Re: Announcing the book on the website

[Philipp K. J. <ja...@ie...>]

Maybe we should then go with a lay-out based
on Ethan's suggestion:
	http://philipp-janert.com/gnuplot/www/index5.html

Best,

		Ph.



On Monday 24 March 2008 02:10, pl...@pi... wrote:
> On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:52:04 +0100, Tait <gnu...@t4...> wrote:
> > I'm a little at a loss why the book belongs on the Gnuplot front page
> > to begin with. It would seem to rightly be placed on the "Tutorials,
> > learning, help" page. In that location, there may be less sensitivity
> > about how much space is consumed by the book advertisement.
>
> In principal I would have to agree, it should have a prominent link on
> tutorial page and "other doc" section of the documntation page.
>
> Since it is a commercial offering I agree it is a bit doubious it even
> getting a spot on the homepage.
>
> However the official doc, thorough as it is, is very hard to assimilate.
> It's like reading a Unix reference manual, the info is there you just have
> to find it.  It's not anyone's idea of how to find out how to use a
> computer. It's there for reference.
>
> Having proof read some of the book I really have to say it is extremely
> clear and well written. If I had had just those early chapters when I
> started using gnuplot I would quite simply have saved myself two or three
> weeks to get to a productive state of knowlege.
>
> If anything, it would probably be more appropriate to have a link to the
> book's site where the free chapters are. These are an excellent
> introduction to what gnuplot is and does and the basics of how to get
> flying, condensed into about 20 min careful reading.
>
> For that reason I think an exception should be made to make this available
>  from the homepage
>
> http://www.manning-source.com/books/janert/janert_meapch2.pdf
>
> The free taster can then serve the purpose the publisher intends: getting
> people hooked to buy the book. This link is entirely justifiable from the
> perspective of gnuplot since it speeds access to the program and I believe
> is a great asset to potential and novice users.
>
> I regret that this was not there when I started gnuplotting.
>
> Giving 25% of the homepage to the book and its cover is probably going a
> bit too far unless the publisher wants to sponsor gnuplot!!
>
> regards.
>
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