Strat Guide and other stuff

[Velociryx]

Swapped a couple of threads with my Brother Googlie just a bit ago, and the topic of our discussion was such that I figured it ought to have it's own thread. I've copied and pasted below:


{Googlie's Post:
Vel:
I'm just offering the teeny tech tree thru the SC site (In fact, with the imminence of publication of your Strat guide I've removed it as a downloadable item - didn't seem fair to be giving it away for free when it is now a commercial item)

So get your marketing hat on and promote it shamelessly

G.}

{My response:
Brother Googlie! As always, you're both a scholar and a gentleman! The Apolyton forum has been like a second home to me, and I've met a number of good friends from this very place....seems only right that I should give something back to the place that's given me so many chuckles and smiles over the many months I've been lurking and writing here, so I'd like to announce here and now that the both versions 1.0 and 2.0 of the guide are to be considered "FreeWare" from here on. Put 'em on your sites, print and make elaborate paper airplanes out of them, hell, if you can get anything for them, auction off your dog-eared copies of version 1 on ebay! LOL...and if you make a mint, drop me a line and let me know!


Hmmm....Come to think of it, perhaps I should put this announcement in its own thread as well....}

Okay....so news like that won't bring about world peace or feed the hungry, but still....I figured I'd let everybody know....

PS: New e-mail addy for me....I put that someplace too, but what the heck. I tried updating my profile...no dice there, so the new addy is:

WebMaster@velociryx.every1.net


-=Vel=-

<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by Velociryx (edited May 08, 2001).]</font>

[Fitz]

Thanks. That answers my question about putting up v2.0 on my website. I also reformatted what I think is v3.0 as a word document. Is it cool if I stick that up too?

I should specify, it is the SMACX 3.0 from the Signed, sealed & delivered thread that sticks up above.
[This message has been edited by Fitz (edited May 08, 2001).]

[Velociryx]

Hiya Fitz! Stay tuned for version 3.0 of the guide....it will indeed be released in the same manner as the earlier versions, but not just yet.



-=Vel=-

[Fitz]

If you haven't released v3.0, which version was the one associated with the sticky thread Signed, sealed & delivered?

[Googlie]

Vel: I have the same feeling as Fitz - see my post to Mixam's thread

G.

[Velociryx]

Quite right you are, and upon further reflection, I see no reason why I should not go ahead and make v3 of the guide "freeware" as well. Howwzat?


As to version 4.0, I'm getting really excited about it, and I think you all will like it very much!

Ahhh, and I just now caught what you meant. V3.0 was indeed "released" in the sense that I put it out there for everybody to take a peek at, but I meant "released" as in "declaring it freeware," but again, on further reflection, I don't see why not. There are some pretty significant differences between v3 and v4...certainly more than enough to give it weight and merit as a separate "product" so after thinking further on the matter, I see no reason why I shouldn't open v3 up in the same manner as I did the elder versions.

-=Vel=-
[This message has been edited by Velociryx (edited May 08, 2001).]

[Fitz]

Thanks. I don't know that it'll get downloaded loads from my site (once I get it back up), but it's nice to have as much as possible on my SMAC page to help those interested and/or looking for tools.

[Googlie]

Thanks Vel - I've hung it back up on the SC site here

(and Fitz, what's your URL and I'll put a link in the Chronicles site)

G.


[This message has been edited by Googlie (edited May 09, 2001).]

[Velociryx]

Version 4 has been re-organized into nine chapters for publication in book form. I'm plowing through each of those one final time to make sure I don't have too many of those durned colons ::::: I'm so fond of, and to make sure that there aren't any really stupid spelling errors or other snafus.

Structurally, everything is done except the embedded linking that will be part of the electronic version of the guide, allowing the reader to hop instantly to various sections of the book from the table of contents, and in some cases, move around within the book when additional information is offered in some other chapter.

As to a specific timeframe...LOL...I'm a little leery of that...last time I said I was almost done, I wound up spending almost three weeks in the hospital. The one advantage though, was my forced vacation allowed me to approach the project with a fresh perspective, and I came back to it with a number of new ideas.

Anyway, it won't be long now, and I'll keep you guys posted. When I send her off for formatting, I'll make the announcement here, and then it'll be just a matter of days, if my previous experience with the company is any indication.

-=Vel=-

[Googlie]

Vel:

Will you be taking orders through your renaissance site? (traffic, etc, nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

(for those who haven't visited Vel's web site, you can get to it here )

G.

[Velociryx]

Hey bro, and I sure will be! In fact, I'm toying around with different page layouts, trying to design a "gallery" of sorts. There are three, and soon to be four published authors on my site now, and I'm gonna showcase their work on a special page....I figured I'd put my first novel, and the SMAX guide there as well....

-=Vel=-

[Darius]

quote: Originally posted by Velociryx on 05-08-2001 07:20 PM As to version 4.0, I'm getting really excited about it, and I think you all will like it very much!

I'm getting excited too! I know you can't rush greatness, but when do you think it will be ready?

[Fitz]

My url isn't working right now, but it hopefully will be in a week or two. It's either going to be www.serverofdoom.com/fitz or fitz.serverofdoom.com (probably the latter).

[Velociryx]

Stuff that's been keeping me up late these past few nights:

I'm a little perplexed. See....I can only send one manuscript to press. Can't send one for the electronic version and another for the bound version, which means that my internal linking has to be built into the framework of the book, but at the same time not be intrusive or hard on the eyes of those who want the bound edition.

There are two ways that I know of to create "links" inside of a word document. First, simply insert a hyperlink pointing to a bookmark placed elsewhere in the work. That's easy, and it makes it easy to spot for readers of the electronic version, cos it's underlined, and a different color. But, for those who have the bound edition, it'd look...odd.

On the other hand, I could use cross referencing, which is the same basic concept, only the text looks no different on the screen. No different at all (though I could go back manually and make it a slightly different color, to at least give some indication that it's clickable). This approach looks good from the perspective of the bound edition, but might be hard to spot in the electronic version.



So...I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to proceed here. Embedded links? No links? Some other way of doing it that I'm not aware of?

-=Vel=-

[Closey]

Ok, I don't really know how they tend to do this, but couldn't you make the electronical version yourself as a pdf or something? Or does both versions have to go through the publisher?

And one way to make those links could be to have them as foot notes or on either side of the text. Maybe in a little smaller font or something.

You probably could have the links just using another color and not having them under lined, I mean there's lots of links like that on the web and they aren't hard to spot. Maybe a blue or green color? They don't stand out as much as, say red would.

Edt. Ah.. spelling.. *hunts it down*
[This message has been edited by Closey (edited May 10, 2001).]