[help-texinfo] Magnification, math images, and figures

[Laurence Finston]

Hello Karl (and others),

I tried to check the archives to see if the subjects of this
posting have been discussed recently, but there seems to be
something wrong with `lists.gnu.org'.

I tried using `\magnification=\magstep3' at the beginning of
a Texinfo file and it worked, as far as the fonts were concerned.
However, the pages were also magnified, which is not surprising,
considering our previous discussion about `true' units.

I've taken a look at `texinfo.tex', and it seems a bit complicated.
The part that worries me most is the fact that some fonts are
loaded in magnified form.  I just tested the following:

\magnification=\magstep5
\font\ttemp=cmr12 scaled \magstep5
{\ttemp abc}
\end

and it works, but I think this may be a little risky.
I think it would be better to distribute fonts along with
a `texi2dvi' and `makeinfo', specially made for creating large-type
output.  I also think magnification is a poor way to generate
extra-large fonts.  It seems like doing this right would be a lot
of work.

I've done some more work on math images and including figures
generated by using GNU 3DLDF.  I've resurrected Texipp
(a preprocessor for Texinfo) for this,
because I simply don't have the time to try to learn how `texi2dvi'
and `makeinfo' work.
I've put a sample at
`http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~lfinsto1/3DLDFtst.html'.

Please let me know if you have an opinion about how math images
and figures should be formatted.  The code used for generating
the images is in the Texipp input files themselves.
Unlike the last version of the GNU 3DLDF manual, I don't use
`\write' commands in the Texinfo files to write the code.
Instead, I have Texipp do it while processing the Texipp input files,
from which the Texinfo input files are generated.
The technique could easily be adapted
to MetaPost, and possibly to other graphics programs.  If someone
felt like testing it for their own use, I'd appreciate any
feedback.  Texipp is included in the GNU 3DLDF distribution:
http://www.gnu.org/software/3dldf/LDF.html

One problem I have is that the `makeinfo' here speaks German,
so `3DLDFtst.html' says things like "Inhaltsverzeichnis" instead of
"Table of Contents" and "Knoten" instead of "Nodes".  This decision
seems to be made at compile time;  at least, `makeinfo --help' doesn't
say anything about an option for overriding it.

Thanks,

Laurence