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

[Tim Orford]

> 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 ?

lots of ways to do this. Heres one totally biased opinion. For speed,
i wont justify anything - ask if neccessary.

so wheres this stuff gonna end up? If the web is the primary medium,
then imo you must use html. Pdf is a print format. There is no real
reason for a pdf to look better than an html document. Ok, there is
the issue of fonts, pdf giving the oportunity for the author to embed
his choice of font. Html alllows the user to specify the font to his
taste, but unfortunately lots of people dont. If your html docs look
bad, i highly suspect you dont have any good fonts on your system.
There arnt that many good free fonts so you have to augment your
installation with some others. Lots of web sites are designed for
MSVerdana for example, so just installing that font will help a lot.

an html wiz could do this totally in html and css but its not easy.
A big png wrapped in html is probably an acceptable compromise.
The png shouldnt be too big if it contains large areas of white.

bitmap or vector editor? This job is half way between the two so you
could go either way. Personally i would use an svg vector editor such as
Sodipodi or Inkscape. I think this is probaly more flexible than using
Gimp, eg if you want to make subtle changes. Currently displaying svg on
the web is problematic, but hopefully it wont be within the next couple
of years. In the meantime, export the svg to a png.

should you need it, you can also export svg to pdf via the printing
system, using the pdf filter, but personally i find this doesnt
always work too well.

Scripting? If you have a lot of these to do, you can script either
gimp or svg for example. Its a non-trivial task, but it would be
nice for example to automate the arrows, which is tedious to do
manually.


good luck!
-- 
Tim Orford