April 24, 2009
From DPCanadaWiki
Volume 2, Issue #36--April 24, 2009
(Full listing of previous issues is available at DPC Newsletters)
Authors in the Offing
By Tizz (CPer, PM, PPer; who also proofs and formats from time to time)
One of the nicest things about DP Canada is the wealth of material for the eager CP/PM to choose from. And every year, a new batch arrives! Two actually, one for the Canadians (or Australians), and another for the EU. Among the authors who slipped out of copyright in the EU this year are Owen Wister and Thomas Wolfe. Look out for "The Virginian" soon, while "Look Homeward Angel" is already in the rounds.
A man who knew his way around the dazzling Regency period of UK history is Lewis Melville (no relation). His "Regency Ladies" spills the beans on such famous and infamous dames as Mrs. Fitzherbert (Prinney's mistress), the Princess of Wales (not as well loved as the most recent one), Mrs. Jordan (yet another royal mistress) and the author Fanny Burney. Coming soon.
Finally, it seems there's a liking for plays (all the formatting notwithstanding). So we'll be having more of those, starting with "The Country Wife" and moving on to half a dozen others from the 17th and 18th century, including "The Tragedy of Jane Shore", a Shakespeare pastiche by Nicholas Rowe.
"Smooth Reading Coordinator" Announcement
By Simple Simon
Please join me in congratulating Warmheart on her appointment as Smooth Reading Coordinator. She will assist DPC members in expanding the role of Smooth Reading (SR) in improving the quality of our completed books. While researching SR methods in use at DP-INT, and discussing these techniques with DP community members everywhere, she will also create a forum for discussion of SR, and how to improve its effectiveness.
Warmheart will be encouraging PPers to use SR as a tool to help catch those last-minute "goofs" that plague us all, and to become another "pair of eyes" to bolster the existing PPV process. Please work with her to make this expanded program a success.
Page Goal Increase Announcement
Proofers and formatters have been doing so well the last couple of months that Simple Simon and coachmike are going to increase our monthly page goal targets. Effective May 1--that's next Friday, people--P1, P2 and F1 goals will increase to 110 pages per day while P3 and F2 goals will increase to 100 pages per day (from 100 and 75 pages per day respectively).
Editorial
Announcements--Congratulations, Warmheart, on your appointment as Smooth Reading Coordinator. Now you'll have something else to do with all your free time.
Calling all CPers and PMs--I have a big "thankyou" from De2164 (DAvid) for the 20+ projects sitting in P1: Waiting. DAvid is the PF who looks after releasing projects from the P1 queue. However, he warns that we will need more projects in the near future, especially as we get closer to syncing-up with DP-Int as well as getting the newer site code--he hopes to see more people. So, more projects please, all genres are welcome, though easy fiction tends to be most popular.
Server and site problems--Simple Simon advises that any remaining problems on-site are set aside now until the "synch-up" (unless something really major rears its ugly head). If you see something that you believe requires handling before the summer, please send him a PM.
Checklists--As promised several months ago, Simon has been producing basic checklists for DPers. He started with PPing basic checklists for simple projects: he has done checklists for startup, text version and HTML version; this week's checklist is a start for "HTML Tables".
Any and all comments and/or questions from PPers are requested and welcome. Anyone else can comment as well. Send any questions or comments to Simple Simon.
Simon has created a wikipage (linked to the main DPC Wiki) for the Checklists for New PPers. He'll be linking the checklists that he has done so far. You can see from the Table of Contents what he plans for future checklists.
Once the PPing checklists are done, he'll do some for CPing and PMing.
Sychronization of Guidelines--In the last newsletter issue, Simple Simon discussed his ideas about synchronization of DP-Int/US and DPC proofing and formatting guidelines. He set up a discussion thread in the Documentation Suggestions Forum which includes those ideas. There have been a couple of responses … have you any comments, ideas, suggestions, …?
Proofing/Formatting combined guidelines--There will be a significant delay in publishing this combined guidelines document. Simon has been caught up in the site code project (as well as his campaign on DP-Int) … so he's been a bit busy. ;)
ÜberProjects--see the updates below.
Check out the list of "possible future articles" at the end of the newsletter--are you interested in contributing or do you know of someone who could, or would like to, contribute, we'd love to have your article and/or thoughts. And you can do so anonymouslyAnd you can do so anonymously if you choose. It doesn't have to be long: a sentence or two, a short paragraph or two, 500 words or more if you really like to "talk"; send a PM to Quill.
Simon Says...
One of the ways that you can really improve the look of your HTML version is to employ tables. They organize data, align items, allow you to control layout, and offer a great way to condense a great number of links into a very small space. Effectively, the PPer has a tool that was not available to the printers of days gone by, and we can either make our books look beautiful, or simply match the appearance of the original.
