I guess I don't see the concern with PDFs. I usually just convert them to another format like word or even text in some cases. I search through a word document using find then I place a bookmark at the passage I want. I have found not all documents are going to be in
so I work with them any way I can, including changing the format.
Greg B.
Greg L. Bobo Customer Service Matrix Systems, Inc. 7550 Paragon Rd. Dayton, OH 45459 937.438.9033 x2228 office 937.438.0900 fax www.matrixsys.com
-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:04 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation
I think that right now, the esx installation guide is available only as a pdf. Their documentation team sent me a link to an html version. But it's not on the main esx documentation page. That was probably just an oversight.
IMO, it's not just for accessibility that companies should supply
docs in html format. You also get the advantage that google indexes each page. So google searches are more likely to find the exact info you want rather than pointing you to a whole 100 page pdf document.
Do you get what I'm saying? If I google for "vmware iscsi" it finds
I use PDF Converter from Nuance. Greg B. Greg L. Bobo Customer Service Matrix Systems, Inc. 7550 Paragon Rd. Dayton, OH 45459 937.438.9033 x2228 office 937.438.0900 fax www.matrixsys.com -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 12:12 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation Which pdf to text converter are you using? I've already run several on the esx docs and none of them gave satisfactory results. Even google's html converter can't figure out the vmware esx 3.5 installation manual. Do a google search for "site:vmware.com ESX Server 3 Installation Guide" and then click on "view as html" on the first match. You'll get a document with lots of links but no access to the text. Click the links and you are just returned to the top of the same page. The conversion tools I've tried gave similar results. Links but not text. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bobo, Greg" <Greg.Bobo@matrixsys.com> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:41 AM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation html their the
vmware installation guide but that's a 100 page pdf doc. To get to the page on ISCSI I still have to drill down to the right page.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" <rshugart@pcisys.net> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation
Hi John: Well, in the case of VMWare, VMWare has a lot of good documentation, including their installing and configuration guides, available on their web site for free. Many books are available in browsable HTML and downloadable PDF forms, I don't know specifically about the install guide. They aren't the most accessible, but on the other hand I've been able to work my way through them with time if that says anything, so none of them are to the unusable point. If you're into ebooks though, two good sources are bookshare (http://www.bookshare.org) and for specific technical books try http://safari.oreilly.com I've used Safari, and while the main stream site doesn't give you accessible books, you can contact them, tell them you use a screen reader and they'll let you into a special site that has accessible versions of the content for no extra charge. Overall, Orielly is one of the most blind friendly book publishers I know of, although they are expensive.
Its worth it though. Finally, there are several of us on this list who work with VMWare, including myself, so if you have questions I'm sure we would be more than happy to do the best we can to answer. I myself work with VMWare on a daily basis at work, and use all their tools, the SSH
interface, the VIC, etc. and do so successfully with minor annoyances that can be major depending on how much pressure you're under, but have never left the annoyance relm for me. Ryan
-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:14 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation
Anybody have experience buying books on-line? I guess I'm going to need to buy a book on installing & configuring vmware esx. I have been struggling just to get it installed. I'm going to have to learn about the remote
admin tools and how to get it to talk to an ISCSI array.
I'm worried that if I buy an e-book, I'll end up with the equivalent of a pdf document.
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