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

Jim Kinney jim.kinney at gmail.com
Tue Sep 28 07:27:39 EDT 2021 

Vim.

On September 28, 2021 1:36:55 AM EDT, Steve Litt via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>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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>>>>> _______________________________________________
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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
>
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Computers amplify human error
Super computers are really cool
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