Conference vaxuum::online_bookbuilding

204.0. "V2 format" by STAR::KRAETSCH (NeXt Window Please) Wed Oct 04 1989 15:21

The version 2 Bookreader (which ships with VMS V5.3), reads a new improved 
book format.  For compatibility, the V2 Bookreader will also read V1 format 
books, but for quality and consistency, books should be rebuilt for V2 format.
(Watch Note 64.* for the availability of the V2 bookbuilding tools.)

Several people have asked what changed in the V2 format, so here is an
outline of the major differences between V1 and V2 formats:

*  Page width

   We had to make the topic window narrower in V2 so the control window and
   the topic window would both fit on a 15" monitor without overlap.  The
   V2 books are formatted for this narrower width.  The V1 books were
   formatted for a wider width.  When we display V1 books on the V2 Book-
   reader, it is possible that they are wider than the topic window and
   thus, the right side of some text may get clipped by the narrower V2
   window.  We minimize this to some extent by automatically scrolling V1
   topics a little bit to the left taking away some of the left margin.

*  Hotspot Alignment

   When we display V1 books on 100dpi monitors with the V2 Bookreaer, there
   is a problem with hotspot outlines not aligning with the corresponding
   text.  This is because the font metrics are different on the 75dpi and
   100dpi monitors (font metrics are *NOT* monitor independent!).  The V1
   Bookreader treated all monitors as 75 dpi.  We fixed this problem in the
   V2 format by doing exact placement of text that's supposed to be within
   hotspots (rather than placing it relative to previous text).  We also
   do exact placement of the text following the hotspots.  This can create
   some spacing problems between hotspot text and the surrounding text 
   which isn't hot, but it is a drastic improvement over the V1 behaviour.
   Note that the difference is in the books--not in the Bookreaders.

*  Hotspot format

   V1 Format required hotspots to be only rectangular.  This sometimes forced
   hotspots with long text to extend beyond the right border of the topic 
   window.  V2 permits hotspots to break across lines, so we don't get the
   right side clipping.  Only the V2 books can take advantage of this.

*  Index Granularity

   The V2 books allow the index to point to things like paragraphs.  The V1
   bookreader only let the index point to topics and subtopics.  This takes 
   the reader directly to the relevant text rather than to the beginning of
   a possibly lengthy section of text.

*  Performance

   The V1 Bookreader only dealt with 75dpi monitors, so the V1 bookbuilding
   tools hardcoded 75dpi font names.  The V2 Bookreader must convert all
   of these to the corresponding 100dpi font names before displaying on a
   100dpi monitor.

*  Bitmap Images on non-standard monitors

   V1 figures may not display correctly on monitors other than 75 or 100dpi.
   We are confident, however, that we can display all V1 figures correctly on
   both 75dpi and 100dpi monitors.

*  Directories for Figures, Tables, and Examples

   In V1 books, the only way to get at the lists of figures, tables, and 
   examples was to scroll to the bottom of the Table of Contents.  On large
   books this could be cumbersome.  The V2 books give you separate directories
   for figures, tables, and examples.  These directories are available from the 
   View menu.

*  Cumulative fixes in the bookbuilding tools.

   The V2 tools include all fixes made to the V1 tools over their lifetime.
   The current set of books on the online CDROM offering were built at 
   various times during this time period.  Some of the books are as old as
   last February.  Rebuilding these books for V2 will pick up all these fixes 
   and changes.

All of these individual points aside, the biggest reason I see for
rebuilding all books is consistency.  With many of the books in V2
format and some in V1 format, the customer is likely to notice the 
differences and wonder why some books have all of these "problems" and
others don't.  Note that we get at least one QAR a week about the hotspot
misalignment in V1 books.

joe

    The improvement in index granularity is a great boon.
    
    Given that the only way to find a topic that doesn't figure in the
    TOC is by way of the index, it was a big problem in V1 that an index
    hotspot might point to a heading several screens away from the thing
    it was pointing to.
    
    Many thanks from us writers; I guess a lot of customers would thank you
    too.
    
    Bob