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

Tue Sep 28 01:36:55 EDT 2021

Did you use Emacs to author the docbook, or some other tool?

SteveT

Jim Kinney said on Mon, 27 Sep 2021 23:36:09 -0400

>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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>
>-- 
>Computers amplify human error
>Super computers are really cool