ubuntu-developer-manual team mailing list archive

[Kevin Godby <godbyk@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 7:04 PM, Kyle Nitzsche
<kyle.nitzsche@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Let me try to restate my concern.
>
> It would be (very) nice if someone/anyone could produce the pdfs without
> having to worry about massaging things to make sure that figures are
> contiguous to the relevant text, in accordance with the author's wishes.

Once all of the text has been written, screenshots inserted, etc., the
process of adjusting the placement of the screenshots only occurs
once.  We modify the .tex files to tweak things.  Therefore, anyone
who compiles these modified .tex files will see the screenshots in
their final (proper) positions.

> When figures are not proximal to the text, it presents a barrier to
> usability and therefore comprehensibility, I think.

I concur.

> I would rather have figures-with-their-text and awkward white space than
> figures-separated-from-their-text (and inserted *into* text where they don't
> belong).

Unfortunately, LaTeX dislikes breaking pages too early. So I think
you'll end up with more problems using this method.

Keep in mind that what you're working on right now is only the draft.
You shouldn't expect it to look like a perfectly paginated and typeset
book just yet.

> Also: we know that different languages have different string lengths than
> en_US. Page breaks would fall differently. Therefore, I wonder, if the
> "process" you refer to above occurs once for *all* languages or if it needs
> to be done for *each* language.

It needs to be done for each language.  Also note that the screenshot
placement is not the only tweaking that needs to be done.  One of the
larger issues I had with the desktop manuals was the placement of the
margin notes.

Producing a well-typset book isn't as simple as defining the
dimensions of a box, pouring in text and figures, and then splitting
the box into page-size chunks.  There are always some adjustments that
must be made manually.

To reiterate, I recommend letting LaTeX have its way for now. We'll
prevail in the end.

--Kevin