people.freebsd.org/~rpratt/newprev/4.3install.tar > > Any reason in particular for wanting to go to PNG rather than just using > <screen></screen>? Also have you tried making PDF or PS output to see > how this looks? Just curious. I'm not familar with sgmy (yet) so I'm probably not the best to answer that. The PNG formats produced views similar to those that would be seen by a new user. It was my intention to get as close as possible to what they would see. If the <screen></screen> would do that, then its a possibility. I hope other formats can be produced since I've had a few requests for them in the past. > > I gather from some of the threads I've read on the lists that people > > don't know these exist. Once the documents are reviewed and committed, > > perhaps we should consider some additional links to them. > > Do you (and/or Murray) envision the Install Preview to be a part of the > DocProj documentation set? I'm wondering if it might be something to > package up along with RELNOTESng, although this only exists in -CURRENT > right now. There's some important distinctions to make with respect to > CVS branches. Where the documents reside is probably best decided by those more familar with the doc project and what best suits the needs of new people. We should get all the mileage possible out of them. > In any case, I can think of at least a couple of places in the > RELNOTESng documents where we ought to put a pointer to the Install > Preview. It sounds like it might be getting a new URL soon? > > Nice job! > > Bruce. Thanks! I'm hoping that others will find things that could be improved or added. Often, its easier to improve on existing documents that to start with a blank sheet. Randy To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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