[softwarelist] Re: OPro Manual

In message <gemini.izeieh3w5e11203ld.tony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
      Tony van der Hoff <tony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


[snip some]
> 
> 
> Far be it from me to try to teach grandmother to suck eggs, but as you must
> be very well aware, Ovation and HTML fulfil entirely different purposes.
> Picking the right tool for the job is - hopefully - part of the design
> process. OPro is simply the most excellent document-composition package I
> have ever come across, and I use it a lot. I have even had to get my risc-pc
> repaired, simply to support this one application.

Showing that you are an experienced user of this program.


[snip some more]
> 
> Yes, I appreciate the oPRO manual was written using oPro, because it was
> intended as a paper manual, .....

The 1st edition: yes. The 2nd edition: no.
  As stated in the 3rd paragraph of page 1.3 of the manual it was 
intended that the User can investigate how certain styles/effects/etc. 
are created. By using the info present in the electronic manual.
  If only a written manual had been intended, all pictures would 
simply have been jpeg's or sprites without *any* information being 
available for the info palette (as this does not appear in a written 
manual). Now, as it is, the whole manual-2 is a kind of advanced 
Tutorial as well, with dynamic information. Especially useful for 
non-experts and beginners.

  I understand your ideas about a HTML document on Ovation Pro, but I 
believe HTML info is just as static as the info within a PDF document. 

Another important point at the time that Manual-2 was written was that 
still many RiscOS users had computers with limited RAM (which is maybe 
still true to this day). Therefore the production of the manual in 
separate chapters. Not exactly a friendly way if you need to find 
something.
  My present computer has ample RAM. I therefore created the whole 
manual as a single multi-chapter document (approx. 14Mb) and find that 
using the index, then going to the page in the manual is almost as 
fast as having a HTML file. Of course, it takes time to create this 
single document. And of course you then use a copy.

Regards,

JohnvV

P.S.
  There are two ways to create a single document. The easy way is by 
copying chapters into a single document, the hard way is by 
Alt-dragging/drop first the text and then all pictures from the 
separate chapters to the single document. I advise the latter 
especially if you want to do testing on the (copy of the) manual.

-- 
Jhr JMAH van Vredenburch

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