Fellow CSounders--

Ok, the discussion has been rather lively, so let me attempt to sum up what
has gone on so far....

What we have is quite a diverse number of platforms on which we work.  There
have been a number of requests and arguements for different formats, such as
ASCII, Postcript, RTF, SGML, HTML, PDF, MS Word...

Jean Piche has given information about the reconfiguration of the Bath site and
the planned manual updates, and Paulo Mouat, as well as myself, have offered
to maintain the manual.

For what I gather, what is wanted is a manual that is accessable from both hard
copy and on-line (meaning from the computer, like a Windows help file), one that
is clear and precise, capable of having pages added on instead of complete re-
visions, and can handle diagrams.  Each format has its strengths and weaknesses,
and each strength lends itself well to a particular aspect of the manual...

I personally would prefer a manual that is capable of both hard copy and
on-line,
with diagrams, that I don't have to edit and "clean up" so that it is
legible (I've
done this already in MS-Word format--if anyone wants it I can post it somewhere,
but it doesn't include 3.44 ugens).  I originally suggested the PDF format
because
it handles both hard copy and on-line documentation, and is as WYSWYG as
it gets....

Barring personal taste, and working part-time as a graphic layout type dude, I
would suggest the following formats--PDF, Postcript, ASCII, and RTF.  I believe
an HTML version already exists (I seem to remember using it, but don't remember
where).

Kudos to Jean Piche and John F--I think Jean Piche has the right approach, and
heartily suggest replying to his manual poll.  I also think that one person
maintain-
ing all formats is a bit much to ask.  How about we decide on which formats to
use, and have a collective of three or four of us responsible for maintaining a 
particular format?  Jean could deal with the main compilation, and Paulo could 
maintain, say, RTF, and I would do the PDF?  All formats would be posted to 
one site, and this way no one person is responsible for all, but not
everyone has
to deal.  This way also, a common presentation format could be developed by
the person(s) responsible, and all of us could be happy!

Just trying to be practical--

Thomas Trenka
tren0009@gold.tc.umn.edu