Artemis wrote:
Word 2007 on System 7 on my PC has PDF as a choice, so I simple saved it that way after dl a story from the Archive.
I didn't know Word could do that. Cool!
Could we submit another copy in PDF or Word.docx directly and would that save time? It has open document as well, if that works better.
That's an interesting idea. It's more in LabRat's territory, as well as that of the general editors. I don't know if they all use Microsoft Word, or what version. Or if they use
OpenOffice , which is totally free and Microsoft-compatible. Terrific program. Had to get the plug in.
Thanks again for all your work over the years.
You're welcome, and thank YOU for writing stories and contributing to the archive.
LabRat wrote:
I don't think there's any reason for authors to object. But if anyone does, it's a simple matter to email or PM me and we'll exempt the story from the additional formats. Shouldn't be an issue, I don't think.
Excellent! Thanks, LabRat.
I like the Z page, Lauren! It would be nice if HTML could be a format choice, too.
Working on it, Chief.
Doranwen wrote:
As for permissions, considering they've already given permission for it to go on the Archive, I can't see that a different file format would be any issue. We're not adding anything (except for "Chapter 1", "Chapter 2" as necessary) and simply re-formatting.
Good points, and we've got LabRat's OK. So we're good to go!
So as soon as you've got things set up to do uploading of files, I'm ready to share some. A wiki sounds like a good idea, as long as it's tied to being registered here and not just public, of course. *g*
I've got an uploader ready and have installed DocuWiki on the archive. (I beat my head against the wall for a while trying to install MediaWiki, but couldn't get it past the database configuration on the archive's server.)
I'll send the links to you and bobbart first for testing. If you see problems, please let me know!
If the wiki turns out to be useful for this project, maybe we can use it to collaboratively work on other projects as well.
Are you considering expanding to all four formats at one time? Would you need people to do the converting manually or is there an easy way on your end to batch process the whole lot?
It's something I've been considering for a long time, except for the epub flavor -- that's new.
I'm hoping to plod away some more at the batch conversion idea, eventually tying it all up with the database. (Batch conversion with the exception of epubs, pointing to the ones you guys will be creating using a new field in our future database/current spreadsheet.) Though people stepping in to help correct formatting post-conversion on the HTML/OpenOffice versions would be wonderful. But it'll be a while reaching that point.
For instance, some fics have a space at the end of each line, some don't, and some have sections with three returns where I only want two, in addition to two returns where I only want one--epub spaces out paragraphs naturally--so I have to do at least five conversions to get everything to come out right and be mentally processing how to do them.
Many moons ago I prepared an archive-to-Word how-to addressing conversion and spacing issues for the archive staff, and it's
still online . Recording the steps as a macro turned the whole multi-part search/replace process into a single click. The macro is
still there too , but I don't know if it'll work in the current version of Word.
You'll have better results recording all the search/replace steps you go through in your newer version of Word to create a macro more specific to your needs. Things have probably changed a lot in Word in nine years -- and I think I was even using Word 97. Just noticed mine doesn't address turning three returns into two after getting rid of the spaces before and after returns. (^p^p^p to ^p^p, repeat.) Drat.
Anyway, if you haven't, please give macros a try! Could save you tons of time and greatly streamline the process of making a story epub-ready. And if you find it does simplify the job, please consider sharing the macro.
I think it's exciting that we're doing this, and doing this as a group project.
Best wishes,
Lauren
