[ale] Print vs electronic: Was: Remove systemd network handling
Steve Litt
slitt at troubleshooters.com
Tue Sep 28 22:21:40 EDT 2021
Did you type all those open and close tags in Vim, or did you use some
sort of Vim plugin to make the work easier?
Jim Kinney via Ale said on Tue, 28 Sep 2021 07:27:39 -0400
>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
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________ Ale mailing list
>>>>>>> Ale at ale.org
>>>>>>> https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
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>>>>>> Ale mailing list
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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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>>>>>https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
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>>>>
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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
SteveT
Steve Litt
Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques
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