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AmigaDragon
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AmigaDragon 1257622586|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
I have no ebook readers yet (who can afford $200-300+ just to read books? At that price, I'd go for a small laptop), but plan to get one when they come down to affordable prices (I'm thinking <$30).
Are there any plans to make the story archives downloadable en-masse for such devices instead of manually saving each page of each story one by one?
Pontos 1257623363|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Not that i know of, but you can ask the author for a copy in RTF format or something like that if any.
Also, any PDA can do the job of an ebook reader (As proven by Virmir, hehe).
AmigaDragon 1257641171|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Yes, it's possible to read them on a PDA, but the small screen is not good for reading stories, as I tried years ago on my old Palm 3xe. A paperback size screen would be much better, as is the e-ink display's contrast.
AmigaDragon, 1257641171|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
KaiAdin 1257676217|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Ironically enough getting stuff on PDAs or ereaders was mentioned on the MK List just a few days ago. Virmir mentioned something about making printable versions of the stories available.
Maybe something like a mass download from the archives in .txt format in a zip file, taken from the Archive sites database could be done too? *notes to poke Virmir on it later*
AmigaDragon 1257690799|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
I have nothing against leaving them formatted with HTML, but they're not conveniently downloadable en-masse right now (either all in one download or broken up into a few sections).
For me it's a moot point until ereaders come down. At the rate their prices are going, it may be a few years before I get one.
AmigaDragon, 1257690799|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Virmir 1257698123|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Problem is, they're all converted to HTML and stuck inside static PHP files at the moment. Story text itself isn't in the database, unfortunately. In other words, there's not a format readily available for you to read on your computer that I can stick inside a ZIP file or something to download. I do have all the RTF and DOC files people sent me over the years since I took over the archives, but that only amounts to 150 of the stories or so. Plus those don't have any ordering info attached to them.
Now that I think about it, it probably would be a good idea to put up RTFs of the long stories— Matt's novels in particular— so people don't have to go through and save every part if they want to read them offline. I have LTOY already. Will have to ask about his other novels. *adds to to-do list*
In regard to downloading en-masse, we'd basically need a volunteer to go through and save and convert each story to something readable offline. (Probably wouldn't be too huge of a deal if I added a "print friendly link". Then they could be saved as raw HTML, which would be fine.) Ordering info would be a pain, though. The order of the first 300 stories is pretty much static. But the last 150 stories or so are in a constant state of flux as new stories are added in-between others each update. So basically it would mean a separate list to maintain to keep numbers the same as the online archives.
I don't think it would be totally un-do-able, though. It could just be a bi-annual release or something— basically a static download of the entire archives on a certain date every six months. Any one interested in building/maintaining this? I've a bit too many projects going on at the moment, so maintaining the one archive is enough for me. ;)
Thaeus 1258103492|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
:P You could totally slurp the stories into a db. I dunno zigactly what the story schema is anymore, but I remember that there were some PHP variables with metadata, then including some sort of header template, then raw HTML, then including the footer template. And it's probably using includes instead of requires or include_onces. All you'd have to do is link the stories directory to another place so that you can use new header and footer templates, then, through the power of output buffering (http://ca.php.net/manual/en/function.ob-start.php), you can capture the story as a string and stick it in the db.
If you want, I could probably write a script to do that for you. We just need to figure out what the db schema should be.
I dunno much about e-book formats or exporting to PDF, but standalone HTML downloads shoudn't be that big an issue.
Virmir 1258170018|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Interesting idea… I've never heard of this output buffering before. Looks like something worth looking into. ;)
I've been considering ways to transition to a totally DB-driven backend, but always thought I'd draw a line and just keep the "old" static HTML stories the "old way", and pull newer stuff through the DB, maintaining it using Wordpress or Drupal or one of those content management things in the background. (All transparent to the reader of course. Just background stuff. Haven't really persued anything yet because honestly making a handful of HTML pages per month isn't that big of a deal.) Throwing it all in the DB would make nifty stuff like full archive downloads possible though.
Quickly skimmed the article and it doesn't look so bad. I have a lot of projects going on at the moment, but think in a few weeks I'll schedule a weekend to do some more archive work. Thanks for the idea, Thae!
Thaeus 1258232165|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Eh. Just squeak me if you ever want more ideas.
I'm not that fussed about wholly db-driven sites, although that's pretty much what I do for work. :) You could use a db just for tracking data about stories, like when uploaded, who the authors were, etc. A script could generate zips for download. And I think as is, you could add "print version" links to the story pages without too much trouble.
Yarr!!
AmigaDragon 1258260787|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
I don't really care much how it's implemented, just that if I can find an affordable reader, there's a way to get whole stories or the whole archive or whatever in a simple step. I'll leave the details of how to the rest of you.
AmigaDragon, 1258260787|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
MatthiasRat 1259354759|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
I'm thinking of using LaTeX to create quality PDFs of my stories. Once I have a good format down, I can share it so that other stories can be easily converted too. Would this be something useful for those who want to read the stories on portable devices? I'm not too familiar with them to be honest.
Dominus tecum
MatthiasRat, 1259354759|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
MatthiasRat 1259359288|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Here's an example of a very simple format I did for my first story:
http://transform.to/~mattyrat/metamor/C1_S1_WritersGuild.pdf
The only difficulty I had in doing this was in replacing all the " with either “ or ” (opening and closing quotes). I can do more with this if folks are interested in seeing it.
Personally, I love LaTeX and enjoy any excuse to play around with it. :-)
Dominus tecum
MatthiasRat, 1259359288|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
AmigaDragon 1259362270|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Other than wide side margins (narrow paragraphs), I see nothing wrong with that formatting.
I know nothing about Latex and little about the full range of compatible file formats the e-readers will accept. All I care is that whatever reader I eventually get is capable of displaying a good range of formats without having to convert them. .txt, .doc, .rtf, .pdf, .html are a few that I have found online on various story sites. I've also seen .png and .jpg mentioned somewhere, but as far as I'm concerned, those are image files, not text files. Displaying them would be a useful feature though.
AmigaDragon, 1259362270|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
MatthiasRat 1259363686|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
LaTeX is used primarily for professional articles and any documents that are to look good. You can easily recognize the style, as it handles a lot of typesetting formalities that HTML and Word Processors fail at (ligatures for instance).
As for the wide side margins, that can easily be changed. But it is easier on the eyes to have narrow paragraphs. Less distance for them to move back and forth.
Dominus tecum
MatthiasRat, 1259363686|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
AmigaDragon 1259364688|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Less distance but more frequency.
AmigaDragon, 1259364688|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