To illustrate the idea, let's suppose you have a Table of Contents that looks like this in text version:
Preface v
Chapter Page
I. Title of Chapter #1 1
II. Title of Chapter #2 18
III. Title of Chapter #3 44
Index 119
The table you will create to replace this in HTML has several parts--a "format" line that appears first, several "content" lines (each comprised of a number of "cells"), and a closing line. In the example above, each content line will have 3 cells--chapter number, title, and page number. But note that some of the lines have some cells "missing" or blank.
The "format" line must specify a name for the table, and a width, and can contain other settings that style the table.
It will look like this:
<table summary="name of table" width="width of table in % of browser window width" possibly other styling declarations>
In our example:
<table summary="Table of Contents" width="70%" border="1">
This will produce a table 70% of the browser width, with a 1 pixel black border around every cell.
Each content line looks like this--some PPers collapse the structure up onto one line, but to begin, it's better to lay the structure out
<tr> this signals the beginning of the row <td> this signals the beginning of a cell content of row 1, cell 1 </td> this signals the close of the cell other cells </tr> this signals the close of the row
In our example, row 1 will look like this:
<tr> <td> </td> note that cell 1 must contain something, even though it's empty--I recommend a non-breaking space <td>Preface</td> <td>v</td> </tr>
In order to make the items in columns 1 and 3 line up, we use a styling setting within the < td > command. So cell 3 in row 1 becomes
<td align="right">v</td>
The remaining lines in the table become:
<tr> <td align="right">Chapter</td> <td>nbsp;</td> <td align="right">Page</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">I.</td> <td>Title of Chapter #1</td> <td align="right">1</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">II.</td> <td>Title of Chapter #2</td> <td align="right">18</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">III.</td> <td>Title of Chapter #3</td> <td align="right">44</td> </tr> <tr> <td>nbsp;</td> <td>Index</td> <td align="right">119</td> </tr> </table> and then we close the table
If you want to see what the table looks like in your browser, you'll have to put this "mini-CSS" header in front of the table code...
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> <title> The Project Gutenberg Canada eBook of "Title", by Author. </title> <style type="text/css"> /*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ /* XML end ]]>*/ </style> </head> <body>
...and this closing html code at the end...
</body> </html>
or you can look at this image
| Preface | v | |
| Chapter | Page | |
| I. | Title of Chapter #1 | 1 |
| II. | Title of Chapter #2 | 18 |
| III. | Title of Chapter #3 | 44 |
| Index | 119 | |
Next time, we'll add some refinements to the table, and list some of the simpler table features.
REMEMBER, save your file frequently, and keep looking at it in your browser.
Revisions to Guidelines, FAQs and the DPC site code
Guideline Differences--See article at beginning of last issue. There is also a discussion thread--see Editorial comments above.
Combined Proofing and Formatting Guidelines--Simon has reiterated his promise that he will put together a combined Proofing/Foofing wiki page for those Formatters who like to have only one document open at a time but also want to be able to check on certain Proofing Guidelines. Unfortunately there has been a delay. Simon hopes to produce them sometime in the near future.
The "combined guidelines" will be a very summarized version, not a complete document--but it's a huge task, which is the reason for the delay in issuance. Even DP-INT has no such animal--so we can't copy theirs. Once it is drafted, Simon will ask for review by experienced proofers and foofers to ensure that it is understandable--that is, not confusing or missing some extremely important rule.
ÜberProject #1: Chronicles of Canada
There continue to be lots of spaces for volunteers to PM, PP and even CP. To see the current status of the volumes, check out the ÜberProject wiki page for The Chronicles of Canada here: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/The_Chronicles_of_Canada.
- De2164 and IonaV are going to CP the remaining volumes. They have had a couple of PMs volunteer, but there is still room for more. PPers will be needed once the volumes get through the rounds. We've had a couple volumes picked up by a new PPer who is doing a great job.
- We've arranged to get "mint condition" copies of the full set and so will be able to get good scans of all the maps and illustrations as well as picking up missing pages (if any). Thank you to hugger1935 for the use of the books.
- Volumes 4 and 12 have been split into multiple parts and are being used for BEGIN projects. A number of parts of each volume are sitting in P1: Waiting (English BEGIN) until they are needed; several parts are currently in various rounds undergoing proofing or formatting; and several parts of each volume have made it through to PPing though they won't be finalized until all parts are done--that may take awhile depending on how many newbies we get.
- Volumes 6 and 32 are in P1: Waiting, Volumes 8, 11, 18 and 21 are in Post-Processing; Vol. 3 has completed PPing. There are several in New Project being prepared for the P1: Waiting queue.
- PP standards have been set and the books do not have anything extremely difficult at all. Check the Chronicles wiki page for the PP standards. Some of the standards for PPing have been updated.
