

I put rails docs on my Internet pad. Thought I would share - tenderlove
http://tenderlovemaking.com/2010/04/12/rdoc-on-your-ipad/

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werk
This is a great idea. I can't tell much from the image you provided about how
the code samples are distinguished from the rest of the text. Usually you want
code samples in a slightly different font - say a monospaced font - from the
rest of your text. And then there's the problem of line wrapping in code
samples - in an indentation-sensitive language like Python, that could be more
of a problem but even in cases where it doesn't mislead the reader about the
way the language works, it could be unsightly. Perhaps you haven't gotten that
far yet or someone else will improve upon it and contribute the patches back
to you. Great start, though. I was resolute about not getting an iPad but this
is the first really good argument I've seen in its favor.

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tenderlove
The code is monospaced, but the books are just XHTML and CSS, so I'll be
improving the style. I just wanted to get this out for everyone!

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harpastum
Great idea! It looks like I'll be spending a couple hours tomorrow getting the
Poignant Guide up and running on my iPad :)

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zach
It seems like the Internet has killed the reference book format for a lot of
programming subjects. Now okay, it's also killed the market, and that's not
coming back, but the format can still be useful. Especially for the iPad,
which in my opinion is a lot better suited for reference books than the
traditional e-ink readers.

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jacquesm
E-ink readers are already 'traditional'? I'd say they're cutting edge, and
that LCD is the 'traditional' variety.

E-ink uses a very small fraction of the power of a backlit LCD and is a much
newer technology.

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zach
Yeah, it seems funny, doesn't it? As a display technology E-ink is innovative,
no doubt. But from the content perspective the E-ink paradigm has always been
traditional. That is, E-ink is an innovation in the _context_ of the display
(in sunlight, on paper, everywhere), not the content.

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krainboltgreene
How about we just rewrite the format/style/design of ruby docs to be something
more readable in the first place?

Or you know, actually document shit beyond "the source code".

(I'm totally grabbing this, fyi)

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MWinther
I think reference and other kinds of docs will be one way in which the iPad
will work better than a netbook for a lot of the power user crowd. Having docs
on the netbook isn't quite the same thing.

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duck
I think this is the first time I've seen "Internet pad".

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ZeroGravitas
I'm hoping ePub comes to replace many uses of PDF, like this. Having support
in browsers makes sense, since it's basically HTML.

