Re: New PostScript manuals generated

[Jost.Krieger+list@ruhr-uni-bochum.de]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

I've printed (and kinda proofmarked) the A4 edition (again).
Here are my (global) findings:

> I changed the font size to 11pt -- 10pt seemed too small for Bembo and
> 12pt too big.  I use Futura 10pt (which is the same size as Bembo
> 11pt, for some reason) for variable names (etc.) and Adobe Courier
> 11pt for the code examples (etc.).  I was recommended IBM's Courier,
> but we didn't have that one.

The fonts look nice, except that in some places you use an italic font
that's way too large (like in the A4 version on page 205:
*backend*-status-string).

> I've also added Luis' hand-drawn gnu herds for the chapter pages.  I
> blurred them some, since they weren't scanned in that high a
> resolution.  For the back cover I used something I generated
> accidentally -- a washed-out section of the herd pictured with an
> obscenely high smooth factor.  A nice accident, I think.

The chapter gnus are nice, except the Appendices have chapter number
10 and nine gnus in front :-) Should that be an inverted Gnu ?

> So the manual now kinda looks like I want it to look, I think.  Unless
> I change my mind, of course.

My 2 Pfennige:

I think the page gnu should be farther away from the text body, like
under the page number.

The outer margin is quite large. Could we put something sensible in
there (like Notes and Warnings)? Oops. There *are* gnus there, just
not that many. Could those be centered in the margin, or at least be
symmetric for left and right pages ?

Your reference algorithm is broken. External references are horrible,
but rare.  Internal references point to the place before the chapter
or section, typically on the wrong page. If you use LaTeX's reference
mechanism, make sure the "label"s are generated after the chapter
heading. (Could we have a look at your production tools ?)

Contentswise:

I miss something about customize.

The FAQ is so old, it smells. Like

"The latest (and greatest) version is 5.0.10. ..."

There is a *much* newer version online that mentions Quassia instead
of insisting "September gnus is the alpha version ..."



Then there are the typos ... coming later, as always.

Jost

BTW: Thank you for the nice manual, I really like it, even if it doesn't sound so :-)

-- 
Jost Krieger, Postmaster, Rechenzentrum der Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum
Jost.Krieger@ruhr-uni-bochum.de