From cbmvax!uunet!cuvma.bitnet!LOJBAN Fri Nov 1 13:49:06 1991 Return-Path: Date: Fri Nov 1 13:49:06 1991 Message-Id: <9110311604.AA19126@relay1.UU.NET> Reply-To: cbmvax!uunet!pucc.princeton.edu!bob Sender: Lojban list Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was bob@GRACKLE.STOCKBRIDGE.MA.US From: cbmvax!uunet!pucc.princeton.edu!bob Subject: Texinfo? Please no! X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Ken Taylor In-Reply-To: "61510::GILSON"'s message of Tue, 29 Oct 1991 11:13:00 EST <9110310052.AA04172@churchy.gnu.ai.mit.edu> Status: RO For those of us without access to such tools, a formatting language, ANY formatting language, makes a file less than useless. Every document has some sort of formatting language. Spaces and tabs are a form of formatting language. Every general distribution will use spaces and tabs (or multiple spaces instead of tabs) and be readable on an ASCII terminal. The purpose of using a powerful formatting language is to save time and resources. It is much easier to produce single-font, ASCII-terminal readable and also to produce high quality typeset books of different sizes documents if you use a formatting language designed for the purpose. Otherwise, you have to format docs twice or else makedo with less readable types of output. I would like to see readable (in contrast to recent LJs) 8.5 by 11 inch printed documents and readable on-line text. Moreover, I expect that after a year or two, rates of change for the contents of some documents will slow down, and demand will pick up. At that time, it will be reasonable to print 250 or more books at once. It makes sense to have a choice between printing in a 6 by 9 inch format as well as an 8.5 by 11 inch format. (Bookstores and many readers prefer regular sized books to large format books.) There is no reason a human should spend time reformatting an 8.5 by 11 inch document to a 6 by 9 inch document when a machine can do it. With a formatting language such as Texinfo, you get plain ASCII, Info, 8.5 by 11 inch typeset and 6 by 9 inch typeset documentation from the same, single source file, plus tables of contents, cross references, indices, etc. in those formats that use them. Saves time to work on contents rather than formatting. Hence my suggestion. Robert J. Chassell bob@gnu.ai.mit.edu Rattlesnake Mountain Road (413) 298-4725 or (617) 253-8568 or Stockbridge, MA 01262-0693 USA (617) 876-3296 (for messages)