WebGuy
03-22-04, 10:13 AM
there seems to be alot of talk again about changing the format of the GasCap and confusion as to what would be better.
The current format is the best combination of options that I've found. It has the least amount of problems, looks the best, and downloads the fastest.
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Why pdf format?
Adobe Acrobat pdf format is the industry standard for electronic documents. It makes a small distributable file that is printer ready and looks exactly the same for all users. The GasCap is actually around 60-80 meg when I write it. When I save it as a pdf file, it shrinks it down to 3 meg and that includes all of the text, photos, formating, and fonts. The acrobat reader is a free download and is available in all operating systems. No matter what kind of computer you have or what your setting are, you will be able to read the gascap and see it as it was intended. No other format would be able to do that.
Why not Word Doc format?
First, the file would be much larger. Doc files are not compressed like pdf files are and it would easily be 10x larger.
Second, not everyone has Word.
Third, a Word document looks different on every computer depending on your settings, your version, and what fonts you have installed. There would be no nice way of making a distributable Doc GasCap unless we extremely simplified it.
Why not a text only format?
The majority of the graphics it the gascap are the ads which can't be removed. They've already been paid for. Possibly we could have text versions of their ads in the future, but at this time it's not an option.
Why do you zip the pdf file?
I understand that for people with high speed connections, it would be nice to just leave it unzipped. I had to zip it for the dialup members. I know you get the GasCap in seconds, but a 3 meg file might take 20 minutes with a 56k modem. By zipping it the file slightly smaller so their download slightly shorter and every bit helps.
Plus, with it saved as a zip file, dialup users will be able to see that the download is still in progress and approx how much is left via the download dialog box. When we had it the other way, after you clicked the link, there was nothing to let you know that the download was in progress. The page would just sit blank for that 20 minutes while the pdf downloaded. People with slow connections would think it wasn't working and would try clicking the link again. This would start the download over and they would never get it.
Why not an HTML format?
We tried and HTML format and it was imperfect. I didn't like how the GasCap was exported to HTML. If we were going to do it, we'd have to make a separate simpler GasCap that was made for the web. Right now and it isn't much extra work to save and upload the electronic version when I make the print venison. If we made a separate GasCap, it would essentially be twice as much work.
When I save the GasCap as HTML documents it is approx 15 meg verses the current 3 meg pdf. It's deceiving because you can see the pages loading, but an HTML version would be much larger and take much longer to download. We'd have to make it one long page to still have the ability to print the entire gascap with one button and nobody is going to want to wait for a 15meg page to load.
Why not attach the GasCap to the email instead of emailing a link?
Not everyone can handle 3meg worth of emails. Many users have a 2meg limit. It would take me much longer to send the emails and your download would still take exactly the same amount of time. There isn't any benefit.
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I'll be adding these tot he FAQ (http://www.ccdv.com/forum/misc.php?s=&action=faq)
The current format is the best combination of options that I've found. It has the least amount of problems, looks the best, and downloads the fastest.
-------------------------------
Why pdf format?
Adobe Acrobat pdf format is the industry standard for electronic documents. It makes a small distributable file that is printer ready and looks exactly the same for all users. The GasCap is actually around 60-80 meg when I write it. When I save it as a pdf file, it shrinks it down to 3 meg and that includes all of the text, photos, formating, and fonts. The acrobat reader is a free download and is available in all operating systems. No matter what kind of computer you have or what your setting are, you will be able to read the gascap and see it as it was intended. No other format would be able to do that.
Why not Word Doc format?
First, the file would be much larger. Doc files are not compressed like pdf files are and it would easily be 10x larger.
Second, not everyone has Word.
Third, a Word document looks different on every computer depending on your settings, your version, and what fonts you have installed. There would be no nice way of making a distributable Doc GasCap unless we extremely simplified it.
Why not a text only format?
The majority of the graphics it the gascap are the ads which can't be removed. They've already been paid for. Possibly we could have text versions of their ads in the future, but at this time it's not an option.
Why do you zip the pdf file?
I understand that for people with high speed connections, it would be nice to just leave it unzipped. I had to zip it for the dialup members. I know you get the GasCap in seconds, but a 3 meg file might take 20 minutes with a 56k modem. By zipping it the file slightly smaller so their download slightly shorter and every bit helps.
Plus, with it saved as a zip file, dialup users will be able to see that the download is still in progress and approx how much is left via the download dialog box. When we had it the other way, after you clicked the link, there was nothing to let you know that the download was in progress. The page would just sit blank for that 20 minutes while the pdf downloaded. People with slow connections would think it wasn't working and would try clicking the link again. This would start the download over and they would never get it.
Why not an HTML format?
We tried and HTML format and it was imperfect. I didn't like how the GasCap was exported to HTML. If we were going to do it, we'd have to make a separate simpler GasCap that was made for the web. Right now and it isn't much extra work to save and upload the electronic version when I make the print venison. If we made a separate GasCap, it would essentially be twice as much work.
When I save the GasCap as HTML documents it is approx 15 meg verses the current 3 meg pdf. It's deceiving because you can see the pages loading, but an HTML version would be much larger and take much longer to download. We'd have to make it one long page to still have the ability to print the entire gascap with one button and nobody is going to want to wait for a 15meg page to load.
Why not attach the GasCap to the email instead of emailing a link?
Not everyone can handle 3meg worth of emails. Many users have a 2meg limit. It would take me much longer to send the emails and your download would still take exactly the same amount of time. There isn't any benefit.
----------------------------------
I'll be adding these tot he FAQ (http://www.ccdv.com/forum/misc.php?s=&action=faq)