Newcomer guide

[Mark Harris]

Karl von Augsburg asked:

>On the other hand, let's say you're using MS-Word.  You organize it to
>flow logically, maybe follow an outline of what to present.  You break
>to a new page where it makes sense to do so, maybe add headers and footers.
>You design around the printed page.  It tends to come off in print looking
>much better than printing an HTML page.

>Has anyone else come to this dilema?  Has you found a happy medium?  Do
>you maintain both copies?

Has anyone else had this dilema? Most definitely. And I still don't have a
good solution.

In my SCA Rialto Files I have somewhere over 20 Mbytes of information. Most
of
it is in text format because I haven't found a compatible format for all my
uses. Not only do people access files off the Web site, but I also send files
by email, although much less than I used to. Also I sometimes print off files
on paper. At the site, I have files in three formats, RTF, text and HTML. I
send files by email usually in text but sometimes Word format. Sometimes in
other formats because some folk don't have Word but want the formating and
font info that text files don't provide.

If I incorporate pictures in the files, then those that need text format
can't use them. The same goes for links to other sites except those don't
work in Word format (or RTF) either.

I do have some files that have pictures that should be with them. I think
I will put those on the website with a companion file with the pictures,
probably in GIF format.

I spend around 5-10 hours a week editing my files. This doesn't include
reading the Rialto and maillists. Seperate versions for the internet and
paper would be nice, but I'm gradually getting further and further behind
now as it is.

I would love to hear how others are handling this modern Tower of Babel.

Stefan li Rous
markh at risc.sps.mot.com