- Volumes 13, 17 and 24 are being done at DP-Int since the authors of these volumes are out of DPC's copyright purview. They will be posted to PG-Int in due time. For those that are interested, the books are in the P3 waiting queue.
- Six volumes have been posted to PGC:
- Volume 1: The Dawn of Canadian History, A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada,
- Volume 2: The Mariner of St Malo: A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier,
- Volume 5: The Seigneurs of old Canada: a Chronicle of New World Feudalism,
- Volume 20: Adventurers of the Far North, A Chronicle of the Arctic Seas,
- Volume 27: The Winning of Popular Government: A chronicle of the Union of 1841, and
- Volume 29: The Day of Sir John MacDonald, A Chronicle of the Early Years of the Dominion.
ÜberProject #2: Jesuit Relations
Vol. 65: Lower Canada, Mississippi Valley, 1696-1702, our first, is currently in F1: Available. Simple Simon is the PM and has decided that he will definitely PP this first volume, though he says that he will undoubtedly seek help from someone fluent in French to "look over his shoulder" on that side of things. He'll probably do the same for other languages as well.
Vol. 66: Illinois, Louisiana, Iroquois, Lower Canada, 1702-1712, our second, is in P3: Available. It is just like Vol. 65: strange characters, old style French spellings and accents, bits and pieces of other languages--lots of fun.
A set of standards has been determined and added to the Project Comments. An ÜberProject wiki page for Jesuit Relations has been created. It includes the basic instructions for proofing and formatting.
And is everyone ready for Simon to prep the next volume?...
ÜberProject #3: Governor General's Award Books
Warmheart has created an ÜberProject page for this uberproject. The page looks very good and has lots of links. You can see the details of what she has completed to date here: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Governor_General%27s_Literary_Awards Check it out, you might find something interesting there....
There are only a couple of books that are available since many of the authors are still alive--ah, well, we'll get them eventually. :)
ÜberProject #4: Periodicals
Graham's Magazine is the first part of our ongoing periodicals ÜberProject. All the first year's volumes are either in process or completed. There are six issues currently undergoing proofing or formatting with two in P1: Waiting. Two issues are in PP; and two issues have been posted to PGC.
Year two will be coming in due course.
Simon also needs some volunteers for PPing these periodicals--if you are interested, send him a PM.
Our Young Folks, An illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls; Issued monthly; Publication Dates: January 1865 thru October 1873 when it merged with St. Nicholas.
One issue is in F2: available, two in PP and two in P1: Waiting.
To those who have worked on this periodical: comments, anyone? Do you like it?
Warmheart's wikipage for the Periodical can be found through this link: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Our_Young_Folks.
Scientific American--these are very early issues, too--from 1846. Simon hopes to get an issue up within the next week or so.
We've started a wiki page for it: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Periodicals/Scientific_American. I've also been told that Tizz has agreed to co-PM/PP it.
The Maple Leaf--This is a Canadian juvenile periodical published between 1852 and 1854. Susan and IonaV are going to share the duties of PMing. Iona will handle the prep, Susan will download the scans and do the PPing. They are hoping to get it into the rounds within the next couple of weeks.
Remember, these aren't the only periodicals that we can do--there are lots of others out there and some that are very different than "Graham's". Is there one that you'd like to do? Suggestions for favourite OLD periodicals are always welcome, but they must meet 3 criteria:
- published before 1860 to avoid the need for copyright checking
- good quality scans of a reasonable number of issues (preferably in whole volumes=a year)
- interesting content, out of the ordinary
ÜberProject #5: Works by Charles Dickens
Simple Simon and IonaV are Dickens fans. We know that there are many more out there. Although there are some of Dickens' works on the other PG sites, some of it is text only. We've got early editions of those books with illustrations as well as stories that have not yet been posted. As well, there are letters and essays and ...
- Bleak House, the original version illustrated by "Phiz", is in prep.
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood is currently in F2: Available.
- A Christmas Carol is in post processing.
- Two short stories for our anniversary blitz are posted to our wiki (http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Dickens_%22First_Anniversary%22_project): The Christmas Tree and What Christmas is as we get older. They will be posted to PG Canada with other Dickens' short stories.
More details and an ÜberProject wiki page to come.
We Grow Every Day
We are now up to 661 members. Welcome to all new members; I hope you find some projects that you will enjoy doing. Many of our members are also members of DP-Int/US and/or DP Europe--we welcome them and thank them for all their continued support and interest in DPC. (Numbers are accurate up to "press" time.)
| New | |
|---|---|
| April 2009 | 19 |
| 2009 Q1 | 168 |
| 2008 total | 235 |
| 2007 total | 239 |
| Total to date | 661 |
Milestones
We are going to use this space to "celebrate" notable milestones achieved by a member, team, group or project. For example, we'll report when a member completes 5,000 pages in any one round; then we'll let you know when they've done 10,000 pages and so on.
