[Olpc-open] Olpc-open Digest, Vol 27, Issue 9

Tom Potts tompotts at itsosbroadband.co.uk
Sun Sep 14 14:50:32 EDT 2008 

On Sunday 14 September 2008 17:00, olpc-open-request at lists.laptop.org wrote:
...
> For long documents html is a pain.  Line breaks are different on
for long documents any format is a pain  - so what if line breaks are 
different on different computers? You can use formatting where this may be a 
problem - its the same with any format
> different computers, there are no natural page breaks, and printed
> versions rarely look like they should.  Many sites break up documents
> into several pieces, so to download and save the entire thing you have
I'd have to ask why you download - and if you do why not wget the articles so 
you have the whole thing as a little web.
> to have a way to paste them back together again.  Pdf is so popular
> because it really is like electronic printing, and unless someone comes
> up with a truly open source alternative that works at least as well, I
> suspect that it will continue to be the de facto standard.  It may be
> more realistic to develop better free and open source tools for working
> with pdf, rather than hoping that something else will come along.  There
> are quite a few that do a few things, but nothing that has the
> comprehensive power of acrobat, or is as easy to use.  Maybe some
> budding programming genius who grows up with an XO will finally create one!
I'd argue that html works fine - like anything if you use it correctly.
How many pdf documents have you seen with indices that point to page numbers 
that aren't the same page numbers of the document and so you have to print to 
read the damn thing. A simple click in html takes you to the exact spot in 
the document - or use the search facility in FireFox - doesn't take up half 
your screen and most of your cpu. Acrobat may be powerful but its very 
expensive (3* the cost of an XO !) and then training, training training.
The problem with most office software is that it allows all the 
hyper-inefficiencies of the paper office to be reproduced but doesn't provide 
any 'modernisation'.
You don't need to be a budding genius to write something - its there already 
we just have to break the old habits.
I worked for a company that was so proud that they had several hundred 
templates for just about every document they could think of.
Then someone changed the phone number - several hundred new templates had to 
be made. If they'd made simple compound html then - change one thing et voila 
all done.
Think small!
Tom
>
> Jim
>
> joanna burgess wrote:
> > Hi. I'm weighing in on this as a classroom teacher...one of the major
> > problems with getting rid of paper is the lack of other resources and
> >  knowledge of open source ed programs like Moodle that would
> > significantly reduce the number of copies made, and yes...the reliance
> > on software that is paper based. Teachers have so little time during
> > the day and those not comfortable with trying new formats tend to
> > stick to what they know, even if it turns out to me more
> > difficult/expensive in the long run. We're definitely aware of the
> > waste (and the horrid piles of paper everywhere) and I often think of
> > all the other things that could be purchased for the kids if we didn't
> > have to spend so much money on ink and cartridges.
> >
> > -Joanna
> >
> > On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 2:07 PM, Tom Potts
> > <tompotts at itsosbroadband.co.uk <mailto:tompotts at itsosbroadband.co.uk>>
> > wrote:
> >
> >     Wendy,
> >      The hardest thing about getting paper out of schools is most of
> >     the software
> >     they use is 'paper' based. Office, PDF's etc are all 'paper based'
> >     - say A4
> >     which is exactly the wrong way to fit on your computer screen so
> >     you have to
> >     print it!
> >     Until people can be taught not to use 'paper' based formats things
> >     will always
> >     be printed - a bit of a vicious circle.
> >     The answer is of course is html
> >     a few ramblings at this link here
> >    
> > http://www.100297.itsosbroadband.co.uk/Paperless/The_Paperless_Office.htm
> >l
> >
> >     Tom
> >
> >     _______________________________________________
> >     Olpc-open mailing list
> >     Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org <mailto:Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org>
> >     http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:33:07 -0700
> From: "Edward Cherlin" <echerlin at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Olpc-open] Getting paper out of schools.
> To: "Carol Lerche" <cafl at msbit.com>
> Cc: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org, Tom Potts
> 	<tompotts at itsosbroadband.co.uk>
> Message-ID:
> 	<e574f6eb0809132333v2e96a685v8e2f89fe2166ec27 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 11:19 AM, Carol Lerche <cafl at msbit.com> wrote:
> > This fixation on pdf includes olpc of course.
>
> This turns out not to be the case. The OLPC XO has a screen rotate
> function specifically to support reading portrait-mode documents
> full-screen.
>
> However, PDFs can be formatted to any page size or shape. I have
> created landscape-mode documentation for products of large
> corporations. It is true that most companies are lazy and hidebound
> about such things, but it isn't Adobe's doing.
>
> > On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 11:07 AM, Tom Potts
> > <tompotts at itsosbroadband.co.uk>
> >
> > wrote:
> >> Wendy,
> >>  The hardest thing about getting paper out of schools is most of the
> >> software
> >> they use is 'paper' based. Office, PDF's etc are all 'paper based' - say
> >> A4
> >> which is exactly the wrong way to fit on your computer screen so you
> >> have to
> >> print it!
> >> Until people can be taught not to use 'paper' based formats things will
> >> always
> >> be printed - a bit of a vicious circle.
> >> The answer is of course is html
> >> a few ramblings at this link here
> >> http://www.100297.itsosbroadband.co.uk/Paperless/The_Paperless_Office.ht
> >>ml
> >>
> >> Tom
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Olpc-open mailing list
> >> Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
> >
> > --
> > Americans always do the right thing, after trying everything else. --
> > Winston Churchill
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Olpc-open mailing list
> > Olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open

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