On 7 February 2011 09:53, Lex Trotman <[email protected]> wrote: > On 7 February 2011 09:24, Russell Dickenson <[email protected]> > wrote: >> On 7 February 2011 03:00, Frank Lanitz <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Hi, >>> >>> Sorry for the late coming back. Somehow I missed this mail ... >>> >>> On Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:08:15 +1000 Russell Dickenson >>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> I think this is a *great* idea and am willing to volunteer as a member >>>> of the newsletter team. >>> >>> Cool. Great to hear. >>> >>>> I'm happy to "give it a go" and will let >>>> others judge my work. My time is rather limited at the moment but I >>>> believe I could make a useful contribution. I speak (and write) only >>>> English, I'm afraid, so I couldn't contribute to translations in any >>>> way. >>> >>> As we should start in English, a native speaker could be a great help >>> beside of contributing content also on spell checking, grammar and >>> stuff. >> >> I'll do my best. :) >> >>>> In thinking about the format, I wonder if a blog-style format might be >>>> better than a regular newsletter. I say this only because a newsletter >>>> can be delayed solely because one item is not quite ready. I am the >>>> author and editor of the Frugalware Linux newsletter, so I have some >>>> experience in this area. For the moment I'll await further details and >>>> team members. :) >>> >>> Well, I'm not sure how this could look like. Can you give a more >>> detailed exampled? >> >> For examples of "my" work for Frugalware Linux, look here - >> http://www.frugalware.org and click on the links in the newsletter >> announcements. > > Thats the sort of thing I imagined when Frank raised the possibility. > (but larger type please)
Good. I agree that larger type is desireable, given that my eyes are aging. :) Some CSS changes were made on the Frugalware web site and I agree that the new type size is a little too small. >> The question is: in what format would people like to see the >> newsletter published? The Ubuntu newsletter is published as a weekly >> email, for example. The Frugalware Linux newsletter is published on a >> web site in HTML format. Personally I would prefer that the >> newsletter's content be hosted on a web site instead of sent out via >> email. The hosted method makes it easier to correct errors which may >> occur occasionally. Of course we could announce the latest newsletter >> in the usual Geany ML(s). > > +1 for website, then I can't delete it and an archive can be kept in > case it contains stuff that lasts beyond this month. Thanks. > Which actually would be a good idea, Geany has a fair bit of "hidden" > functionality and a "function of the month" exposing functions of > Geany that people tend to forget would be good, I know I keep > (re)learning new shortcuts. > > And a "Plugin of the month" too :-) I agree. A feature/plugin focus of the month would be useful. I know that it takes me a while to get to know an application like Geany well. Focusing on a particular feature would make the learning process easier for people like me. As someone who likes to tweak configuration settings, hints on these topics would also be useful I believe. >>> Right now I started to put some content together into a LaTeX-file >>> which will be compiled to PDF and plain text and send out later once >>> its done. >> >> Would you mind sending the finished product to me? >> >> A question to Frank and others - do you mind in what format the >> newsletter's content is written in? I only have experience in using >> HTML and AsciiDoc (http://www.methods.co.nz/asciidoc/). I would *much* >> prefer to use AsciiDoc because it "is a text document format for >> writing notes, documentation, articles, books, ebooks, slideshows, web >> pages, man pages and blogs. AsciiDoc files can be translated to many >> formats including HTML, PDF, EPUB, man page." I know that there are >> similar tools such as "plain text" markup languages but AsciiDoc is >> the one with which I have most experience. > > -1 for Latex, I know Frank is a Latexpert but they are a bit thin on > the ground, so having to do contributions in Latex would be limiting > (or would require Frank to do lots of conversion, and we want him to > have more time for other things :-). Yes. Sorry, but I not likely to contribute if I have to learn something like Latex. It's not something I'm using now, nor likely to use any time in the near future so I'm simply not motivated to learn it. > As an occasional Asciidoc contributor I hate to say this but... > > Perhaps the project should stick to one markup language? Geany's > documentation is done in reST, a part of Python's docutils which is > used to produce the Python docs. > (see http://docs.python.org/documenting/index.html ). > reST is a "lightweight markup language" quite similar to Asciidoc and > as you can see from the Geany help file produces HTML (and others too > IIRC). That's the one I was trying to think of! Thanks, Lex, for reminding me. I included AsciiDoc only as an example. I don't want to complicate things too much so would be happy to use reST. I currently use AsciiDoc for other projects but I see no reason to try to force it upon other people when a similar tool is already in use and doing its job well. > Personal comment, I moved from reST to Asciidoc because I prefer its > source and its output, but the difference in the source isn't huge so > I doubt Russell will have much difficulty. Perhaps you don't know me too well. :P Seriously though, I'm confident I could handle reST. >> Assuming we were using AsciiDoc, we could have a master document which >> then draws in content from various contributors and is then converted >> to various formats. This method would make the job of the newsletter's >> editor a little easier since each piece can be edited separately, then >> combined into one document. > > Anything that simplifies the process is good if it reduces the time > required of the editor and contributors. This leads to more > contributions and more regular publication. I'll look into options available via reST. Even if it doesn't offer a "master document" option natively, I'm sure a custom solution could easily be created. > >> >>> Cheers, >>> Frank >> >> Thanks for your reply. >> >> Another question to everyone - since I am the only person to have >> volunteered so far I'm putting my thoughts out for everyone to read. >> Am I going too far in suggesting formats and tools? >> > > Since it seems to be only you and Frank ATM both of you need to be > happy about the tools. I'm happy so far. :P I just want to make sure people don't see me rushing into this, forcing my opinions onto others. -- Russell _______________________________________________ Geany mailing list [email protected] http://lists.uvena.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geany