The "team" numbers are the cumulative totals for each round for each member while they are members of a particular team. So that's why, the team pages go up whenever a team member's totals increase. Another reason to join a team or two....
Completed 30,000 pages in a round:
- uwe-joachim in F2
Completed 25,000 pages in a round:
- rolands in P3
- Team USA in P3
Completed 20,000 pages in a round:
Completed 15,000 pages in a round:
- Foofers' Corner in F2
Completed 10,000 pages in a round:
- Team Canada in P1 and P2
- Team German in F2
Completed 5,000 pages in a round:
- Bibi in P3
- Daniel G in P1
- rcool in P1 and P2
- snowseraph in P2
- supo88 in P2
- De2164 in F1
- Warmheart in F1
- yajeulb in F1
- hugger1935 in F1 and F2
- Team USA in P2
- Team Canada in F1
- DPing with Cats in P2 and F1
- Foofers' Corner in F1
- LOTE Flotes my Bote in F2
Great work, people!!!
Proofing & Formatting Stats
Boy, everyone has been very busy. P3 and F1 have both exceeded and continued to work to well over 100% of their April page goal--what will their final numbers be, I wonder? F2, P1 and P2 still have a chance to meet and exceed their goals; there are still 6 days left in April; but they'd best get working.
And because we have been so busy proofing and formatting and exceeding our current goals, Simple Simon and coachmike are going to reward us!! Yes, they are going to increase our monthly page goals effective May 1 (see announcement at the top)--isn't that wonderful? Now, we must be positive--the greater the goal, the more we will achieve.
| Round | P1 | P2 | P3 | F1 | F2 |
| April goal | 3,000 | 3,000 | 2,250 | 3,000 | 2,250 |
| *April to date | 2,782 | 2,614 | 4,000 | 4,972 | 2,152 |
| April to date % | 92.73% | 97.13% | 177.78% | 165.73% | 95.64% |
*Numbers accurate to "press" time.
For more statistics and related links go to: Statistics Central.
Books In Process And/or Posted To PG Canada or PG-International
At press time, we had 158 Gold Star books posted to PGC or PG-Int (with 4 in PPV). Fantastic work, all.
There are currently 135 Silver Star projects in post processing and 123 Bronze Star projects which are currently undergoing proofing or formatting. For more details about these projects, please see the listings on the bottom of the DP Welcome page.
Some interesting stats--Simple Simon did a bit of analysis of the books posted to PGC, and found the following distribution of sources (This is based on actual e-books posted; it does not include links made to PG-INT or other archives.):
| Source of e-books | % of e-books | |
| DP Canada | 50 | |
| Solo Contributors | 33 | (of these, over 80% are DPC members) |
| DP Europe | 3 | |
| Other | 14 | |
User Team Talk
Have you checked out our user teams? To check out the teams or to join one go to: User Teams. The Team threads are located under Proofing Team Talk. Is there a team that you'd like to see? You can create a team from the link on the User Teams page--you might be surprised by who shows up to join you.
We currently have 23 teams; more are always welcome. Our newest team is the Smoothies, it's a forum to discuss and/or report projects for Smooth Reading.
Possible Future Articles
This is YOUR newsletter: yes, there are forum posts and user team posts, but is there something that you want to tell the whole DPC community? You are allowed to brag here. You can also be anonymous if you choose ... we won't tell.
- Tips or Hints: for those people who do/did a lot of proofing and/or formatting on DP-Int/US &/or DP-Eur, do you have any tips or "rules" that you follow to help yourself while you proof or format? Even a re-wording of a guideline that helps you remember how to do something specific.
- Tell us why you joined DPC.
- Quotable Quotes: have you seen a thought-provoking quote that is relevant to the DP Community while you were doing your proofing that you just had to pass on?...
- The most interesting, outrageous, or strangest line you proofed: before it was proofed (if that was the outrageous or strange part) and what it was after proofing (please do not submit obscene language, it will not be published).
- New projects: PMs is there a series of books or books by a very prolific author that you'd like to do?--let us know so that we can help pass the word to the proofers so they'll be there to jump in and work on them.
- Kudos, Bouquets & Compliments: are there any DPers that you would like to give special thanks and/or recognition to: a mentor who gave you lots of guidance, a PPer that made your project into a very wonderful looking book for posting to PG, a CPer or image/text preparer who went the extra little bit to provide you with clean scans, well OCR'd text, or good illustrations for your project, another DPer who made you feel really welcome or provided you with some good advice or....
- "Guest articles" by anyone and everyone who wishes to....
