Question to all users ...

[Paolo]

A correction: PDF format does indeed support hyperlinks. I've encountered many documents which have them.

Of course, I personally don't have the slightest idea how it was done. I've never written anything in that format.

The process is very easy. The document that you can find at the following link
Demo of Reformatted Celestia 1.3.0 User's Guide.
was created with Word 2002 and Acrobat 6.
Installing Acrobat after Word a new menu voice and a new toolbar are available in Word to convert the document in a fully automated PDF document, with hyperlinks, cross references, embedded images and so...

Bye - Paolo

[Paolo]

Only if you have the Adobe Acrobat software ($250+) AND re-enter the hyperlinks manually. Even the Adobe PDF Creator on their web site does not convert hyperlinks. At least not from a Word document.

See my previous post about previous Selden's comment.
BTW this functionality was available since Acrobat 4.0.

The automated PDF document creation is available with other PDF tools too.
As an Example Jaws PDF creator (http://www.jawspdf.com) is a cheaper alternative of Adobe Acrobat 6.0.

Bye - Paolo.

[selden]

Paolo,

The problem is that those packages do cost money. Having to spend money on commercial software in order to write usable documentation for a freeware open-source program seems inappropriate. It's one of the reasons I've stuck with writing simply-formatted HTML pages by hand. (I've been investigating XHTML, too.)

There are freeware programs for Windows and Linux that can convert a content format like docbook into several different display formats like Word, RTF, PDF, PostScript and HTML. The hope is that their authors can be persuaded to translate URLs in ways that selecting them will work as we expect.

[Bob Hegwood]

Paolo,

The problem is that those packages do cost money. Having to spend money on commercial software in order to write usable documentation for a freeware open-source program seems inappropriate.

Good point, Selden... But if that's the case, how are we getting the PDF documents now?

I prefer the PDF format simply because it's MUCH nicer to have a single, downloadable document that you can view offline. I also like its ease of use and the ability to FIND a word or topic.

Since I'm still on a dial-up connection, web pages won't do me much good unless I figure out how to find and store all of the pages and graphics on my PC in a convenient format. You guys know what you're doing though, so whatever you end up with will be helpful.

I *do* wish to thank Mr. Goyette for his latest document though. It's *very* nice and fits easily onto my PC.

Thanks Mr. G!

Take care, Bob

[selden]

Good point, Selden... But if that's the case, how are we getting the PDF documents now?

Someone who purchased Adobe Acrobat for other purposes was kind enough to translate the Word document for us. Since the translation isn't being done by the author of the document, the PDF format of a new version of the document may be quite late in arriving.

I prefer the PDF format simply because it's MUCH nicer to have a single, downloadable document that you can view offline. I also like its ease of use and the ability to FIND a word or topic.

The same features you mention are also available in HTML, of course.

The Windows "search" program includes the option to search for words within files as well as searching for the names of files.

Since I'm still on a dial-up connection, web pages won't do me much good unless I figure out how to find and store all of the pages and graphics on my PC in a convenient format.

Most browsers, including IE, provide the option "make available offline" when you add a page to your "favorites" list.

There's also a utility called "wget" which can download an entire Web directory tree for you. I don't recommend using it on a large site, though!

I've been thinking of providing all my HTML notes in a single ZIP archive. Would that help?

You guys know what you're doing though, so whatever you end up with will be helpful.

Boy, are you optimistic!

[don]

As an Example Jaws PDF creator (http://www.jawspdf.com) is a cheaper alternative of Adobe Acrobat 6.0.

Thank you for the link Paolo. It still costs $79, but it's one heck of a lot cheaper than $299 (yes, Adobe raised their prices)!

I wonder why Adobe's Creator website (5 free conversions: http://createpdf.adobe.com/) does not convert the hyperlinks in a Word document, since the *real* one obviously does. Very strange.

Just found out -- you need to be a paid subscriber <laughing>!

-Don G.

[Harry]

[
Good point, Selden... But if that's the case, how are we getting the PDF documents now?

OpenOffice 1.1 can import Word documents and export PDF - with some minor formatting problems, but it works.

And there is a PDF-writer which can be installed as a printer-driver:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

Harald

[don]

Howdy Bob and Harald,

In my tests, OpenOffice.org 1.1 makes a mess out of Word-to-PDF conversions.

PDFCreator does a decent job, but does not handle hyperlinks. And, their latest beta [0.8] doesn't work at all on my system.

Even the Adobe Creator web site (http://createpdf.adobe.com/) where you can get 5 free conversions, does not handle hyperlinks. You must pay for their subscription service.

So far, I have not found a free Word-to-PDF converter that handles hyperlinks.

-Don G.

[don]

... web pages won't do me much good unless I figure out how to find and store all of the pages and graphics on my PC in a convenient format.

Simply select File / Save As from Internet Explorer, select "Web page, complete", navigate to a folder where you want to save it and click OK. This saves the HTML page in the folder you specify and then creates a sub-folder containing all supporting files.

I *do* wish to thank [Don G.] for his latest document though. It's *very* nice and fits easily onto my PC.

You're welcome Bob. You may notice that in the PDF file converted by Adobe's web site, the hyperlinks do not work <frown>. I will be adding text URLs to each hyperlink so folks can copy and paste.

-Don G.

[Christophe]

About hyperlinks in PDF, see this thread on the OOo forum.

Apparently this free app does support it.

[don]

Howdy Christophe,

Thank you for the links.

The PDF995 program does not convert links either, as I just tried it. However, their PDFEdit program will *create* links for text in a standard URL format (not hidden like hyperlinks).

Guess the best bet is to have someone with the full Adobe version do the conversions, as we certainly don't want the entire contents of Cell://URLs displayed in the document (very messy).

-Don G.

[John Van Vliet]

I perfor html myself -and no hipe about my spelling-
I allready have the users guide and activites in html
and with only a littel correcting MS's Word bose a "good" ? job .

[Paolo]

Guess the best bet is to have someone with the full Adobe version do the conversions, as we certainly don't want the entire contents of Cell://URLs displayed in the document (very messy).

In our Company we have a full license of Adobe Acrobat. If someone is interested I'm available to use it to perform the conversions during my job pause times. Its a question of executing some print tasks.

Bye - Paolo

[don]

Howdy Paolo,

If someone is interested I'm available to use it to perform the conversions during my job pause times. Its a question of executing some print tasks.

Thank you! This would be great!

Here is a direct link to the Word document file for the CEL Scripting Guide: http://www.donandcarla.com/Celestia/cel_scripting/guide/Celestia_Cel_Script_Guide_v1_0.doc

From the Adobe Acrobat web site, you must specify a special option in order to convert Word hyperlinks into PDF hyperlinks: "... select Enable Tagged PDF Generation in the Conversion Settings dialog box." You can e-mail the PDF to me (see your private mail for my address).

Frank's Celestia User's Guide for version 1.3.1 is located here: http://www.fsgregs.org/celestia/files/CelestiaUsersGuide1-3-1.doc

I'm not sure if he wants to host a PDF version, or if it should be hosted on the Celestia web site. You might want to contact him.

Thank you once again Paolo!

Happy New Year,

-Don G.