Re: KATE BUSH CDROM PROJECT: formatting considerations

[agough@sedona.intel.com (Andy Gough)]

In article <7B7s5B5w165w@netrun.cts.com>, rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill) writes:
>         In the discussion of different formats of various files, it 
> should be noted that the archives themselves are in "ASCII" format and 
> probably don't need to be translated into anything else (if I 
> understand these things fully).  The reasons: 1) they don't contain any 
> special formatting codes like underline, etc.  2) at the end of every 
> line there is a "hard return" - so the formatting is pretty much stuck 
> at 80 columns, and even if you convert it to another format (say 
> wordperfect or something) it will still print out at 80 columns.  The 
> only way I know of changing this is to manually delete the returns from 
> every line, except for the lines that end a paragraph.  Anyone want to 
> manually alter 80 megabytes!  :-)  I had to do alot of this in 
> translating The Garden, and compiling Cloudbusting, and it wasn't fun!  
> :-) 

Actually, in WordPerfect, there is an ASCII text import option that lets
you convert hard returns to soft returns in the "hyphenation zone".  I.e.,
if the end of the line falls in the hyphenation zone (say, columns 70-80),
conver the hard return to a soft return.

Then you just have to do a little bit of editing to clean it up.  :-(

Once it's in WordPerfect, though, you can save it using a variety of different
word processor formats (MS Word, for example).

>         So, I think it might be better to just include it in ASCII, and 
> do whatever formatting changes you want to on Cloudbusting and The 
> Garden and MAYBE Deeper Understanding (most of which is directly from 
> the archives and so has the same problem, even though it's currently in 
> WP format).  

Having an ASCII text file version along with the word processor versions is
usually always valuable.  After all, 20 years from now, no one may remember
what "WordPerfect" and "Word" are--but I'll bet you'll be able to read an
ASCII text file and load it into your spiffy "GooglePublisher" package. :-)

>         Chris mentioned that the archives are currently a "mess".  This 
> is certainly true, however when/if I finish Deeper Understanding, 
> escentually everything of value will be in either The Garden, 
> Cloudbusting, or Deeper Understanding with the repetition relatively 
> minor (except for the archives which include everything.)  The only 
> major repetion will be that both Cloudbusting and Deeper Understanding 
> oops I mean THE GARDEN will have interviews in them, but that is only 
> because THE GARDEN has the un-edited interviews (which are sometimes 
> nice to read) and CLOUDBUSTING has them re-edited in a more organized 
> format.  

I would vote for quality over quantity.  I think THE GARDEN, Cloudbusting,
and Deeper Understanding in several formats would be more useful to people
overall than a chaotic archive file.  Remember, it's easy to save information--
the hard part is finding it again!  :-)

And those of us who might want the archive to do something with it?  Well,
it could still be FTP'd from the archive site.

>         Oh, and of course I'm talking about "text" material, obviously 
> there is a zillion picture files as well. 

Wouldn't including these violate some of Kate's copyrights?  Is there any
laws on this yet?

Then again, for something this specialized and weird, maybe Kate would 
give us permission.

How about the ink label printed on the CD itself?  Maybe a nice fan drawing
from Homeground?

> 
>         Tracy from Still Breathing told me she was planning to do some 
> major scanning of pictures from her collection, if anyone is interested 
> in following up on this, these would make a nice addition to any CDROM 
> project.  
> 
> Ron "Only Three weeks till my vacation" Hill

I would also vote for quality pictures over quantity.  Some of the GIFs
are * EXCELLENT *, while some are so-so.  The Sensual World GIF and the 
tour program GIFs, in particular, are outstanding.

Regards,
Andy
-- 
 Andy Gough                     |  Internet: agough@sedona.intel.com
 Intel Corporation  CH3-36      |            agough@az.intel.com
 5000 W. Chandler Blvd.         |      "Knowledge is power."
 Chandler, AZ  85226            |                -- Francis Bacon
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