Iāve decided to add a āJavaScript Basicsā section. Hereās whyā¦
Thereās a lot of JavaScript in this book. I feel like some beginner info is needed.
I linked to two places to learn about JavaScript. I had trouble deciding on a third. So, Iām making own.
I just added 14 pages on Accessibility. Itās not the definitive guide on Accessibility, but it covers the basics (as related to Hype) and lists URLs to get even more information. Iām thinking that the same should be done for JavaScript.
More people voted to include the JavaScript basics.
While this is a book about Hype, I see Hype as a stepping stone to becoming a well-rounded web developer / designer. The book needs to reflect that. Thereās something special about starting with Hype as a web design / development tool. As you use it, you change. You become better. You rely less on the GUI and dig more into the code. So, including some basic JavaScript information can help speed up that process.
Very much looking forward to this (yes I did like the second post!). I agree that a āJS for hypeā section is a good idea, along with a couple of examples that show how and why youād use it.
ā¦Circles With Grandma was mentioned. I wasnāt planning on including it in the book, but I didnāt think it would help thousands of people either. It was just a little pencil game I played with my Grandma and my Aunts when I was little.
So, I suppose this is another opportunity for a poll.
Do you want tutorials on existing Hype games by Photics?
Yes! I would like a tutorial on Cabling and/or Circles With Grandma
Itās not so much about the tedium, as creating an Index is a welcome change of pace. I could finally put my computer back in dark mode (itās been in light mode for better screenshots) and I could play my music ā two things I canāt do while writing actual content.
The reason itās a question is because an index can take up a large part of the book.
A typical index for an ordinary book takes up about 5% of the pages. Thatās an index for a 100-page book thatās 5 pages long. But many books are not typical.
Since the goal is 500 pages, that could be 25 pages of just indexing. Thatās why the poll exists. Would you rather have more Hype coverage or should the book be easier to search?
The feedback is good. Iāll wait to see if there are more votes.
With about 60 pages left, and a big chunk of that is just the index, youād think Iād just wrap it up. But nooooooooā¦ I had to go crazy.
I noticed that a lot of people want to use Hype to build full websites. While thatās probably not a good idea, Hype can be very useful in certain situations. I started thinking about the advantages of Hype. Thatās when I started liking the idea of building a website with Hype. Wellā¦ a landing pageā¦ and it would be for the book itself.
The last chapter in A Book About Hype is about building the landing page for A Book About Hype. Itās one of those Shakespearian āplay within a playā kind of things. So, I started working at itā¦ and I was hating it. Iām like, this doesnāt look very good. Am I sure I want to do this? Thatās when I stumbled upon a nice effectā¦
It was created entirely in Hype ā so nice! After making it, I hit the reload button a lot. (Ha ha, I was too amazed to simply put the animation on loop.) I donāt know if Iāll keep the effect, as it doesnāt work well on Firefox or Chromium browser, but it looks like the end is in sight. I think this is the right direction for the rest of the book.
UPDATE: HA HAā¦ typical!
Looks like Lulu changed their book sizes when they updated their website. 8.25 x 10.75 doesnāt seem to be available. Looks like Iām going to have to reflow the whole book at 8.5 x 11.
Performance or something else? Chrome can sometimes benefit by toggling the āUse WebKit Graphics accelerationā and all browsers can benefit from smaller sizes with filter effects.
I think itās performance and maybe the way graphics are handled. On Firefox, it doesnāt do anything. The letters just appear. Itās a new project, so graphics acceleration is on by default.
Ah, thatās pretty close to the target. With about 100 pages of indexing left to go, Iām estimating that the Index will be about 20 pages. I didnāt even stretch it out either. I decreased the font size, lowered the leading, as compared to the regular body copy. I wasnāt too redundant, but tried to make it easy for searching.
Apparently, I like to use the word āquickā a lot, but thatās not in the index. The overwhelming majority of the list is just technical terms.
Itās kinda mind-boggling, how it takes pages and pages to list what there is to cover about a topic.
Anyway, it shouldnāt be much longer now. The last chapter is about building a webpage in Hype.
I wasnāt too keen on the idea when starting this book. I didnāt think Hype would be very good for building a website. Yet, I tried it. I knew other people were doing it, so I wanted to help them at least minimize the damage.
Creating the Index was fairly easy. Double-checking the Index ā that sucked!
Iām waiting for the files to process, so I can order a proof copy.
Updateā¦
If the book looks good, then I can open it up for sale.
Note ā Since the plan is to only offer the book through Lulu, there is no ISBN.
Another Updateā¦
Now that the project is done, and thereās not much to do but wait, Iām feeling kinda nervous. Heh, but then I saw thisā¦
ā¦theyāre making the book! There really is something special about a physical book. I donāt remember this sense of excitement and anticipation over a digital book. Although, Iāve made printed books before tooā¦ somehowā¦ this feels different. The project was massive.
Yet Another Updateā¦
Looks like Lulu is pulling a Darth Vader.
Iām altering the date. Pray I donāt alter it any further.
Congratulations on getting to the point where you can see the book finish line. Consider me virtually standing in line to purchase the book, when available. PM
The line is moving faster away than I can get to it. HA HA. Wait 24 hours and the date moves away 48 hours. Obviously the book is too big. They had to go kill some more trees.
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