From owner-freebsd-doc Tue Aug 1 09:02:31 1995 Return-Path: doc-owner Received: (from majordom@localhost) by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.11/8.6.6) id JAA28577 for doc-outgoing; Tue, 1 Aug 1995 09:02:31 -0700 Received: from hp.com (hp.com [15.255.152.4]) by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.11/8.6.6) with ESMTP id JAA28555 ; Tue, 1 Aug 1995 09:02:18 -0700 Received: from srmail.sr.hp.com by hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.16/15.5+ECS 3.3) id AA157072925; Tue, 1 Aug 1995 09:02:05 -0700 Received: from hpnmhjw.sr.hp.com by srmail.sr.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.16/15.5+ECS 3.3) id AA179692924; Tue, 1 Aug 1995 09:02:04 -0700 Received: from mina.sr.hp.com by hpnmhjw.sr.hp.com with SMTP (1.37.109.16/15.5+ECS 3.3) id AA002212919; Tue, 1 Aug 1995 09:01:59 -0700 Message-Id: <199508011601.AA002212919@hpnmhjw.sr.hp.com> To: Jan Isley Cc: jfieber@grendel.csc.smith.edu (John Fieber), roberto@blaise.ibp.fr, doc@freebsd.org, hackers@freebsd.org, www@freebsd.org, "Jordan K. Hubbard" Subject: Re: Updated FAQ on WWW.FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 31 Jul 1995 15:02:00 EDT." <199507311902.PAA08061@bagend.atl.ga.us> Date: Tue, 01 Aug 1995 09:01:58 -0700 From: Darryl Okahata Sender: doc-owner@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk > I think making the "text" version go away is a mistake. In fact, I > think a text form of the FAQ should be posted maybe once every two > weeks. I feel so strongly about this need that I volunteered last > week when Jordon suggested there was a problem. I still volunteer. A plain vanilla ASCII text version needs to be made available. However, it "should" be possible to create one from the "SGML master" using sgmlfmt. Text versions need to exist, for readable postings to comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc and others. Having an easily printed and complete FAQ is very useful. Printing from WWW browsers is a pain, as it must be done page-by-page, and hyperlinks like the prev/next page and table of contents links look plain ugly when printed. I'm not saying that these links should not be there. They should/must be in the HTML FAQ, but they do not belong in an ASCII text version of the FAQ. Unfortunately, the SGML master file must be written with ASCII text conversion in mind; the current pre-FAQ (http://freefall.cdrom.com/%7Eroberto/FAQ/) is pretty useless if you convert it to plain text. For example, if you convert question 1.3 to text, you get: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3. Where can I get FreeBSD? The distribution is available via anonymous ftp from: FreeBSD home directory For the current release, 2.0.5R, look in: FreeBSD 2.0.5-RELEASE FreeBSD is also available via CDROM, from the following place(s): Walnut Creek CDROM 4041 Pike Lane, Suite D-386 Concord, CA 94520 USA Orders: (800)-786-9907 Questions: (510)-674-0783 FAX: (510)-674-0821 email: WC Orders address WWW: WC Home page ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If a novice user looks at this, he's going to ask: What, pray tell, is: FreeBSD home directory FreeBSD 2.0.5-RELEASE email: WC Orders address WWW: WC Home page This is pretty useless. The above can be left as hyperlinks, but the hyperlink descriptions: FreeBSD home directory FreeBSD 2.0.5-RELEASE email: WC Orders address WWW: WC Home page should be changed (back!!!) to: ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/ ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.0.5-RELEASE/ email: orders@cdrom.com WWW: http://www.cdrom.com/ If the above was originally done because of severe limitations in SGML/sgmlfmt, then change the links to read: ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/ (FreeBSD home directory) ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/2.0.5-RELEASE/ (FreeBSD 2.0.5-RELEASE) email: orders@cdrom.com (WC Orders address) WWW: http://www.cdrom.com/ (WC Home page) [For that matter, isn't there a way to get indentation with SGML??? Having no indentation looks pretty ugly. ] -- Darryl Okahata Internet: darrylo@sr.hp.com DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not constitute the support, opinion or policy of Hewlett-Packard or of the little green men that have been following him all day.