January issue of CCN now available

[Tony Ficzere]

Anybody wanting a copy please email me. The CFC should have it out to you somtime on Monday.

tficzere@telus.net

[Ken Kurkowski]

Re: January issue of CCN now available

I've enjoyed reading the first few issues of CCN, but there is one 'problem' - if I want to play over any of the games, I have to print off the mag. Would it be possible to include some kind of online game player (I think Susan Polgar uses one in her blog sometimes). Or is there some quick and easy way I could convert the games myself to online-playable format?

[Tony Ficzere]

Re: January issue of CCN now available

Hi Ken,

You bring up a good point.

I am currently considering other options for the newsletter. While pdf is fine for print, it can be a tough read on your computer. It can also make for large files which become cumbersome to send and receive.

I would like to get some ideas from the readers. Let me know what you think.

Should we go back to the webzine?
Is there other software that I could use instead of printing to a pdf file?

Your ideas please!

[Bill Evans]

Re: January issue of CCN now available

Hi Tony

The advantages of pdf outweigh the disadvantages.

Advantages

pdf files can be read and printed from any operating platform. That is to say from Windows, Mac, or Linux. Big plus!

Bookmarks and linking can be included ....(for example if the reader wishes to play through a game he need only to click a provided link and be taken to some javascript driven viewer)

pdf print exactly what they look like on screen.....greyscale to save costly colour ink.

The size of the files is very reasonable.....last issue is only 3.2M

There are quite a few other advantages but I'll look at the downside with suggested solutions.

Disadvantages

What looks good in print (2 columns) is somewhat awkward to view on monitor, what with mouse side scrubbing and scrollbar torture. The way around this is to build the pdf file in 2 parts. one part for printing and the other for computer viewing. This takes only a few moments with appropriate software.

The pdf creation software is rather expensive acrobat pro I purchased this very software last year when working with L. Day on the "other webzine"

All in all I think the newsletter as it stands is very good. Great articles, good quality diagrams and excellent printout look!

Got to run will follow up later
mr bill review of my book