<html><head></head><body>Vim.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On September 28, 2021 1:36:55 AM EDT, Steve Litt via Ale <ale@ale.org> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<pre class="k9mail">Did you use Emacs to author the docbook, or some other tool?<br><br>SteveT<br><br>Jim Kinney said on Mon, 27 Sep 2021 23:36:09 -0400<br><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #729fcf; padding-left: 1ex;">I did some writing in docbook. It had screen captures, diagrams, etc.<br>From there it ran through publican to output very nice html and/or<br>odf. There was a dtd it used for formatting. Even had a vim addon for<br>automatically adding opening and closing tags. That's how Red Hat<br>does/did their online docs. May have changed in the past 5-10 years.<br><br>On September 27, 2021 5:53:42 PM EDT, Steve Litt via Ale <ale@ale.org><br>wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #ad7fa8; padding-left: 1ex;">Good information Liam, thank you!<br><br>Yeah, I carried 1st edition "The C Programming Language" by K&R, in my<br>backpack, for about 10 years, kept taping it up as it fell apart, and<br>finally it just shredded and I bought the 2nd edition.<br><br>I'll carry a $20.00 book to the beach, and if somebody rips it off or<br>it gets sand or water on it, oh well. I couldn't say the same thing<br>for a $400.00, 8x10" reading device, which is how big you'd need to<br>make it to even hope that the graphic and the text referencing it are<br>on the same page.<br><br>I'm writing a diagram-heavy book right now, to be sold as a 3"x5"<br>PDF, and entire pages are consumed by a single diagram. I wonder if,<br>for every order, I should produce an additional 8.5"x11" copy.<br><br>The obvious solution, ePub, is impractical right now because LyX<br>outputs atrocious HTML and therefore atrocious ePub, and I haven't<br>yet found a tool chain good enough to write the kinds of books I<br>write, output to ePub. But this could change.<br><br>Thanks for your input.<br><br>SteveT<br><br><br>Leam Hall via Ale said on Sat, 25 Sep 2021 20:07:24 -0500<br> <br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #8ae234; padding-left: 1ex;">For me it's more choice than issue. I mostly read technical books,<br>and have to flip back and forth between the graphic description and<br>the text. Harder to do with an ereader. With fiction I get through a<br>page fairly quickly, though I'm by no means super fast. Reading on my<br>computer is less desirable; my office is always the warmest room in<br>the house, and I haven't talked myself into a comfortable chair yet.<br>Since I spend most of the day here, being elsewhere is a nice break.<br>I can sit in the living room with a book, and not have to stare at a<br>screen.<br><br>Which is kind of funny, since the few books I've published are ebooks<br>only. :)<br><br>Leam<br><br>On 9/25/21 5:18 PM, Bob Toxen via Ale wrote: <br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #fcaf3e; padding-left: 1ex;">Uh, I swap foreground/background colors to show white text on a<br>black background, for decades. MUCH EASIER on the eyes!<br><br>As I've aged I increase font size.<br><br>Bob<br><br>On Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 04:09:48PM -0400, Steve Litt via Ale<br>wrote: <br></blockquote></blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #8ae234; padding-left: 1ex;"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #fcaf3e; padding-left: 1ex;"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #e9b96e; padding-left: 1ex;">Leam Hall via Ale said on Fri, 24 Sep 2021 18:36:18 -0500<br> <br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #ccc; padding-left: 1ex;">On 9/24/21 6:10 PM, Steve Litt via Ale wrote:<br> <br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #ccc; padding-left: 1ex;"> And who in 2021 would write a document on printed<br> paper?<br><br> SteveT <br></blockquote><br> *raises hand slowly*<br><br> Easier on my old eyes, and I read fast enough that a kindle slows<br> me down. <br></blockquote><br> Yeahhh, for the most part the dead trees argument was sparring<br> between two guys with a very different view of the world, and can<br> safely be ignored. But because one of the things I do for a living<br> is write, produce and publish books, I'm very interested in your<br> preceding sentence.<br><br> It sounds to me like printed documents are actually easier on your<br> eyes, I presume giving you less eye strain, headaches, etc. Is<br> this because of the glaring white background, or some other<br> reason? If the glaring white background, do your devices give you<br> the option of using a light tan background? Does that help?<br><br> Some people (like me) have no choice but to read electronic docs,<br> because we can't comfortably focus on anything less than 15<br> point. <br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>A <br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #8ae234; padding-left: 1ex;"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #fcaf3e; padding-left: 1ex;"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #e9b96e; padding-left: 1ex;"> normal paperback printed in a font I can read would be five or six<br> inches thick, whereas on a device I can crank it up to clock face<br> type size and read comfortably. Does your eyesight restrict the<br> font size you can read?<br><br> Are you one of those people able to read line by line instead of<br> word by word? If so, I can well imagine that five or six words per<br> line would slow you down. On mobile devices, have you tried<br> turning the device landscape so you get longer lines? Of course,<br> doing so means you have to page down much too often, and that<br> would slow you down.<br><br> Do you ever consider reading on your computer monitor? Doing so<br> would solve the words per line and lines per page problems, but<br> would eliminate the portability most people require.<br><br> I can't go back to printing my books; it's economically infeasible<br> now that I have to compete with PDF and ePub books. But I *can*<br> work to bring the benefits of printed books to my PDFs and ePubs.<br><br> Thanks,<br><br> SteveT<br><br> Steve Litt<br> Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the<br> Successful Technologist <a href="http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques">http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques</a><hr> Ale mailing list<br> Ale@ale.org<br> <a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br> <a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a> <br></blockquote><hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br> <br></blockquote><br>-- <br>Systems Programmer (reuel.net/resume)<br>Scribe: The Domici War (domiciwar.net)<br>General Ne'er-do-well (github.com/LeamHall)<hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a> <br></blockquote><hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a> <br></blockquote><br>-- <br>Computers amplify human error<br>Super computers are really cool<br></blockquote><hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br></pre></blockquote></div><br>-- <br>Computers amplify human error<br>Super computers are really cool</body></html>