Jean Hollis Weber wrote:
Matthew Copple wrote:
In fact, I am finding that I am using paper a lot less, and reviewing
PDFs
more when they are available. Right now, most PDFs are developed with
the
printed word in mind, and are much too dense for onscreen use
(especially on
a Macbook with a 13" screen). What makes them useful, however, is
that I can
search by keyword to narrow my search, and then browse with the
eyeballs to
match context.
I wish there was a simple way to write a document once, and
simultaneously
format it for print and screen viewing. With Docbook that is
possible, but I
am not enough of a wizard with OpenDocument to know how easy it is
with ODT.
Theoretically, simply changing your style list should do the job...
but I've
noticed with both MSO and OOO that this is much easier said than done.
It's fairly easy to reformat a book in more than one page orientation
or size (using styles), but the results usually need a lot of manual
cleanup to make them acceptable... and some techniques (such as using
tables for page layout, which Gary has started doing more often) can
make things much worse when the page size is changed. I'm trying to
identify the optimal set of conditions for allowing the best possible
output (requiring the least manual cleanup), because that will save me
huge amounts of time in my own work.
Now, my radical proposal: perhaps we should design all our books for
easy reading onscreen in PDF. Landscape orientation, larger fonts,
two-column layout. Encourage people to not print from those PDFs.
Perhaps tell them a bit about how to print two-up if they really want
it printed. Or they can buy the printed book. :-)
--Jean
DocBook by itself does not format but essentially handles content with
XML. And the older mode of DocBook (through DocBook 4.5) has changed
with the introduction of DocBook 5 last year, although there still is an
unofficial DocBook 5 DTD version--usable OK with FrameMaker's DTD-based
XML. AFAIK, OOo's DocBook was mired at version 4.1.2 or
whatever--several years old and long deprecated. Last year, I produced a
current (then) set of DocBook 5 DTD and EDD (formatting) files, suitable
for use with FrameMaker, in case anybody wants to use it.
--
Gary Schnabl
2775 Honorah
Detroit MI 48209
(734) 245-3324
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
