Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 18:20:33 +0200 From: Jeremy Lea <reg@shale.csir.co.za> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>, doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ps2pdf (was: newbies mailing list) Message-ID: <19980311182033.60785@shale.csir.co.za> In-Reply-To: <19980306191229.06394@freebie.lemis.com>; from Greg Lehey on Fri, Mar 06, 1998 at 07:12:29PM %2B1030 References: <199803030441.VAA11558@const.> <34FBE0CB.C1697F2D@internationalschool.co.uk> <19980304102052.13296@freebie.lemis.com> <19980304131036.44077@shale.csir.co.za> <19980306191229.06394@freebie.lemis.com>
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Hi... On Fri, Mar 06, 1998 at 07:12:29PM +1030, Greg Lehey wrote: > On Wed, 4 March 1998 at 13:10:36 +0200, Jeremy Lea wrote: > > This is going to sound really nasty, but it's not meant that way... > > Go for it. Had a long weekend away and now I feel much less like buying the shotgun. :) > I think you misunderstand me. Obviously the work with sed has to be > done before making the CD. If it's a one line patch then shouldn't it just go into bsd.doc.mk and happen every time? I've noticed that people in the US tend to think very much in terms of the CD distribution of FreeBSD. Out in the backwaters of this virtual urban sprawl the CD is not very easy to come by and ordering it is quite pricey. People here tend to think a lot more in terms of FTP. There are 10 times as many mirrors outside the US as inside... > > Your opinion doesn't count. > > Yes it does! :) Good thing I put that disclaimer in... Think I got my point across though. :) > No problems there. My problem is that there has to be something > better than the current html, which, as other people have observed, is > difficult to handle. > > While writing my book, I spent a lot of time reading the handbook, > initially the HTML version. It wasn't until I went to reading the > ASCII version that I discovered a whole lot of stuff that I hadn't > found in the HTML. This is more a problem of the handbook than the > medium, but the medium encourages it: excellent random access and > appalling sequential access. I'd suggest that we try to reduce the > number of pages and increase their size (and still keep the links, of > course). One page per chapter sounds reasonable. I agree... Personally I think HTML is a mess. It should never have been a content based markup format... it should have been a platform independent display format and left the content stuff to background SGML like docbook. But well you can't change history. HTML and it's successors are here to stay. Making the HTML pages longer is a good idea. So, I think, is making the printable versions shorter (one section per file). But I think there is more needed in terms of restructuring the documents, and pitching them at a broader audience. An idea I liked was that used in the online Java book at java.sun.com, which uses "trails", which you can follow through. Maybe something like this would work. In the online version it would be hypertext and in the printed version it could use small icons. There could be a "new user", "ISP", "workstation", "Quake" :), etc. trails for the various segments of the users to walk though, so that experienced users could skip the hand-holding... I'd have to think the idea through a bit with a copy of the handbook in front of me. > > The thing which I really don't like about the Unix world is that it > > sucks you in... This package depends on that package, which is > > really doing the same job as another package, which you need for > > something else... you can't ever talk of a minimum install. > > Sounds like your description of Win95 in the previous paragraph. Yes, in hindsight I suppose that there are really two separate worlds out there. Now that I'm getting used to have control over my computer again I wont give it up. Also, having lots of packages that do the same thing means having a choice. But it chews up your free space... But it you where to have a collection like the ports collection under Windows you would find that there would be a lot less dependencies. Everything is designed to install onto a clean platform. Don't get me wrong... I don't like Windows... it has it's good points (nice and friendly, etc.), but it has some "features" which really bite you. Anyway, I'm willing to pitch in and work on some doc stuff (in a few weeks ;). I don't know how good my writing is, and I don't think I'm an expert in anything... but I like to edit and format documents. If you need a hand changing things into docbook then I should be able to help. I also split my time between FreeBSD and Win95 so I can try a lot of things out and I have access to almost any software to test stuff. Regards, -Jeremy -- | "In this world of temptation, I will stand for what is right. --+-- With a heart of salvation, I will hold up the light. | If I live or if I die, if I laugh or if I cry, | in this world of temptation, I will stand." -Pam Thum To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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