Hello,
I have uploaded a new version of the book "A Guide to Inkscape". The book has been updated for Inkscape 0.44. It covers all the new features such as: Clipping & Masks, Layers Dialog, Style Indicator, and Docked Color Palette. The version for Inkscape 0.43 is still available for those who haven't upgraded.
See:
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/
As always, comment are welcome.
Enjoy,
Tav
On Thursday 13 July 2006 09:45, Tavmjong Bah wrote:
Hello,
I have uploaded a new version of the book "A Guide to Inkscape".The book has been updated for Inkscape 0.44. It covers all the new features such as: Clipping & Masks, Layers Dialog, Style Indicator, and Docked Color Palette. The version for Inkscape 0.43 is still available for those who haven't upgraded.
See:
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/
As always, comment are welcome.
After (prematurely) suggesting a pdf version I discovered there is one, at the following url: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/src/inkscape.pdf
This will be a lot more useful to me since I like to put all significant software manuals in three ring binders.
Thanks to Tav for the effort!
On Thu, 2006-07-13 at 15:15 -0400, John R. Culleton wrote:
After (prematurely) suggesting a pdf version I discovered there is one, at the following url: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/src/inkscape.pdf
This will be a lot more useful to me since I like to put all significant software manuals in three ring binders.
Thanks to Tav for the effort!
Actually, that was unintentional. The pdf version is not up to date. It also has some formatting errors.
I had a publisher accept the book but they backed out without explanation a few weeks later. Rather than continue to look for a new publisher, my thinking at this point is to provide the possibility to download a pdf file or have a book printed through Lulu.com. The advantage of this is that the book will probably be cheaper. The disadvantage is that there won't be professional editing or formatting of the book. Nor will it be promoted as a true publisher would.
I am thinking about making the book available in the following formats:
Download (A4) $5-$10 Download (US Letter) $5-$10 Black and White book (A4): $16-$20 Color book (A4): $48-$52
You'll notice that the color version is much more than the black and white. This is due to the much greater cost of printing color (15 cents a page vs. 2 cents a page). Any thoughts on this?
I will leave the pdf file where it is for a few days while I mull over the possibilities.
Tav
On Thursday 13 July 2006 16:40, Tavmjong Bah wrote:
On Thu, 2006-07-13 at 15:15 -0400, John R. Culleton wrote:
After (prematurely) suggesting a pdf version I discovered there is one, at the following url: http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/src/inkscape.pdf
This will be a lot more useful to me since I like to put all significant software manuals in three ring binders.
Thanks to Tav for the effort!
Actually, that was unintentional. The pdf version is not up to date. It also has some formatting errors.
I had a publisher accept the book but they backed out without explanation a few weeks later. Rather than continue to look for a new publisher, my thinking at this point is to provide the possibility to download a pdf file or have a book printed through Lulu.com. The advantage of this is that the book will probably be cheaper. The disadvantage is that there won't be professional editing or formatting of the book. Nor will it be promoted as a true publisher would.
I am thinking about making the book available in the following formats:
Download (A4) $5-$10 Download (US Letter) $5-$10 Black and White book (A4): $16-$20 Color book (A4): $48-$52
You'll notice that the color version is much more than the black and white. This is due to the much greater cost of printing color (15 cents a page vs. 2 cents a page). Any thoughts on this?
I will leave the pdf file where it is for a few days while I mull over the possibilities.
Tav
Oops! I thought the pdf version was for download.
As it happens I have good contacts in the publishing industry (see my sig block.) If you like I can shop around for a printer. Usually people go to Asia for color printing at a reasonable price. But that means committing to a run of around 2,000 copies.
I also have my own imprint and can act as a publisher. But no publisher will do much about marketing your book. Your audience is right here on this mailing list. I am sure most on the list would want to buy the book if the price can be brought down. Let me see what I can come up with. I am sure I can beat $0.15/page. That is a copy shop price.
I downloaded the pdf and am trying to print it out. But even on my black and white laser printer it is slow going. Apparently the illustrations are high density and are clogging up the process.
How did you prepare the pdf exactly? I note that there are xml files involved. What steps, using what software, were involved in your authoring process?
Best wishes,
On Thu, 2006-07-13 at 22:26 -0400, John R. Culleton wrote:
As it happens I have good contacts in the publishing industry (see my sig block.) If you like I can shop around for a printer. Usually people go to Asia for color printing at a reasonable price. But that means committing to a run of around 2,000 copies.
I did see the sig block!
