PDF printouts are not GREEN

Maybe the authorities from Fahrenheit 451 and 焚书坑儒 had a point... well, not the 坑儒, though that probably saved paper also ala @lechuan's Utilitarian Theory.

trax,

I entirely agree with your efforts to go green, and doing it at the source does lower the threshold for end users to be green. However, I don't think that the PDF is the correct place to address this.

What I would like to see is a plain utf-8 encoded .txt version (or even the html version) of the dialogues have an easily accesible download link (or even better, make it part of the "options", like you have with the "traditional/simplified" selection to let you choose what format you will get when you click on the link). Then you could easily print or view it at whatever size you want, use it in a text reader, etc.

PS. Regarding Spock... In Star Trek III, Captain Kirk threw Utilitarian Theory out the window and risked all to rescue Mr. Spock. Kirk said, "The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many". If it wasn't for Kirk's non-utilitarian action, Mr. Spock would not have been able to do his time travelling trick to help retrieve a whale from the past in order to save the earth from destruction in Star Trek IV (and a similar trick in the upcoming Star Trek 2009). I'm not a big fan of utilitarian theory as it can be used to justify atrocities against minority groups for actions that will supposedly benefit the many.

I agree that the pdfs contain a lot of wasted space, so I transcribe the dialogue and expansion sentences myself onto a new document and squish it all together. 

Less paper, more practice.

Green is fine but it should not become a religion. Moderation in all things is the key to a happy life. I find this one rule to be enough.

You could print using recyled printing paper. It hits your pocket, so really depends how dedicated you are.

Also, not all paper is derived from wood:

http://meganprusynski.greenoptions.com/2007/02/16/paper-its-not-just-from-trees-anymore/

...the benefit of the many out-weight the one.

How many people actually print out the PDF? I'd be willing to bet that most just view it electronically.

LOL Tvan!  I read yesterday that spam 'produces 17 million tons of CO2'.

A study into spam has blamed it for the production of more than 33bn kilowatt-hours of energy every year, enough to power more than 2.4m homes.

I mostly use the PDF's for display.  Of course, I'm thereby burning electricity to run the display, thereby consuming electricity, which warms the planet, which gives the trees more CO2 to breathe, which causes deserts, which destroy the rain forest, which leaves more CO2 for the plankton, etc. etc.

I guess to save the planet I should just sit here... spewing carbon dioxide

Trax, again with respect...

Cpod has provided all of us with an option:  PDF or HTML that can be reformatted to our liking.

It doesn't make sense for Cpod to change the format now, after 1,200 lessons.  Again, they've given us an option to be green. 

When you believe in something strongly, sometimes you need to go that extra mile and choose the option that fits with your values, even if it requires more work on your part (i.e. HTML).

John,

Nothing has been done to reduce the waste in the paperwork.  Maybe it takes time for changes to happen, but I hope the reduction of paper waste will take effect soon.  It's not sure the tree's, paper, etc. I'm sure many of us are tired of paying HP $50.00 for two print cartridges which only contain a few grams of ink.  

It's easier for this to be done at the source [ChinesePod] than for the "many of us" to do it at our end.  Think of this as a reduction of repetition. 

For the others that object because they may see it smaller on their hand-held devices, the benefit of the many out-weight the one.  其他得人就硬着头皮去办。

Or, as the Great "Spock" told us:

Spock：  "It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." 

In real life selfless acts are diminishing and will soon be gone forever from our society. So that no single individual will be offended, we will offend the entire strata of society.

Thanks for the space. 谢谢帮帮忙忙！

Trax out!

I would NOT like to see the PDF font get smaller. I exclusively use PDF's on my iPAQ 200 (never print them), anything smaller and I wouldn't be able to read it.

For printouts, you can always set up your printer driver to print 2 pages per sheet by default.

What I WOULD like to see is the dialogues available as simple UTF-8 text files (with/without pinyin/english options; would be generated on download according to the users preferences). Then the font could be easily sized to whatever size the user wants and let the user read it on their terms (ie. in their Pleco 2 reader; or printed in a small font size).

not an easy task Mike. I didnt say it was safe, just that printer paper is not the problem.

rjberki

Thanks for reassuring us that the rain forest is safe. You might want to let the rest of the world know so they can rest easy.  :-)

Saving money yes, but saving trees is a fallacy. Trees used for paper are planted crops like potatos, if they sell more they plant more. The rain forest is safe. If you want to be green, ride your bike to work.

http://www.aug.edu/~sbajmb/abc130.htm

trax,

I totally agree. I try to be as paper-less as possible in the office, carrying my notebook PC around and making all notes in searchable text files rather than writing things down on paper.

Calkins' solution was to copy the PDF content by first opening up the HTML version, then copying and pasting that into Word. (You're right that you can't copy PDFs directly into Word, although some PDFs support copy-paste fucntionality.)

Calkins, I can't copy pdf docs to word docs.  How is that done?

But, I think it's easier for C-Pod as the source document generator to make the print outs using smaller fonts and widen the margins  to fit more lines per page, than it is for thousands end-users do it on our end.  

Thanks for the input. 回头间。

世界污染

Thanks John.  I hope some changes will be made in the future.  Remember, in today's world, we all need to think and practice GREEN!  Save paper, save trees!

I've not used the text version of the transcript before, but it's great: very clean and simple. Would it be possible to have a "Lesson Transcript HTML" link as well as a "Lesson Transcript PDF" link for each lesson, without having to click through the PDF (or change the file extension)

All the best,

Will

trax,

You can't copy and paste direct from the PDF. You must either change the address of the page from ***.pdf to ***.html or use the 'text version' link at the bottom of the PDF.

trax,

You're right... When we designed the PDF, I think screen display were perhaps emphasized too much over print considerations.  We will tackle this issue soon!

In the meantime, Calkins' suggestion is a great solution.

This requires an extra step, but if you want to conserve, you can copy and paste the HTML transcript into Word, TextEdit, or whatever....adjust the page properties to your liking, then print.

Much more freedom with the HTML transcript anyway.

I agree. However, if the font is large you can print two PDF pages on one paper page and still be able to read it (A5+A5=A4). Maybe some printers can't do that(?)

BTW: I'm writing about the Chinese-Pod PDF lesson print outs.