----- Original Message ----- From: Marcello Perathoner <marcello@perathoner.de>
Joshua Hutchinson wrote:
1 - First thing that jumps out is the need for bigger left and right margins. This is a simple CSS change. Currently, DP has *mostly* standardized on 10% margins on the left and right. This gives some nice white space for easier reading and gives room for things like original source page numbers and sidenotes to be put in the margin area.
OTOH I like to read texts in a small (horizontally) browser window so I can put a shell window and the browser window on one screen. The shell is usually compiling something or doing boring work. If the shell stumbles over something I can immediately switch over, correct and switch back to my reading.
Big margins in the browser window would definitely be a major annoyance.
I think, the CSS provided is just an example. Everybody here has enough skills to build a CSS he/she likes. For the end user we may consider an "alternate stylesheet" model where she may switch between a set of predefined ones.
That is why a 10% margin is used instead of a fixed value. On a small window, the margin almost disappears, while on a "normal" sized window, it provides the white space. Also, while I agree CSS changes are the fix for these, what I am trying to do here is help to create a "standard" conversion that is workable. We don't really want the volunteer to HAVE to create their own CSS. We want them to have the ability to, of course, if they want to, but the standard conversion should have a baseline that is the best we can do. NOTE: Many of my suggestions are my personal opinion, such as the margins, and part of the purpose here is to get conflicting opinions for others. So, coming to a baseline style consensus is also a dual objective here.
6 - Use standard HTML paragraph spacing.
Same as above.
Which should be our baseline style, though? If other people like the printer style paragraphs better, that's fine. This is, again, my opinion here.
7 - Need a horizontal rule (75% width seems right to me) between the CONTENTS section and the first section of the text. Right now, they run together.
8 - Need horizontal rule between major divisions of the text. Currently, the large type header gives a visual indication, but I don't believe it is enough.
Use the rend="newpage" or rend="newdoublepage" attribute on a div, front, back element like eg.:
<div rend="newpage" type="chapter">
This will start a new page on paginated media and put a rule on HTML.
Cool, I learned something here. That takes care of that concern (at least to my mind, it does). Josh