I also have my own imprint and can act as a publisher. But no publisher will do much about marketing your book. Your audience is right here on this mailing list. I am sure most on the list would want to buy the book if the price can be brought down. Let me see what I can come up with. I am sure I can beat $0.15/page. That is a copy shop price.
I would appreciate your checking.
I downloaded the pdf and am trying to print it out. But even on my black and white laser printer it is slow going. Apparently the illustrations are high density and are clogging up the process.
I am sure many of the illustrations could be optimized for size, something I have not done. I just discovered that the largest bitmap could be cut to 1/3 its original size by changing it from RGB to gray scale (it should have been gray scale from the beginning). Fop uses Batik to render the SVG's (see below). I have not idea what the size of the illustrations it produces are. A few of the SVG's are quite large (especially in the Tracing section) and might be reduced in size by applying the Simplify command without too much loss in resolution. If you notice any particular pages that are slow to print I can try to improve graphics on those pages.
How did you prepare the pdf exactly? I note that there are xml files involved. What steps, using what software, were involved in your authoring process?
I am using the svn version of Apache's fop ( http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/ ) which uses xsltproc for the first past. In the past I've tried using fop with xalan for the first past. The SVG's are converted by fop using Batik.
Some of the problems I see are:
1. Page headers have their text stacked vertically so that they overlap the main body text. That is why headers are turned off.
2. Using an <indexterm> tag inserts a bit of extra space. This may be due to the space I leave around the tag.
3. The arrows in the menu keyboard shortcuts are replaced by '#'. Probably a font problem.
4. The majority of footnotes are not printed and when they are printed they some times overlap the main body.
Tav
On Thu, Jul 13, 2006 at 10:26:23PM -0400, John R. Culleton wrote:
I also have my own imprint and can act as a publisher. But no publisher will do much about marketing your book. Your audience is right here on this mailing list.
Some other random thoughts on marketing the book...
* There are several Linux and art related magazines and news sites that have been partial to printing news about Inkscape. An article about the book, or a sample chapter, etc. could get some attention about the book. Provide info on how to order it.
* Conferences. Find conferences that inkscape will have a booth at, and send copies for them to sell. Also include flyers about the book and how to order it in case they sell out and to spread word about it.
* Tutorials. Extract a section from the book - such as the hiking club logo - and print out a full color glossy pamphlet. Make sure the URL for ordering the book is prominent. Send stacks of these pamphlets out to open source and art conferences to include beside the registration tables.
Bryce
On Sat, 2006-07-15 at 10:06 -0700, Bryce Harrington wrote:
On Thu, Jul 13, 2006 at 10:26:23PM -0400, John R. Culleton wrote:
I also have my own imprint and can act as a publisher. But no publisher will do much about marketing your book. Your audience is right here on this mailing list.
Some other random thoughts on marketing the book...
There are several Linux and art related magazines and news sites that have been partial to printing news about Inkscape. An article about the book, or a sample chapter, etc. could get some attention about the book. Provide info on how to order it.
Conferences. Find conferences that inkscape will have a booth at, and send copies for them to sell. Also include flyers about the book and how to order it in case they sell out and to spread word about it.
Tutorials. Extract a section from the book - such as the hiking club logo - and print out a full color glossy pamphlet. Make sure the URL for ordering the book is prominent. Send stacks of these pamphlets out to open source and art conferences to include beside the registration tables.
Bryce
Good ideas! Thanks, Tav
On Fri, Jul 14, 2006 at 02:40:25PM +0200, Tavmjong Bah wrote:
On Thu, 2006-07-13 at 22:26 -0400, John R. Culleton wrote:
As it happens I have good contacts in the publishing industry (see my sig block.) If you like I can shop around for a printer.
I did see the sig block!
I also have my own imprint and can act as a publisher. But no publisher will do much about marketing your book. Your audience is right here on this mailing list. I am sure most on the list would want to buy the book if the price can be brought down. Let me see what I can come up with. I am sure I can beat $0.15/page. That is a copy shop price.
I would appreciate your checking.
Hi Guys,
What was the result of this investigation? It would be very cool to see a printed Inkscape manual (esp. in color).
It's too bad that the publisher fell through; that would have been great to have a professionally published book for Inkscape. I'm not super surprised though; I've heard elsewhere that publishing of books on open source projects is tough for publishers.
The Lulu option sounds like it could prove to be a good option, especially if the book can be made 100% open source, because then we could probably also directly advertise it from the inkscape.org site if you'd like.
Bryce
participants (3)
-
Bryce Harrington -
John R. Culleton -
Tavmjong Bah