Rant Re Rev Documentation

[Bill]

Will your ebook on printing talk about how to feed information (such as
number of pages to print) to printing dialogues?


On 7/25/05 1:17 AM, "Dan Shafer" <revdan at danshafer.com> wrote:

> Not too far off the mark, Timothy, but a little.
> 
> When I started my Rev book "series" the idea was that i would simply
> "port" my HT book to Rev and be done with it. A number of users on
> the list at that time ensured me that if I did that, I'd be doing the
> community a huge service. It seemed like a pretty simple undertaking
> so I jumped in.
> 
> Boy, was I wrong. Not only would a port have been impossible (thanks
> in large part to the vastly richer vocabulary and power of Rev) and
> unhelpful, it would have been counter-productive. I couldn't bring
> myself to do that. So I ended up with a HUGE project and what I felt
> was a public commitment to produce it. I dug in and did the best I
> could under the circumstances. A lot of folks have kindly said good
> things about what I did produce and I'm continuing to add to the
> repertoire but it'll never be what's really needed.
> 
> As I look back, I think the better course would have been to write an
> intro to Rev and Transcript. As it is, my book is ONLY about
> Transcript, not really about how to build things in Rev. That's a big
> missing piece. I could write it but I just don't know if there's a
> market for it. Frankly, total demand for the first volume was
> surprisingly small (to me, not to Rev, but then they knew the numbers
> and I had to guess).
> 
> Maybe what's needed now is a comprehensive dictionary of Transcript
> in hypertext form from the perspective of a developer, but I'm not
> even sure how to start building something like that and feel pretty
> sure I'd end up getting slammed for "regurgitating the docs" if I did.
> 
> I'm just about to release my eBooklet on printing. What other
> subjects do people want? Is a thorough overview of the IDE really
> needed at this point? I gave one at RevCon West (well, not thorough;
> not enough time) but not a lot of people seem interested.
> 
> Sorry for the ramble/rant. Just trying to figure out what's most
> important to do next, if anything. There are days I think I should
> just shut up and go back to coding.
> 
> 
> On Jul 24, 2005, at 7:22 PM, Timothy Miller wrote:
> 
>> I sometimes wonder why Dan didn't start by writing a comprehensive
>> reference. As I think about it, that's probably a no-win
>> proposition for an author, because Rev's free onboard documentation
>> would be a hard act to follow, even if it's not that good. And as
>> soon as Rev improved its onboard documentation, the book would stop
>> selling. I'd guess that's Dan's reasoning, but it's only a guess.
> 
> 
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Dan Shafer, Revolution Consultant and Author
> http://www.shafermedia.com
> Get my book, "Revolution: Software at the Speed of Thought"
>  From http://www.revolutionpros.com, Click "My Stuff"
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> use-revolution mailing list
> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription
> preferences:
> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
> 
> 

            |    |    |
           )_)  )_)  )_)
          )___))___))___)\
         )____)____)_____)\\
       _____|____|____|____\\\__
-------\                   /--------- http://www.bluewatermaritime.com
 ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  ^^^^      ^^^^     ^^^    ^^
       ^^^^      ^^^

24 hour cell: (787) 378-6190
fax: (787) 809-8426

Blue Water Maritime
P.O. Box 91
Puerto Real, PR 00740