[OPEN-ILS-DOCUMENTATION] Circ docs (Re: Introductory Material for the Book of Evergreen)

[steve sheppard]

I can see one way to do this --
Images are specified in DocBook source files by various tags and attributes
with pathnames, filenames, image sizes and positions. If we name image files
logically, refer to them properly, and stick to sizing standards when we
create them, I think they can be sized to properly fit on a finished PDF
page. For instance, I used some simple naming conventions for image files in
our "1.6/media/" directory to complete the new "myaccount.xml" file, and it
looks okay when rendered as a PDF file. Last night I experimented with image
sizing/placement on the PDF page to get a feel for the process (using
'GIMP', the Gnu Image Manipulation Program). Yes, tedious but not
impossible. Image manipulation can be a time sink.

If you could cleanly overlay/replace image files with your own versions, you
could solve both the skinning and translation problems that Robert
mentioned. The entire document package could be rebuilt on demand using your
own local images like this:
1.  load our generic DocBook sources into a handy local directory tree;
2.  overlay/replace generic media with your own images;
3.  rebuild all the PDF files using our usual application of 'xsltproc' and
'fop'.

So, sounds possible, but assumes we establish and maintain image file naming
and sizing conventions to ensure such overlays can work.
As Robert suggests, it may be best to leave images out entirely for now, or
maybe replace them with zero-sized dummies as place-holders.
--Steve


> I was thinking about this, and I don't have any experience with
> DocBook, but is there a way people can upload sets of images that
> apply to their own installation? So when you use it to produce
> documentation, you'd specify a particular set of images?  That would
> make it a lot more generally useful.
>
> Just curious. I think "example of" makes sense, and would be a lot
> more efficient than trying to produce a lot of generic images.
>
> Sarah
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