 PDF Observation |
  |
 Oct 1 2007, 03:00 AM
Post
#1
|
|
|
Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 166 Joined: 28-November 06 From: Broomfield, CO Member No.: 10,065  |
Maybe this has been said before.
26000 PDF. It says it's version 1.0 however in looking over the errata, it seems to be 1.2. There are several interesting typos in the book (extra spaces, double commas). Specifically the "Defiance" weapon is what jumped out today. It's "Defi ance" with a space. Made it hard to find :) It wasn't fixed in the 1.5 errata and I haven't seen a newer one on the site yet. Another note. For those of us who are blinder (and older), it's probably not possible to have a single column for the PDF vs matching the book exactly but it sure would make it easier to read it vs using it as a reference during games. And I know it isn't your fault, but as an observation, the Windows adobe viewer sucks vs the Mac preview tool. Good thing I use the Mac laptop for gaming but it makes it hard to read while on the Windows box (again, nothing you can do about it but it is annoying and I'm venting a little :) ). Carl |
 |
 
|
|
Oct 1 2007, 03:10 AM
Post
#2
|
|
|
Chicago Survivor Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 5,079 Joined: 28-January 04 From: Canton, GA Member No.: 6,033 |
Yeah, Adobe's initial foray into the Vista realm also sucks on some rather fetid phallic images. I recommend PDF xchange viewer.
It loads fast, lets you edit and save and generally behaves much better. |
|
|
|
|
Oct 1 2007, 03:24 AM
Post
#3
|
|
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 166 Joined: 28-November 06 From: Broomfield, CO Member No.: 10,065 |
Ok cool. Then I can update the PDF with the errata and be up to date. Thanks :)
Carl |
|
|
|
|
Oct 1 2007, 03:53 AM
Post
#4
|
|||
|
ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
I'm not a big fan of the 2 column route, either. It's okay in print form, but not my favorite. In PDF though, it sucks. Bad. *scroll down...scroll up...scroll down...scroll up...* BAH! |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 1 2007, 03:55 AM
Post
#5
|
|||
|
Mr. Johnson Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,148 Joined: 27-February 06 From: UCAS Member No.: 8,314 |
The space after an "fi" is actually an artifact of the PDF-making process. There are a couple of other letter combinations that cause that, too. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 1 2007, 04:04 AM
Post
#6
|
|||||
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 166 Joined: 28-November 06 From: Broomfield, CO Member No.: 10,065 |
Yea, that's my complaint. Scroll down reading, scroll back up to keep reading and then on down. Arrr. Carl |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
Oct 1 2007, 04:06 AM
Post
#7
|
|||||
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 166 Joined: 28-November 06 From: Broomfield, CO Member No.: 10,065 |
Ah. I backed letters up until I got to Defi and then found the entry. Any other combinations I should pay attention to? Thanks though. Good to know. Carl |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
Oct 1 2007, 10:55 AM
Post
#8
|
|
|
Prime Runner Group: Retired Admins Posts: 3,929 Joined: 26-February 02 From: .ca Member No.: 51 |
Basically any common ligatures: fi, ff, fl, fj, th, etc. When books are laid out with modern OpenType fonts that have ligatures, in applications that support them, those dual-characters get turned into one character, and that does hork with searchability of PDFs.
There is little chance of Catalyst taking the time to re-layout books in a more screen-friendly format for PDF sale. The additional production time would probably not be made up for with additional sales, especially as we would still have to provide a print-formatted PDF as well. I understand why people want it, and I'd like to serve those people, but I just don't know if we can do it in a way that serves both those fans and the company. I'll do some further looking into it ... in my copious free time. ;-) |
|
|
|
|
Oct 1 2007, 12:47 PM
Post
#9
|
|
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 166 Joined: 28-November 06 From: Broomfield, CO Member No.: 10,065 |
Ok that makes sense thanks.
As to the layouts, I understand. I was just venting a little. It does make it a little difficult to have to jump up and down to _read_ vs using it as a resource. I do read the books but when I'm travelling or off doing something (like skiing), I don't want to have to lug around several books :) Plus add in the page number change (so you can't jump around) mucking up with the TOC and index so I fully understand. Carl |
|
|
|
|
Oct 1 2007, 02:48 PM
Post
#10
|
|||
|
Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490 |
...heartily seconded. Now I can use all those cool PDF character/NPC sheets without needing the full blown Acrobat. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 2 2007, 03:58 AM
Post
#11
|
|
|
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,228 Joined: 24-July 07 From: Canada Member No.: 12,350 |
Adam, do not change the 2-column layout. That 1 column is exactly the width of an HP Pocket PC screen. It's perfect for reading on the road.
