Re: [Tads3] Eric Eve's Getting Started guide

["Eric Eve" <eric.eve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

> LaTeX is the answer to this.  For a word-processor based on it, see
> www.lyx.org.  Using LyX, my documents render excellent in PostScript, PDF
> and HTML.  I could convert the document for you into the LyX-format if you
> want, or do a one-time conversion so we can get a perfect HTML version.  I
> would need the original Word document for this.

Thanks for your input on this, and for your offer of help. I took I quick
look at the www.lyx.org site last night, and I had another look at this
morning and downloaded it; I've had a quick play with it and no doubt I
could get to grips with it all if I had to, but I'm not sure I want to
invest the time and effort right now (in particular, I'm not sure I'd use
LaTeX for anything else - most of the text I generate is for people who want
it in Word format).

I'm quite happy to send you the original Word document, but I think we
should first step back and ask what we're trying to achieve here, not least
in the light of a couple of factors:

1)	My impression from looking at r.a.i-f is that the most commonly used IF
language is currently Inform, yet, so far as I am aware, the DM4 and IBG
exist only in DPF (or printed format) and not as HTML; certainly I found
them perfectly usable in PDF, so I wonder how much demand for an HTML
version of my guide there'd really be.

2)	I doubt that my Getting Started Guide has reached its definitive form
yet; I'm assuming that at some point I'll produce a revised edition to take
into account (a) feedback from readers of the Guide; (b) further changes to
the TADS 3 library and (c) any new ideas I may have had in the meantime.

3)	I don't think the conversion issues are ones purely of technical
mechanical; I wrote the Guide with a book/PDF format in mind rather than a
web-page format in mind, and I think the conversion to a 'perfect' HTML
format would need to make some design changes to suit a different medium (if
all that was wanted was to be able to view the text in a browser, I've
already done that, twice over, in the two forms I've mentioned in previous
posts).

My inclination, then, would be to wait until I produce such a revised
edition (which obviously won't be for a while yet) and then think about the
best way to make a 'perfect' HTML version if it looks like that would be a
useful thing to do. It may be that your solution would then be the best one
and I'd be very happy to take up your offer of help at that point.

If, however, you're keen to have a go with the current text of the guide,
I'm quite happy to send you the Word file; it's just that I'm not sure that
this would be the definitive conversion.

Or are we regarding this as a kind of test run for the mechanics of how Mike
might produce the TADS 3 Manual, in which case the issues may be a bit
different?

-- Eric