OHT - Format

[The Traveler]

For the OHT some formats needs to be discussed.

One of the choices for formatting is the size for the book, will this be A4 or another size?

One of the pro's for A4 would be that people will be able to download it as a PDF file and then having the ability to print this on A4 is something very desirable.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[DeDao]

I say accessibility is pretty important. If A4 gives ability to downloading as a PDF file, then why not go that way!

I am pretty ignorant to the other options? Maybe a physical copy? Is that what you mean as other options? That would cost $$!

 

[hixidom]

I really can't think of anything better than A4 for the reasons you stated. Anything smaller wouldn't do the content justice (at least not with the current layout) and anything larger would just be ridiculous. Workplace safety guidelines are usually printed, hole-punched, and put in a binder. That's how I imagine the OHT in hardcopy form.

 

[tetsuotheironman]

I was actually going to ask about this in the 'editing' thread...

I reviewed all the content yesterday and it is very well put together. The first two questions that jumped into my head head were:
* What format is this currently in/ how can people effectively collaborate on it?
* What is the end target format?

When reading through the text as it currently is on PDFs it occurred to me is that this would very well suited for a website. Especially given the question/answer sections at the end of the chapters... A sort of e-course in ethenogens. Most of text flows in a relatively linear fashion with the addition of a few sidebars here and there. If it were made into a very readable responsive website (example1 example2) then I think you'd end up with a very high quality and readable product that would be accessible to nearly everyone without having to fuss too much about paper sizes. Computers, tablets and smartphones...

The 'website' idea doesn't preclude a printed or PDF version... As a matter of fact if the content were authored in something portable like Markdown (or Latex if getting super nerdy) - we could very easily create a website, a printed pdf and epub from the same source. Markdown is very similar to 'wiki' like markup and is pretty easy for everyone to pick up and run with. Collaboration on the content could be contained within some sort of version control system such as SVN or GIT... (with precautions taken to protect authors identities)

I would be willing to provide the material support on coding this up into a readable format for the web. (this is actually what I do in my day job...)

I'm sure that this isn't a new or revolutionary idea to anyone - just thought I'd throw it out there as my first thought was that this content would be a perfect subsection to the nexus itself... oht.dmt-nexus.me (or something) - Could even provide some kind of crazy 'certificate of completion' to people who pass the quizzes (and could be part of a tempest for newbies so people can stop repeating themselves on the forums (well - that will never happen but one can hope))

I understand there is probably some apprehension in that I am a pretty new (at least in not just lurking) member myself - but I assure you that I am capable of doing this and would enjoy the opportunity.

 

[The Traveler]

I was actually going to ask about this in the 'editing' thread...

I reviewed all the content yesterday and it is very well put together. The first two questions that jumped into my head head were:
* What format is this currently in/ how can people effectively collaborate on it?
* What is the end target format?

The end target will be both a downloadable PDF and an e-learning website.

On the e-learning website people can take courses for each chapter and comclude that with an exam. Succesfully completed courses will show up on the DMT-Nexus forum with the members avatar, mainly to promote participation in these courses.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[Enoon]

At the moment all the text is written in OpenOffice. I chose this because I could not find a good package for LaTeX that allowed textflow around images with decent control and a good work-to-result ratio. I would be happy to give the final text versions over to someone who can put it into a better suited formate, aside from the web-formate it will have anyway.

I think for the downloadable pdfs A4 size would be good. I was however also playing with the idea of getting some printed versions out there and maybe handing them out at conferences or festivals or things like that. Obviously this costs money, but it's a good cause and maybe I'll find some people who are interested in sponsoring it.

For a printed version I find A4 too big and clumsy and doesn't invite one to read it. Something like A5 or in that size-range would be better I think. So I think the final text will have to have at least three formats - web, PDF-A4 and printed *A5*.

Any suggestions?

Edit: Colaboration so far will work like this: If you are interested in editing an entire document, send me a pm with an email I can mail the .odt file to and work away. At the moment I'm managing the documents and their versions by hand, which will get messy soon, I know... but I wasn't really sure about SVN and how well it would work for this project.
What are the options?