[linux-audio-user] [OT] graphics for tutorials, was: [OT] any gimp maestros here ?

[tim hall]

Last Friday 26 November 2004 13:32, Dave Phillips was like:
>  After some consideration I've decided to bring the original topic to
> the list. I'm preparing some documentation for a project, and I need to
> make some "instructive" screenshots, what Steve D tells me are called
> callouts. 

Well, this is perfectly on-topic for me. :-)

> Brett McCoy suggested I use layers in the GIMP, which seems 
> pretty do-able to me, but someone else suggested that I might be better
> off using something like xfig. I want to do a simple thing (well, to me
> it's simple, but that's because I don't know how to do it), I want to
> place a screenshot against a larger white background, which would server
> as an area for descriptive text. Arrows would point from the text to the
> item described, and ideally those arrows would be placed at any needed
> angle. Considering how often I see this type of picture I'd assumed it
> would be simple in the GIMP: would I in fact be better accomodated by
> some other graphics app ?

The GIMP really is a tool for manipulating pixels in photgraphic images. 
Whilst you could do this using layers in GIMP, the drawing of arrowheads 
might require a bit of fiddling around. Xfig may be more useful if the 
screenshot itself doesn't require manipulation.

>   The topic has got a bit bigger in my mind now, so I thought I'd ask
> this question on the open list: Do users have a preference for
> documentation format ? I admit that while I like HTML it does look
> rather clunky next to a polished PDF file. Trouble is, I don't know how
> to format for PDF. So, what format would you prefer ?

Yes, I do. I always look for HTML docs first. Personally I find PDF docs only 
useful if you're going to print them out. Formatting for PDF is pretty 
simple, you format it in the application of your choice and use the print 
dialog to print to PDF. You don't need to know anything about specifically 
formatting the PDF. That said, I hates them. Providing plain text, HTML and 
PDF versions would cover most eventualities from a reader's perspective.

cheers

tim hall
http://glastonburymusic.org.uk