Paul brings up a good point. The only thing I don't like about HTML is that your options for controlling layout are limited. I think it also presents some challeneges in the separation of text and images, which I think is important for translation. Printing HTML docs can be tricky too.
I've done work on a simple help viewer. It basically does what Larry talks about, but also includes support for images. I could use it instead. But that would take a week or two of work...I'll have to chew on it. You could probably look at the issue this way: Disadvantages of PDF help documentation: - Size of files. - External Viewer Needed Advantages of PDF help documentation: - Exact control over document layout. - Easy hard copy printing. - Access to documentation from outside the application. - Common document format. I think for something like a Plug-In I would include the PDF files in the download. For something like a user or developer manual I would package the PDF as a separate download. I guess I'm just a fan of PDF. :] It must be the graphic artist in me. Still, this discussion is good, as I hadn't considered the size issue. If someone is willing to develop an alternative help system that will be supported in OpenJUMP, I will strive to make my plug-in help docs conform. Thanks. The Sunburned Surveyor P.S. - Larry: On my Linux system the PDF viewer is FOSS. P.S.S. - Paul: In my perspective PDF documentation that is larger than the actual code is a sign of a well documented program, which most FOSS is not. I think there are several popular FOSS programs where the help docs are larger than the code base. On 10/17/07, Paul Austin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > And if you need to have some pretty formatting or images use HTML. > > On another perspective on the issue. HTML is a fairly low overhead way > to encode text. PDF files on the other hand have a lot of overhead. > > If we look at this one page PDF it takes up 164KB where as a HTML > document with image would probably be 5kb. > > If we have 1000 functions in OpenJUMP with 1 page of help the PDF files > would be around a 164MB download as opposed to about 2MB with HTML (my > math is correct the image 3KB is shared across all the pages in the HTML > with only 2KB of text that differs). > > Just another way to think about it. Your help files should not be bigger > in size than the code! > > Paul > > > Larry Becker wrote: > > PDF is just a non-standard way to do help. All you have is some > > text. You should just pop up a window with a text component and > > display it. Don't make me open another (non-free) application to view > > your help. > > > > Larry > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. > Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. > Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. > Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ > _______________________________________________ > Jump-pilot-devel mailing list > Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Jump-pilot-devel mailing list Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel
