DESIGN: New CTP2 Game Manual

[Gilgamensch]

Also PDF isn't distributing viruses

[J Bytheway]

IIRC there are viruses that spread over pdf, but they can only infect yu if you use the editor in some fashion. I don't know the details, though. Regardless, I agree that PDF is much better than word in this regard.

[Gilgamensch]

Or as you mentioned plain text, but definitly no word it is from SM......aehm I mean MS..........

[child of Thor]

ok PDF it is, although it would only take me a few seconds to copy/paste a plain text version as well, if people on low bandwidth connections need an easier download

[Maquiladora]

HTML

I dispise PDF manuals, theyre sloooow

[child of Thor]

My thoughts too
So there will be an easy(wordpad type) plain text version to download too.

[J Bytheway]

Some people (so I have heard) actually like to print these things out... PDF would certainly be good for them. As I said, TeX gives you PDF and HTML, so that would please Maquiladora.

[Solver]

I also hate PDF. It loads up slower than HTML or anything else, and the Acrobat Reader is often a pain to use.

Give me HTML... TeX... RTF... something else .

[child of Thor]

J Bytheway, is the Tex thing a free download from somewhere? - so i can have a play with it. oh feel free to point me in its direction please

[Aias]

I'd be willing to help out on the manual. Count me in for the chapter "How To Get Killed In Multiplayer."

Seriouly, whoever is in charge of the manual contact me.

[Peter Triggs]

Child of Thor,

I used to use LaTeX (the successor to TeX). It's the only way to typeset mathematical formulae. IMO, it's not all that user friendly but may be fine for straightforward text. Here's some links:

http://www.latex-project.org/

http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTeXPrimer/

[Gilgamensch]

One thing we have to keep in mind, that everyone shall be able to read it. And sorry to say, 'everyone' has the possibility to read pdf or simple rtf/txt-files. The only problem with rtf is, that we might have problems including pictures/diagrams. PDF you can.......

[J Bytheway]

Everything you ever need for or about (La)TeX is at http://www.ctan.org/

Of course, that doesn't mean it's easy to find what you want...

[Gilgamensch]

Jesus..........just had a look..........

you have some short introduction .........

One reason why I prefer PDF

Plus I have adobe exchange at work

[Locutus]

Well, you want the files to be readable on all platforms: Linux, Windows, Mac, etc. That rules out pretty much everthing but PDF, HTML and TXT. You'll also want to be able to add screenshots, diagrams, etc. That rules out TXT (plus, those stupid end-of-line characters are different on every OS, which some crappy editors (e.g. Notepad) have a problem with). Some people will prefer HTML, some PDF. PDF is generally speaking the superior format (especially for printing), but HTML certainly has it's advantages as well (faster, allows linking, can be viewed online). LaTeX would be the perfect solution, though as Peter points out, it's not very user-friendly.