2:06 AM
When I printed the PDF I got very large margins and a very small font -- probably 1.5" top and bottom, 1" left and right, and 7pt or thereabouts. I assume something funky happened in the format conversion, but if we could get it to use more of the page (with scaling so the text is a little bigger), that'd be a big help. If you meant it to be smaller, and that people would cut it down to a real "card" size, I don't think we can count on that so let's use more of the space.
The "would you like more?" text on the back page is important. When printed in B&W the text is the lightest thing on the page, because (1) italic is like that and (2) color. The color is nicer in a color copy, but maybe rethink that? Or maybe using regular face is enough?
That block of text feels a little cramped; it'd be better to have a bit more space above it. I think we could gain that space by condensing the previous paragraph, which currently contains ""on Shabas parshat Zachor, erev Purim, I asked..." -- if you drop either "erev Purim" or "Shabas parshat Zachor", that should be enough for the paragraph to fit in 2 lines instead of 3. Do we need this level of specificity?
2:39 AM
@Monica re: scaling, this is a consequence of formatting a document for 8.5 x 11 and then adapting it lazily to 5.5 x 8.5, which is a narrower aspect ratio. I could try messing with the base docs margins and see if that helps. I'd rather not try to maintain two different aspect ratios, though.
2:58 AM
@IsaacMoses ouch, good point -- now that you mention it, I remember the dicey physical cut and paste I used to do when editing 5.5-by-8.5-page newsletters a zillion years ago (with 8.5-by-11 originals).
@IsaacMoses So for the booklet version of the full book we'll have to live with it (don't want to do another full layout), but good point about the card -- it's different copy anyway, so maybe we can make that better. The card, more than the small booklet, is likely to serve as a "teaser" that leads to a further download, so making that better should pay off. For the booklet, well, we never promised a small booklet, so if people don't like it, they can print the full-size version.
6 hours later…
9:12 AM
(Fillable fields added using pdfescape.com . Note that this step must come after the bookletization by gimposition.)
7 hours later…
4:10 PM
4 hours later…
9:06 PM
Feb 27 at 15:33, by msh210
@IsaacMoses These notes are on the Google Docs version of the PDF. Page3, col 1, line 2, two hyphens should be a dash. Usual is en dash with spaces around or em dash without. Some people use em dash with spaces, I think. Whatever, just be consistent throughout the document. I'm not gonna point out future instances of hyphens for dashes or inconsistent dashes or spacing around them in this version. (Unless you want me to.) (But this is also relevant in the title "Purim - Mi Yodeya" itself.)
9:15 PM
Think of a dash as something vaguely related to commas and semi-colons. Hyphens join words into hyphenated compounds.
> In other words, you’re scared to visit the king now because you’re not sure how he feels about you; how do you know the situation won’t be the same when it comes time to save your life?
I suppose it's okay. It feels informal, perhaps dialectal. Slightly odd to my ear, but probably okay.
I'd go for when it is time or when the time comes or perhaps when it becomes time were I writing this myself.
9:36 PM
@IsaacMoses Italics are fine, I suppose. Odd, but fine. There does seem to be an extra space, though. Perhaps this is merely an artefact of the italics, in which case there's probably not much you can do about it.
And, along the same lines, once they would be dead is probably also fine. I'd say once they were dead.
10:04 PM
I suspect (and the ours in the following sentence confirms) that the intended meaning is that all the Jews understand that there is no chance .... (I disagree, mind you.) In other words, it's a descriptive clause, not a restrictive clause. Therefore, it should be set off with a comma.
10:18 PM
The parenthetical rabbinic precedence or otherwise should perhaps be with rabbinic precedence or otherwise. Also, should that be a capital-R Rabbinic?
Finally, the same problem occurs in many others places has one s too many. It should be other places.
> I’m not sure how old your child is, but if s/he is even somewhat resourceful, and there is access to a Megillas Esther with English translation (which are usually quite accessible in the average American shul), so perhaps it is better not to pretend that the story does not contain violent elements.
> I’m not sure how old your child is, but if they are even somewhat resourceful, and there is access to a Megillas Esther with English translation (which are usually quite accessible in the average American shul), they will probably read it for themselves, so perhaps it is better not to pretend that the story does not contain violent elements.
Also, @MonicaCellio, msh210, and everyone else: I'll endeavor to make a release candidate (i.e. no "DRAFT" watermark, for starters) tonight, with an eye toward actually releasing tomorrow or tomorrow night, if there are no objections. So, if you can think of anything that ought to be fixed or improved, please let me know. My current plan is to release three PDFs in the three formats used in v0.81, with presumably no changes other than those suggested by @TRiG's corrections.
10:32 PM
in V'dibarta Bam, Mar 21 '13 at 23:41, by TRiG
I have heard that changing pronouns in mid-sentence from one to him is acceptable in American English, but I think this is the first time I've seen it done.
10:49 PM
@IsaacMoses Nope. That would be too sensible! Na is "of the". Ban is "woman". In a certain case, the pronunciation of words beginning with b changes to m (and g changes to n, etc., etc.). The sound changes, but in the written form you write the new sound as a prefix. But the original sound still counts as the first letter of the word, so that gets the capitalisation.
F changes to v, but that sound is written as bh, so words beginning with an f get a two-letter prefix.
(In Welsh, by contrast, the letter is simply changed, so Cymru (Wales) becomes Gymru in certain cases.)
In Irish the same change would be written as gCymru, if Wales was called Cymru in Irish, which it isn't, and if the letter y existed in Irish, which it doesn't. The Irish for Wales is Inis na mBreathnach (Island of the Britons).
just like crows can congregate .... This quote seems to be a complete sentence, or at least is able to function as such. I would give it an initial capital.
11:35 PM
It's a lot rarer than fi, and doesn't look quite as ugly, but it may as well be fixed while you're doing the other.
The advice wasn't offered while the zombie was walking: it was offered in advance, for the time when the zombie is walking.
This is not a question. It could be rephrased as one, but it would probably be simpler to drop the question mark.
> I wanted to point out, that despite the custom to send manos via a shliah, sending heresy could be done only by the sender himself.
Seriously, as for the Hagada, you've done a tremendous service to the quality of the document. Thank you. TZT for now.
Where you mention the document itself, you put its name in quotation marks. Would italics be more appropriate? Generally, something published in its own right gets italics, while something published as part of a larger whole gets quotation marks.
I don't know how formal or informal the phrase in back is. It forms no part of my vocabulary. (It's very American.)
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