6.4 Calc Guide

All,

The 6.4 Calc Guide is, I believe, almost ready for publication. The PDF version is available for inspection in the relevant Published folder in Nextcloud (CG64-CalcGuide.pdf).

If anybody wishes to have glance at the PDF over the next 24 hours then feel free to do so; please email me if you spot any problems.

I am not happy with the front and back pages. These are SVG format images in the .ODT file but lose something in the translation to PDF. Is this a known effect and is there a recommended solution?

One aspect of the document has not yet been reviewed by anybody and that is the alphabetical index at the back. I would encourage any team members to inspect this and let us know your thoughts. I hope it is a useful addition for the intended readers of the guide but others might think otherwise. It is straightforward to remove it before publication if that proves necessary.

Finally, please could one of our experienced publishers advise me of the steps necessary to actually publish a guide (beyond placing all the files in the Published folder)?

Regards,

Steve Fanning

Howdy Steve,

All,

The 6.4 Calc Guide is, I believe, almost ready for publication. The PDF
version is available for inspection in the relevant Published folder in
Nextcloud (CG64-CalcGuide.pdf).

If anybody wishes to have glance at the PDF over the next 24 hours then
feel free to do so; please email me if you spot any problems.

I am not happy with the front and back pages. These are SVG format
images in the .ODT file but lose something in the translation to PDF. Is
this a known effect and is there a recommended solution?

Right - if you check the PDF files from the earlier guides you find
that the covers, front and back, are 100% graphics (including the
text).
This is because the SVG source files were used to generate a PNG file
equal to the page format (A4) and that image is what is used as the
page background for the cover pages.
That is not the only way it could be done, but the SVG file itself is
not suitable for use directly in LibreOffice and you want to always
generate the graphic from that source file as a PNG for use in the
final document.

Best wishes,

Drew

Its really cool to be part of a project like this, thanks for allowing me
to participate in the review process!
Gordon Bates
berrykevin321@gmaill.com
github.com/jdoes

Hej Steve,

I will scan through the 6.4 Calc Guide. Is it possible to have the odt version in NextCloud, so I can make a note if necessary.

Many thanks
Best regards

Leo

Hi Leo,

Many thanks for helping.

In this case, would it be possible for you to email a list of any comments you want to raise? I have avoided editing the "big" .odt file (apart from the first and last few pages) to avoid introducing inconsistencies with the individual .odt files that we previously updated and reviewed.

Regards,

Steve

I had a very quick look at the PDF for the sorts of problems I typically
find in compiled books. I didn’t find any. If I have time, I’ll look again
for other things.

I did spot some page breaks that could be improved, but that’s very low
priority.

I regret I don’t have time to look closely at the contents of the index,
but I will do so eventually for consideration in the v7 book. I note now
that indexes are typically formatted in two columns, a low priority
formatting issue.

For publishing, you should put the files on the Publications page on the
wiki, as well as in NextCloud. Olivier will do whatever is needed for the
website. I will publish the printed version on Lulu when I have time.

Jean

Thanks Drew,

I have updated the front and back covers as you suggest. The resulting PDF has been updated to Nextcloud with the suffix v2 in the file's name. The front and back pages look better to me.

Regards,

Steve

Hi Jean,

Many thanks for those checks.

With regards to some page breaks that could be improved, I agree 100%. However I ended up chasing my tale because there are minor template differences between some of the chapters and solving ugly page breaks in the full document sometimes caused ugly page breaks to appear in the individual chapters (and vice versa). In the end I gave up, promising myself that we can try to ensure all chapters use the same template at 7.0!

With regards to the index, I wouldn't recommend anybody looking at it too closely for review reasons, unless they are struggling to sleep. The main aim is to establish its usefulness to potential readers. Are you in favour of retaining it in the issued document, accepting that we can tinker with the format in later issues?

Regards,

Steve

Hej Steve,

I had some remarks about some figures, but they are of lower priority and therefore I would suggest to take them into consideration for version 7. On the other hand I have some more relevant remarks, which you might consider:

  * both in the contents and the book: in the title of the chapter there
    is a reference to Calc or LibreOffice, which seem unnecessary to me
    as it is a guide about Calc:
      o Chapter 1: could read "Introduction" - subtitle could read
        "Using spreadsheets" (page 14)
      o Chapter 5: could read "Using Graphics" (page 183)
      o Chapter 10: could read "Linking Data" (page 334)
      o Chapter 12: could read "Macros" (page 382)
      o Chapter 14: could read "Setting up and Customizing" (page 433)
      o Appendix B: could read "Error Codes" (page 484)
  * I would keep Chapter 13 "Calc as a Simple Database" as is
  * Table 2 has an old style (page 46)
  * On page 245, there is a table without table heading and it has no style
  * If I am correct Drew's surname is Jensen and not Jenson (page 2)
  * I very much like the alphabetical index! (page 490 ...)

Thanks for the great job!

Best regards

Leo

Thanks Leo, I've made those changes and am just doing some final checks of my own before issuing the guide, hopefully later today.

Please could you provide a list of the comments that you have on the figures, so that we can make sure that they are addressed in Calc Guide 7.0?

Thanks,

Steve