[ale] Print vs electronic: Was: Remove systemd network handling

Mon Sep 27 23:36:09 EDT 2021

I did some writing in docbook. It had screen captures, diagrams, etc. From there it ran through publican to output very nice html and/or odf. There was a dtd it used for formatting. Even had a vim addon for automatically adding opening and closing tags. That's how Red Hat does/did their online docs. May have changed in the past 5-10 years.

On September 27, 2021 5:53:42 PM EDT, Steve Litt via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>Good information Liam, thank you!
>
>Yeah, I carried 1st edition "The C Programming Language" by K&R, in my
>backpack, for about 10 years, kept taping it up as it fell apart, and
>finally it just shredded and I bought the 2nd edition.
>
>I'll carry a $20.00 book to the beach, and if somebody rips it off or
>it gets sand or water on it, oh well. I couldn't say the same thing for
>a $400.00, 8x10" reading device, which is how big you'd need to make it
>to even hope that the graphic and the text referencing it are on the
>same page.
>
>I'm writing a diagram-heavy book right now, to be sold as a 3"x5"
>PDF, and entire pages are consumed by a single diagram. I wonder if,
>for every order, I should produce an additional 8.5"x11" copy.
>
>The obvious solution, ePub, is impractical right now because LyX
>outputs atrocious HTML and therefore  atrocious ePub, and I haven't yet
>found a tool chain good enough to write the kinds of books I write,
>output to ePub. But this could change.
>
>Thanks for your input.
>
>SteveT
>
>
>Leam Hall via Ale said on Sat, 25 Sep 2021 20:07:24 -0500
>
>>For me it's more choice than issue. I mostly read technical books, and
>>have to flip back and forth between the graphic description and the
>>text. Harder to do with an ereader. With fiction I get through a page
>>fairly quickly, though I'm by no means super fast. Reading on my
>>computer is less desirable; my office is always the warmest room in
>>the house, and I haven't talked myself into a comfortable chair yet.
>>Since I spend most of the day here, being elsewhere is a nice break. I
>>can sit in the living room with a book, and not have to stare at a
>>screen.
>>
>>Which is kind of funny, since the few books I've published are ebooks
>>only.  :)
>>
>>Leam
>>
>>On 9/25/21 5:18 PM, Bob Toxen via Ale wrote:
>>> Uh, I swap foreground/background colors to show white text on a
>>> black background, for decades.  MUCH EASIER on the eyes!
>>> 
>>> As I've aged I increase font size.
>>> 
>>> Bob
>>> 
>>> On Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 04:09:48PM -0400, Steve Litt via Ale wrote: 
>
>>>> Leam Hall via Ale said on Fri, 24 Sep 2021 18:36:18 -0500
>>>>  
>>>>> On 9/24/21 6:10 PM, Steve Litt via Ale wrote:
>>>>>  
>>>>>> And who in 2021 would write a document on printed
>>>>>> paper?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> SteveT  
>>>>>
>>>>> *raises hand slowly*
>>>>>
>>>>> Easier on my old eyes, and I read fast enough that a kindle slows
>>>>> me down.  
>>>>
>>>> Yeahhh, for the most part the dead trees argument was sparring
>>>> between two guys with a very different view of the world, and can
>>>> safely be ignored. But because one of the things I do for a living
>>>> is write, produce and publish books, I'm very interested in your
>>>> preceding sentence.
>>>>
>>>> It sounds to me like printed documents are actually easier on your
>>>> eyes, I presume giving you less eye strain, headaches, etc. Is this
>>>> because of the glaring white background, or some other reason? If
>>>> the glaring white background, do your devices give you the option
>>>> of using a light tan background? Does that help?
>>>>
>>>> Some people (like me) have no choice but to read electronic docs,
>>>> because we can't comfortably focus on anything less than 15 point.
>A
>>>> normal paperback printed in a font I can read would be five or six
>>>> inches thick, whereas on a device I can crank it up to clock face
>>>> type size and read comfortably. Does your eyesight restrict the
>>>> font size you can read?
>>>>
>>>> Are you one of those people able to read line by line instead of
>>>> word by word? If so, I can well imagine that five or six words per
>>>> line would slow you down. On mobile devices, have you tried turning
>>>> the device landscape so you get longer lines? Of course, doing so
>>>> means you have to page down much too often, and that would slow you
>>>> down.
>>>>
>>>> Do you ever consider reading on your computer monitor? Doing so
>>>> would solve the words per line and lines per page problems, but
>>>> would eliminate the portability most people require.
>>>>
>>>> I can't go back to printing my books; it's economically infeasible
>>>> now that I have to compete with PDF and ePub books. But I *can*
>>>> work to bring the benefits of printed books to my PDFs and ePubs.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> SteveT
>>>>
>>>> Steve Litt
>>>> Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the
>>>> Successful Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques
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>>
>>-- 
>>Systems Programmer         (reuel.net/resume)
>>Scribe: The Domici War     (domiciwar.net)
>>General Ne'er-do-well      (github.com/LeamHall)
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