The Forge Archives

I'm not sure if it was a mistake, but my first publishing attempt for Entalis was to put out a CHM file for download.

There were various complaints. Some people tried to open the file online rather than downloading it an opening it. Obviously this made a mess.

I've been slowly trying to single source all my documents in Framemaker and I hope to use WebWorks to convert it all to online format, basically re-creating my entire site http://www.entalis.net. I've been slowly placing the PDF files online for download, but of course the page numbers and cross references get messed up since I'm not supplying one combined PDF.

I guess the question is, should I attempt to supply one combined PDF file (which would be massive) or should I continue to list all the PDF files separately by chapter. Also, should I bother with the CHM file? Does anyone every use CHM files?

The disadvantage to the CHM is that you can't print the entire document at once, you have to print each page individually. The advantage is, you have the entire document on your local machine with a TOC, Search, and Index pane at your disposal. On the other hand, if you don't play the game with a laptop on your table, what's the point?

Any thoughts on this format?

SumDood:  Welcome to the Forge!

I'd never head of a CHM file until you mentioned it.  After a brief search on google, I think that it's a MS Windows Help File.  Is that correct?

I'd ditch the CHM file format though.  You are limiting your customer-base by using a non-standard publishing file format.  Stick with PDF's.  Most everyone can use a PDF and you can't beat the compression.

My personal taste is to have all the document in one file.  It's one click to download the whole game and you don't have to open multiple files to reference the game.

And you could still distribute it in one file if it's spread out over multiple PDFs by putting the lot of 'em in a zip file...

Framemaker? Help files? Single-sourcing documentation? I smell a technical writer...

Despite the virtues of what you've done with your site and .chm files, it seems the gaming public (at the very least) won't drink when led to that trough.

PDF is the de facto standard for electronic publishing of games right now, and it supports some satisfying means for readers to find and jump to a given section quickly. A PDF file means, to many gamers, "an electronic book." A single, large PDF file means "a really big electronic book."

Quote from: SumDoodI guess the question is, should I attempt to supply one combined PDF file (which would be massive) or should I continue to list all the PDF files separately by chapter.

Why not do both? :) I've been reading up on XSL-FO and PDF renderers and it seems one source of content combined with two different stylesheets can produce both from the same source (and also create HTML as well). Have a look at this site: http://www.renderx.com/how-it-works.html to see multiple outputs from one source.

Good point, Andrew. I agree that giving the end user more options, where feasible, is the way to go. To that extent, please do not get rid of the HTML version. That's maybe my favorite format.

Mike

Absolutely I agree. I won't get rid of the HTML version, it's too much fun to look at online. I personally don't like PDF files online, and I only use them for distribution. Even at work this is true.

Framemaker has no problem producing separate chapters as pdf files, or the entire book as one large combined pdf. The only reason I asked whether I should provide one or the other is a matter of server space. I only have 10 megs of free space right now, and I'm close to exceeding it. (and I'm already borrowing server space from John Kim to host the CHM download).

Because of the size issues, users will either see a list of PDFs by chapter to download, or the entire book to download. The entire book is going to be very large, probably in the 5meg range if you count all the chapters. I'd love to supply both options, but what I really need to do that is another free host for the download. Anyone know of where I can get free server space for a large file that will only be downloaded?

Framemaker combines with WebWorks to autogenerate an entire HTML site from the same documents I use to create the PDF files. So again, getting good HTML output is not a problem. At some point (when the entire book is finished) I'll be ready to do this and revamp the entire site. I have no real need to move to XML, I'm not on an SQL server, and my existing apps give me the same abilities as a transformation file would, and I only need one CSS.

I agree that the HTML format is a favorite primarily because of how it displays on the web and how flexible it is. I want people who come to my site to be able to see the content in HTML first, and then determine if they want to download any of the PDF files. The nice thing about this is that they can easily use my content, or even just the artwork, for inclusion in their own games. Obviously I have no problem with this as long as they're not making money off of it.