Delivered-To: cd@pglaf.org To: cd@pglaf.org From: Valentin Spirik <valentin_spirik@yahoo.de> Subject: feedback to your best of dvd '03 (yes, readme!) Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 04:25:10 +0100 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.619.2)
hello there,
i really like the gutenberg archive - that is why i am giving you some feedback to your best of dvd '03.
i recently downloaded it via p2p (your bittorrent link), and that part went fine. but there are two major problems i see/experience with the dvd, i think your dvd/content needs some work for the next release:
i) look and feel (under mac os x) is very messy ii) some .zip files don't expand
i) the look and feel thing...
under os x (10.3.8) all you see, once you open the disc image (or burn it to dvd), is a rather messy something of folders and files (like: ACCESS - AUTORUN_INF.BAK - AUTORUN.INF -DONATE_HOWTO.TXT - ETEXT00 - ...). some readme files even appear to be unix-programes (at least they have these "exec." icons) - so at first one wouldn't want to double click those readme files... and then it takes quite a while to find the two most important files: the ones that list all titles and authors. my suggestion:
whether on os x or any other operating system, the only thing a user should see at first when he or she opens the disc image/dvd are those two files (they should be called something like "all titles" and "all authors"). the rest could be hidden im some folder called "archive" or something.
this is important: if you really want people to use the dvd it has to have a nice look and feel to it. i was planing to copy the dvd for some of my friends, but i just can't give this dvd to anyone, it just takes to much time to find the information you are looking for...
ii) the problem with some .zip files...
this is very sad: i can't expand some .zip files, the cause is a mystery to me. for example: robert louis stevenson's "dr. jekyll and mr. hide (#1)" (HYDE10.ZIP) just can't be expanded (unstuffed), while the next file "dr. jekyll and mr. hide (#2)" (HYDEA10.ZIP) can be! (i get the stop sign and an "error 1 - operation not permitted" message while trying to expand HYDE10.ZIP - that is after copying the zipped version to my hard-drive, in case you were wondering what i was trying to do... the permissions for the file in questions are the same as the ones for the file that works... very strange... and unfortunately there are some other titles with the same problem...
i really want to help you to improve a great project - the dvd, at least under mac ox x, has the feel of some early beta or alpha version of some potentially great program - that's a real shame considering all the work that went into digitizing those texts!
i hope this helps to improve the project.
greetings from berlin,
valentin spirik
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