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 3 2007, 05:07 PM
Post
#12
|
|||
|
Target Group: Members Posts: 52 Joined: 26-January 06 From: Harrisonburg, VA Member No.: 8,196 |
I'll just be downloading this now.... |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 4 2007, 01:40 AM
Post
#13
|
|
|
Chicago Survivor Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 5,079 Joined: 28-January 04 From: Canton, GA Member No.: 6,033 |
What do you think?
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 5 2007, 03:23 AM
Post
#14
|
|||
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 734 Joined: 30-August 05 Member No.: 7,646 |
You could theoretically do it in one swoop, or very nearly one. Rather that design for two columns on an 8.5 x 11 (or whatever), you could design for one column on a 4.25 x 11 with the occaisional two "page" spread. Publish for PDAs with the one column and print "two pages per page" for print and normal PDF. Btw, wasn't this sort of thing what XML was supposed to clear up? Oh well. Speaking of XML, it would be rather neat to have Street Samurai Handbook style reading interface done up in XML for e-viewing. I know you're always running out of things to do with your abundance of time so .. ;) |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 5 2007, 03:48 AM
Post
#15
|
|||
|
Prime Runner Group: Retired Admins Posts: 3,929 Joined: 26-February 02 From: .ca Member No.: 51 |
Interesting theory, but there are a number of small production issues that I can come with off the top of my head that would make it difficult, especially for a book that needs to go both to print and PDF. I'd be more inclined to go towards landscape PDFs for screen reading ... I think more people are likely to be reading on a laptop or widescreen monitor as opposed to on a PDA or other device. We'd be doing more research before committing to either approach, though. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 5 2007, 06:11 AM
Post
#16
|
|
|
Grand Master of Run-Fu Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,840 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Tir Tairngire Member No.: 178 |
What about print-friendly pdf's? I've had nothing but nightmares trying to print out SR4 products, and there's been multiple other complaints on RPG.net. For example, the quickstart rules are absolutely beautiful, but 20 pages of intensive color graphics is enough to choke any printer. And Quickstart rules are *meant* to be printed out!
It wouldn't take much to do what Pinnacle does to their pdf's: they bundle two versions together, one in glorious full color, the other in a stripped-down version with no backgrounds, simplified or shrunk artwork, and less layering. |
|
|
|
|
Oct 5 2007, 06:45 AM
Post
#17
|
|
|
The back-up plan Group: Retired Admins Posts: 8,423 Joined: 15-January 03 From: San Diego Member No.: 3,910 |
I haven't had any problems sending the files to print. If you are having issues with your specific printer, I'd recommend downsampling the images, Also, double check that the "Print as Image" box is unchecked. If the printer is reading all of the text as a 300-600 DPI image, that may choke things.
Beyond that, my professional opinion is that the problem is based on the amount of data your computer is sending in a single pass compared to the internal memory of your printer. Reconfigure your print drivers to make sure Adobe isn't doing a 75 mb data dump into a 64 mb printer. |
|
|
|
|
Oct 5 2007, 07:57 AM
Post
#18
|
|||
|
Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,009 Joined: 25-September 06 From: Paris, France Member No.: 9,466 |
Yes, it's also the perfect width to read on my Zodiac after converting to html. :) |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 5 2007, 11:43 AM
Post
#19
|
|||
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 734 Joined: 30-August 05 Member No.: 7,646 |
By interesting, you mean crackpot ... ;) Yeah, I see a few complications as well: tables, page borders, page numbering, indexing/ToC ... |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 5 2007, 08:51 PM
Post
#20
|
|||
|
Grand Master of Run-Fu Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,840 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Tir Tairngire Member No.: 178 |
I don't actually *have* a printer. I use professional print shops, one of which has blacklisted me for the trouble a SR4 pdf caused them. Kinkos has yet to deliver a pdf in less than 45 minutes of runtime, and they've got the best technicians and equipment availiable. I rather doubt it's me. In any case, 20 pages of full-color is a nightmare for a standard inkjet to put out, if only in terms of ink used. A weaker printer will choke on it. A print-friendly pdf would solve a lot of these problems, isn't that hard to pull off, and easily bundles with the full-color version. There's no reason to not do it that I'm aware of. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 6 2007, 12:30 AM
Post
#21
|
|
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 341 Joined: 3-October 05 Member No.: 7,802 |
Regarding inkjets, try setting the printer to print in grayscale or something along those lines and drop the resolution to "draft" or whatever the minimum is.
I find the spaces irritating myself, being a screen reader user (converts text to speech for people with little or no vision). My solution to that has been to convert to a text file then make corrections with find/replace, but if I can get a linux set up working I might try to set up a script to automate this with the most common errors. |
|
|
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 6th May 2024 - 09:03 PM |
Topps, Inc has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Shadowrun. Topps, Inc has granted permission to the Dumpshock Forums to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any proprietary materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with the Dumpshock Forums in any official capacity whatsoever.