[Gimp-user] Gimp Manual format.

[John Culleton]

On Thursday 18 June 2009 11:05:44 am Jay Smith wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: gimp-user-bounces at lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
> > [mailto:gimp-user-bounces at lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU] On Behalf Of
> > John Culleton Sent: Thursday, 18 June 2009 11:36 PM
> > To: Gimp-user at lists.xcf.berkeley.edu
> > Subject: [Gimp-user] Gimp Manual format.
> >
> >
> > Is the Gimp online manual also available in another format?
> > Currently I am printing out the html pages a small batch at a
> > time. That's a tedious process.  A printed version or even a
> > version in a single electronic file would save a lot of time. 
> > A printed and bound  version would be  handier to use than a
> > ring binder of 8.5 x 11 pages.   Once I printed out the 880
> > pages of the Kylander Manual but that dated back to version 1
> > or thereabouts.  That was as I recall in a single file. 
> > Therefore I could print it out using poor man's duplexing, 
> > (even pages first, then reload the paper stack and print odds.)
>
> On 06/18/2009 10:40 AM, Michaela Baulderstone wrote:
> > I agree! A PDF version would be fantastic!!!!
> > Anyone interested in the job?
>
> I know nothing of the workflow that results in the current HTML
> manual format.  It would seem to me that producing one or more
> other formats should come out of that same workflow.  I cannot
> imagine the labor would be justified to do a one-time-only
> current-state PDF version that would be almost instantly out of
> date.  That probably means that the authoring workflow and
> environment needs to be considered.  This type of documentation
> is one of the prime beneficiaries of single-source,
> multiple-output authoring tools.  I have not kept up on the
> current state of those tools and I am especially not aware of
> their status and capabilities in the open-source arena.  However,
> I do know that there are a variety of approaches, each with their
> strengths and weaknesses.
>
> Jay
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All manuals are out of date. The fact that a manual is instantly 
updateable does not guarantee that all sections will be fully 
updated concurrently with the latest stable Gimp.  There are only 
so  many skilled hands to do it.  In terms of paper books I work 
primarily from _Grokking the Gimp_ (2000) and the newer but sill 
obsolete _Artist's Guide to Gimp Effects_ (2007).  The html manual 
is the most up to date best we have at the  moment, and represents 
a huge work effort on the part of many people. 

But even within its present constraints the html manual can be 
improved by renaming the html files for the beginning  section 
covered in numeric order. Some are named that way but most are not. 
One segment of Chapter 3, six segments of chapter 5 and two each 
for chapters 11 and 12 are so named.  The rest have descriptive 
names. 

An index would also help. 
-- 
John Culleton
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