Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 14:33:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Murray Stokely <murray@bsdi.com> To: Jonathan Michaels <jon@welearn.com.au> Cc: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Handbook Illustrations Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0006141417350.845-100000@pike.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: <20000614124904.B25244@phoenix.welearn.com.au>
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On Wed, 14 Jun 2000, Jonathan Michaels wrote: % On Tue, Jun 13, 2000 at 12:23:32PM -0700, Murray Stokely wrote: % > Are there any plans to replace the ASCII art in the FreeBSD Handbook % > with simple xfig diagrams? The ASCII looks really out of place in the % > printed (PostScript) version of the handbook that was recently % > published. % > With a few simple changes to the makefile and freebsd.dsl we could % > pass a variable with the -V option to [Open]Jade and let the DSSSL code % > decide whether to display the graphic (HTML or PostScript output) or the % > ASCII figure (Text output). % % > Does this sounds like a logical way to solve the problem? % % not if thier is not a problem .. lots of people still use text % only consoles. so if your plan is to add functionality, as in % make the new 'artwork' a part of teh pdf and or ps editions % while still leaving the 'ascii art' in the html and ascii % (latin?) text versions of the document. While it's hard to decipher what you are actually saying, it sounds like you are OK with my proposal? Yes, as my second paragraph states I wish to include both ASCII and graphical versions of the figures (in the form of entities and .eps files respecively). If you ouput to text you will get ASCII figures, and if you ouput to PostScript you will get graphical figures. I don't see how this hurts users with limited hardware resources. You can still read the Handbook on your Palm Pilot, e-book, cell phone, or 386 when outputting to text format. This only makes a change for the high quality PostScript (and possibly HTML) output formats. % ok, but if you plan to replace teh 'ascii art' then i don't % think it is a good idea, because it is one step closer to teh % eventual microsoftisation of freebsd, as i tried to explain the % last time a similar issue riased its head. As my original message stated, I do not propose replacing the ASCII art except for the high quality printed output options. Please read my original email. Why do you consider better printed documentation to be the "Microsoftification" of FreeBSD? % as i tried to say last time, not every one uses or has access % to the latestest greatest in hardware or has human bodies that % lack 'deficiencies' .. we make do with waht we have. As my original message stated, this is a conditional change that only affects the graphical output formats. The bare-bones version of the handbook (text) will remain the same for users without the latest and greatest hardware to view a 500 byte black+white image. % just becaue i use a i386dx33 with 8 mb dram, 345 mb esdi hard % drive and a text only console display i don't assume that every % body else in teh universe uses the same .. so, when a person Do you understand the concept of using SGML to output into different formats? Some formats cater to the least common denominator, and others to professional printing presses. ASCII figures are not suitable for any but the most limited publishing mediums. % <apology in advance> % i am sorry, but, i don't know how else to say what i am trying % to say, while not getting jumped on by the lurking bigots and % nacent 'thought police' that are an ever increasing part of teh % population in mailling lists these days. % </apology in advance> It really doesn't sound like you read my original email at all. - Murray To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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