CTC website services

[ellis rowell]

A few things to bear in mind, Runslists (or Rideslists) not only need to be easily viewable but also easily printable. In the past I have had complaints about the lists running over two pages, sometimes running to four pages because they were wider than the settings on the members printer. To overcome this problem you need to make them available as .pdf files (when printed they will adapt to whatever page size the printer is set to). To do this use Open Office (completely free download), to layout your list page (with tables), then save it as .pdf. Go to our websitehttp://ctc-cambridge.org.uk and click on the Rides Lists links to see what I mean (you need to have Adobe Reader or an equivalent document viewer).

[admin]

Yes, printing HTML pages is very unreliable currently, as most browsers don't support the CSS specifically designed for print output (to control page size, margins, page breaks, etc.).

Luckily it isn't difficult to generate PDF files automatically using PHP code, I do this on many of my web sites. You can see it in action on the CTC Maps website: the route sheet PDF downloads (for the routes that have instructions in the database) are generated automatically from the database contents. The same data can be laid out in different ways: there are both one-column A4 portrait and three-column A4 landscape outputs available. If the route is updated on the website, the PDF downloads are too

You can actually create PDFs from any desktop PC program that has printer output using free software like CutePDF: you just print to the PDF "printer" instead of a physical one. But I agree that OpenOffice is a useful and powerful tool, and this produces PDF files direct.

[ellis rowell]

You can actually create PDFs from any desktop PC program that has printer output using free software like CutePDF: you just print to the PDF "printer" instead of a physical one.

I suspect that "CutePDF" is a Windows version of the "CUPS/PDF" (Common Unix Printer System), Can CutePDF save a webpage or email as PDF, CUPS/PDF can. If it does save as PDF then all graphics etc. should be included.

[admin]

I suspect that "CutePDF" is a Windows version of the "CUPS/PDF" (Common Unix Printer System)

No, unfortunately it's proprietary windows-only software: http://www.cutepdf.com/ but the freeware version works fine.

Can CutePDF save a webpage or email as PDF, CUPS/PDF can. If it does save as PDF then all graphics etc. should be included.

Yes, CutePDF installs as a printer on your Windows machine, just as CUPS/PDF does on Linux boxes. You print from any program to CutePDF and instead of ink on paper you get a PDF file. Thus the PDF contains everything you'd get on paper by printing from the program, and it works for any Windows program that has printer output.

[Simon L6]

I think that perhaps the ideal would be that the N.O. service is provided for those that didn't want to maintain their own. By opting out they would lose the other benefits but if there wasn't a N.O. hosted MG WS system at all then they wouldn't get the benefits anyway - so no skin off theirs.

that's exactly it - and that was the motivation behind the resolution to the AGM. Offering new groups a package would be a real boost.........but, no, they'd rather spend the money on hiring consultants to organise internal conferences.

[robgul]

... there is some interesting discussion about CTC and its management over at YACF ....

Rob

[Simon L6]

... there is some interesting discussion about CTC and its management over at YACF ....

Rob

I had a look - it's not that interesting! Happily this forum doesn't attract those who descend to accusations

I think that inadvertantly, the discussions about Joomla or whatever make the point very clearly. While some of us come to terms with this stuff, others of us are clueless and likely to remain so. For those in the clueless camp a bit of a helping hand from the National Office would come in handy.