[FM Discuss] Adding LaTeX to FlossManuals.net for polishing/ layout

[DancesWithCars]

No, I hadn't looked much at Objavi,
and it appears to have a .odt output
option which may help, though it
took a long while to run,
thinking it hung on a booki export.
Booki didn't google at all,
so I'm learning a whole new
set of flossmanuals and OLPC
support gang terms...

My suggestion of LaTeX wasn't as
much for mathematical formulae,
though that is what TeX probably
excels at, but to do more glossy
and control freak layout.

HTML is difficult at best,
people are making tables just
to put two images next to each
other, and html certainly isn't much of
a layout engine like an InDesign
(though that M$ stuff crashed
most of the time in a small community
paper environment, and that was just
on one little WWFFWG page),
but things like putting your source
image in full resolution (giving source
4-10 Megapixel) and having it scale
the image to the target output
(web screen, print draft layout,
print glossy National Geographic quality
PR BS, etc ), exact positioning of images,
instead of relative to a low res computer
screen, and the size of the ClassActs output
may be an issue to run on the XO,
as another flossmanual, said the pdf file
size limit was in the ~30MB range for Sugar
Activity Reader  and our output is > 100 MB so far,
without the nice globe (where is your
implementation on this little blue ball
we call earth, much less adding our
"little green penguin that could"
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:DancesWithCars#The_Little_Green_Penguin_That_Could
animated character, learning with goals
and lessons learned at each implementation,
diving into implementation with software
[ActionScript like?]
(though probably for something done
to ClassActs output after this
sprint post production stuff is done),
if I don't get side tracked into
Deaf SpeakSign Activity
or any of the other projects
on my self determined plate.

The links to HTMLLaTeX were
mostly broken, but I'll keep looking
and if you already know the guy
face 2 face, maybe something
happens that way too.

I've got some python learning
to do, and SpeakSign might be
a good intro way to start...


On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 10:33 AM, adam hyde <adam at flossmanuals.net> wrote:
> hey DancesWithCars,
>
> If you want to build a python html2latex script we could insert it into
> the forthcoming booki.
>
> Otherwise, did you look at what you can do with Objavi? You can produce
> very nice print source material (PDF) which is all controlled by CSS :
> http://objavi.flossmanuals.net
>
> adam
>
>
>
> On Fri, 2009-09-18 at 09:16 -0400, DancesWithCars wrote:
>> Early in the ClassActs book sprint we talked about
>> whether FLOSSManuals.net use of HTML would
>> allow the high end graphics polish that the group
>> was originally shooting for (a National Geographics
>> style).
>>
>> Having run across LaTeX recently again for something
>> else, it is open source and seems to be what is used
>> in publishing Manuscripts and Papers in the technical
>> areas, all the way up to the original book(s)
>> Knuth's Art of Programming series, so it has
>> the technical capability, and is open source,
>> though not as intuitive as one might wish.
>>
>> So, I'll put it to the communities,
>> can FM exporting to LaTeX be used
>> to polish a book, maybe as post production,
>> to get away from the inherent limitations
>> of html source for layout?
>>
>>
>> We ended up using 4+ tools during the sprint,
>>
>> wiki.laptop.org for the planning of the document
>> and event
>> etherpad.com for the table of contents
>> and flossmanuals.net
>>
>> Audio Conference calls at least daily.
>>
>> Afterward, our communication seems to be on
>> support gang, a private list, and IRC from
>> FM.
>>
>>
>> NB: I commend FM for what it's doing in making
>> online manuals for FLOSS, as they are sorely needed,
>> and look forward to a hard bound ClassActs,
>> even if my writing is really in there
>> after a week...
>>
> --
> Adam Hyde
> Founder FLOSS Manuals
> German mobile : + 49 15 2230 54563
> Email : adam at flossmanuals.net
> irc: irc.freenode.net #flossmanuals
>
> "Free manuals for free software"
> http://www.flossmanuals.net/about
>
>
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>



-- 
DancesWithCars
leave the wolves behind ;-)