Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 02:42:51 -0700 (PDT) From: <jkoshy@FreeBSD.org> To: Nik Clayton <nik@FreeBSD.ORG> Cc: doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Including images in the documentation Message-ID: <200005100942.CAA34333@freefall.freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 09 May 2000 14:35:57 IST." <20000509143555.A1692@kilt.nothing-going-on.org>
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>>>> "Nik Clayton" <nik@FreeBSD.ORG> writes > vector images. Instead of storing EPS files in the repository we would > store the dia files, and generate the EPS from them at build time. I have two objections to `dia': Size: `dia' requires GTK which in turn pulls in other dependencies; ImageMagick is also big. I18N: How localized is `dia'? Will it serve the needs of the -doc translation teams? Instead: Why not have EPS as the ``base format'' from which other formats are generated as needed? Of the various choices, EPS seems to me today to scale the best across the available display technologies. Further, it is a fairly compact and, being plain text, works well with CVS. You can translate EPS into a number formats using ghostscript (including PNG). Generating EPS: While visual tools like `dia' are a possibility, we also have: - MetaPost (already present in the teTeX distribution): a lightweight tool for drawing simple diagrams of the kind we are likely to need. - Finally, TeX itself can be used to draw figures. Packages like `xypic', and `pstricks' come to mind. The TeX family of tools (including MetaPost) are already very well localized. A related point: Most figures are going to need some text embedded in them. When translated, this text can change radically in size and may need to be repositioned in the figure. Boxes may need to be resized and/or moved around. In the interest of easing the translation teams' work it would be useful to describe pictures in a high-level way (e.g:- "connect this box to that one there with a wavy line") and have the build process automatically handle the details of positioning and sizing of the picture's components. This is possible today when using MetaPost or TeX. It would be even better to describe our figures in SGML :). Do you know of any DTDs being used to describe figures and diagrams? Regards, Koshy <jkoshy@freebsd.org> To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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