[OLPC library] OLPC-health

[Edward Cherlin]

On Feb 3, 2008 9:42 AM, Pascal Scheffers <pascal at scheffers.net> wrote:
>
> On 3 feb 2008, at 17:28, Edward Cherlin wrote:
> >>
> >> 1. InDesign
> >
> > It would be helpful if we could do this in Free Software. Have you
> > looked at Scribus?
>
> No, I haven't - the only reason we're working with InDesign is because
> the sources are InDesign, which I got from Hesperian by asking nicely.
> For new XO content, I would not choose InDesign, or any other paper-
> oriented design tool. I'll look into Scribus, is that a similar tool?

It is specifically for creating published documents, not for writing.

http://www.scribus.net/

"Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning
professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows
desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches
to page layout.

"Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports
professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC
color management and versatile PDF creation.
...
"One thing which sets Scribus apart is the enthusiastic and friendly
Scribus community that assists beginner and pro alike. You can take
part in many ways: our mailing list, the IRC channel, email, the wiki,
contracted support and finally the bugtracker. These options add to
your Scribus experience and we think you will find it very rewarding."

> I tend to use LaTeX or OOo for open content.

Importing text from OOo is easy. We'll have to experiment with tables.
Every program I have ever used handles tables differently.

"Other features include PDF Import, EPS import/export, Unicode text
including right to left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew.

"Scribus also has unexpected touches such as: useful vector drawing
tools, SVG import/export and support for OpenType Fonts. The Scribus
file format is XML based; open and completely documented. Unlike
proprietary binary file formats, even damaged documents can be
recovered with a simple text editor - sometimes a challenging problem
with other page layout programs. There is an easy to use drag and drop
scrapbook. Scribus has been translated into more than 25 languages and
more are coming in the future."

It doesn't import TeX, but it does import PDFs and PostScript.

> >> After Maja and I are done with 'Donde hay ...', we're likely to also
> >> do the english edition (but not before aug-2008). The other books
> >> will
> >> have to be worked on by other people.
> >
> > Yes, we need to recruit more people. I'm working on ways to keep track
> > of our projects and the people working on them, and to get the word
> > out about what we need. Mainly I'm asking people what they would
> > suggest, and then suggesting that they work on it. ^_^ But it's rather
> > chaotic right now.
>
> Working on 'Donde hay...', it is very apparent that the work in
> InDesign is about 60 minutes per chapter, but then redoing all the
> tables-like layout in the chapters takes another 2-3 hours, if you're
> lucky. This job parallelizes nicely, though. Each chapter XHTML is a
> separate project.
>
> It'd be really nice if we had a way to dish out work like that. Doing
> a single chapter is a manageable chunk of work, and the result is
> visible right away. I think it's fun to do, except for the part where
> it takes 100 hours to do the whole book if you have to do it alone.
>
> If we can setup a team of people working on jobs like this, it'll be
> more fun and diverse for everyone.

Exactly my idea. Hence Free Software.

> - Pascal.




-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay