creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font

[B McDonald]

Hi. Someone, I'm sure, is going to laugh at me - but - is there an easier
way to create the following block diagram?

http://www.galtsvalley.com/on/rts.html (look at the sole figure on the page)

I'd paste the html here but it would be a mess. Basically, it's an "ascii"
text figure, with whitespace held together by   entities.

It will not be helpful if someone tells me to use Adobe Illustrator. Way too
expensive. ;-)

But still, what's an optimized CSS way of doing this?

Brian

[Barry Pearson]

Re: creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font

B McDonald wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi. Someone, I'm sure, is going to laugh at me - but - is there an
> easier way to create the following block diagram?
>
> http://www.galtsvalley.com/on/rts.html (look at the sole figure on
> the page)
>
> I'd paste the html here but it would be a mess. Basically, it's an
> "ascii" text figure, with whitespace held together by   entities.
>
> It will not be helpful if someone tells me to use Adobe Illustrator.
> Way too expensive. ;-)
>
> But still, what's an optimized CSS way of doing this?[/color]

I tried reading that page with IBM's Home Page Reader. (I am not disabled, but
I am trying to learn about the problems faced by such people so that I can
make my web sites more accessible). Needless to say, the speech for that
diagram was gibberish! It read out every special character.

I believe that the proper authoring for that diagram is to provide an image
for sighted people (PNG or GIF, say, or perhaps SVG for scalability). Then
provide at least "alt" text, and possibly a "longdesc" too. I suggest the role
of CSS should simply be to position the image appropriately.

I would produce that diagram using PowerPoint (but Word might do) and turn it
into (say) GIF using Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. I've done many diagrams that
way. But there are probably cheaper and/or better options.

--
Barry Pearson

http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/

http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/

http://www.ChildSupportAnalysis.co.uk/

[William Tasso]

Re: creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font

B McDonald wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi. Someone, I'm sure, is going to laugh at me - but - is there an
> easier way to create the following block diagram?
>
> http://www.galtsvalley.com/on/rts.html (look at the sole figure on
> the page)[/color]

any graphics/image creator/editor would do the job.

btw: 'quote of the day' brilliant ;o)

--
William Tasso - http://WilliamTasso.com

[Stan Brown]

Re: creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font

In article <Ixtbb.690$Hp1. 230@newssvr16.n ews.prodigy.com > in
comp.infosystem s.www.authoring.stylesheets, B McDonald <no@spam.com>
wrote:[color=blue]
>I'd paste the html here but it would be a mess. Basically, it's an "ascii"
>text figure, with whitespace held together by &nbsp; entities.[/color]
[color=blue]
>But still, what's an optimized CSS way of doing this?[/color]

When you have a screw to drive, a hammer is the wrong tool.

Draw your diagram and enclose it in <pre> ... </pre>.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA

http://OakRoadSystems.com/

HTML 4.01 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/
validator: http://validator.w3.org/
CSS 2 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/
2.1 changes: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/changes.html
validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

[B McDonald]

Re: creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font


"Stan Brown" <the_stan_brown @fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:MPG.19d8bd e344d56a998b413 @news.odyssey.n et...[color=blue]
> In article <Ixtbb.690$Hp1. 230@newssvr16.n ews.prodigy.com > in
> comp.infosystem s.www.authoring.stylesheets, B McDonald <no@spam.com>
> wrote:[color=green]
> >http://www.galtsvalley.com/on/rts.html[/color]
>
> I've already answered your actual question, but I wouldn't be me if
> I didn't point out that "other's words" on that page should be
> "others' words".
>
> If only you'd given a real e-mail address, I would have been able to
> tell you that privately.
>[/color]

Thanks for being you. Apparently being you is the same as being me - I hate
grammatical errors. I'll correct that in the next ftp.

Brian

p.s. my email address is all over my website!

[B McDonald]

Re: creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font


"William Tasso" <news27@tbdata. com> wrote in message
news:bkmj74$39f 6k$1@ID-139074.news.uni-berlin.de...[color=blue]
> B McDonald wrote:[color=green]
> > Hi. Someone, I'm sure, is going to laugh at me - but - is there an
> > easier way to create the following block diagram?
> >
> > http://www.galtsvalley.com/on/rts.html (look at the sole figure on
> > the page)[/color]
>
> any graphics/image creator/editor would do the job.
>[/color]

I'm gonna implement Mad Bad Rabbit's idea - which seems like an interesting
one. That said, I may end up agreeing with you and Stan.
[color=blue]
> btw: 'quote of the day' brilliant ;o)
>[/color]

If Dick Diver's character didn't end up disintegrating in the novel, the
quote might have maintained all it's "charm" for me too. Still, I love
reading that one in isolation!

Brian

[kchayka]

Re: creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font

Mad Bad Rabbit wrote:
[color=blue]
> "B McDonald" <no@spam.com> wrote in
> news:Ixtbb.690$ Hp1.230@newssvr 16.news.prodigy .com:
>[color=green]
>> Hi. Someone, I'm sure, is going to laugh at me - but - is there an
>> easier way to create the following block diagram?
>>
>> http://www.galtsvalley.com/on/rts.html (look at the sole figure on the
>> page)[/color]
>[/color]
[snip][color=blue]
> <div class="inter-block">
> <div>Sense</div>
> <div>&rarr;</div>
> <div>&larr;</div>
> <div>Cntrl</div>
> </div>[/color]

Yes, your idea appears to give the desired results, but it requires CSS
to be usable. Without CSS the above makes no sense.

--
To email a reply, remove (dash)ns(dash). Mail sent to the ns
address is automatically deleted and will not be read.

[Barry Pearson]

Re: creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font

B McDonald wrote:[color=blue]
> "Barry Pearson" wrote:[/color]
[snip][color=blue][color=green]
>> I would produce that diagram using PowerPoint (but Word might do)
>> and turn it into (say) GIF using Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. I've
>> done many diagrams that way. But there are probably cheaper and/or
>> better options.[/color][/color]

So I just did. Just a few minutes.
[color=blue]
> It's such a simple picture that I instinctively didn't want to create
> a gif for it. But, perhaps you're right. Still, I'm intruiged by the
> suggestion of "Mad Bad Rabbit" - to create the block diagram using
> DIVs. Kinda obvious when you think about it. I'll probably just
> choose a better solution than I have now and then think about the
> accessibility issues, if I can't conquer all worlds at once.[/color]

http://www.barry.pearson.name/me/rts.htm

Use them as you choose. I'll leave them there for a few days.

--
Barry Pearson

http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/

http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/

http://www.ChildSupportAnalysis.co.uk/

[B McDonald]

Re: creating block diagrams in a fixed-width font

>[color=blue]
> So I just did. Just a few minutes.
>
> http://www.barry.pearson.name/me/rts.htm
>
> Use them as you choose. I'll leave them there for a few days.
>[/color]

Thank you. I'll pull one down. I think I've been motivated to start using my
powerpoint SW!

Brian