8 ms·

I also deal with this while keeping my resume updated and tweaked. I have an HTML, PDF, and MS Word format. I use a print CSS sytle sheet on my homepage (http

by ronnier 16y ago

I also deal with this while keeping my resume updated and tweaked. I have an HTML, PDF, and MS Word format. I use a print CSS sytle sheet on my homepage (http://ronnie.me http://ronnie.me) so that I can print it to PDF for the PDF version and manually create the Word version. Very tedious.

BrandonM 16y ago
Ugh. Just learn LaTeX and write once.
- cookiecaper 16y ago
  LaTeX isn't the only way you can "write once"; while there are LaTeX exporters for the formats mentioned, you can do the same with LibreOffice, which exports to Word, PDF, and HTML much easier than LaTeX docs do (LaTeX conversion usually requires three different tools, it's a simple Save As... or Export in LibreOffice).
  - wfarr 16y ago
    True, but LaTeX's output is worth the effort of input.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    - cookiecaper 16y ago
      I've actually found LaTeX output more difficult to read; the margin is huge and the text is small. I'm just using the defaults from LyX, maybe they need tweaking to look good (though I thought the point of LaTeX was to avoid that necessity...), but in general the only thing I prefer is the typeface. The small size of the text and the wide margins that leave much of the paper blank do not appeal to me.
  - BrandonM 16y ago
    > LaTeX conversion usually requires three different tools That's what shell scripts are for. It is trivial to write a script that will accept a LaTeX filename and run the necessary commands on it. It is only a little bit more work to add in hooks (e.g., to your IDE) such that the script is run automatically upon saving the file. Moreover, with .tex files being plain-text, you could even write simple scripts to assist with updating the documents themselves. Something like "add-new-reference" or "update-hobbies" could accept input from the user and add it to the .tex file quite trivially. This is in contrast to a GUI program, where you are basically forced to fire up a heavyweight editor, perform the changes by hand, and then perform each export one-by-one, also by hand. I know you could script old versions of OpenOffice using Java or Python, but that ends up being way more convoluted than doing the equivalent with a .tex file.
jat850 16y ago
That's really neat. Is the CSS file readily available (for others to use), or something you'd prefer not to give out? (I realize I could probably crawl through the source on your page and just take it, but that seems rude without asking.)
- ronnier 16y ago
  It's as simple as creating a style sheet, targeting items you don't want to print, or create a class such as .noprint, and hide the items with { display: none; } You'd want to put that CSS in a separate file and include it like this: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" href="print.css" /> The important bit is the media="print". Look at mine all you like, nice of you to consider asking :)
antrix 16y ago
I do something similar for my resume (http://antrix.net/resume/ http://antrix.net/resume/). Started with a template by timbray [1] which I 'imported' into Google Docs by directly editing the document CSS & HTML. Finally, export from Google Docs as doc, pdf, etc. The HTML version on my site has additional print specific CSS to switch fonts, background colour, etc. making the print output more pleasing. [1]: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2005/11/12/Template.html http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2005/11/12/Template.h...

by ronnier 16y ago

BrandonM 16y ago

Ugh. Just learn LaTeX and write once.

cookiecaper 16y ago
LaTeX isn't the only way you can "write once"; while there are LaTeX exporters for the formats mentioned, you can do the same with LibreOffice, which exports to Word, PDF, and HTML much easier than LaTeX docs do (LaTeX conversion usually requires three different tools, it's a simple Save As... or Export in LibreOffice).
- wfarr 16y ago
  True, but LaTeX's output is worth the effort of input.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - cookiecaper 16y ago
    I've actually found LaTeX output more difficult to read; the margin is huge and the text is small. I'm just using the defaults from LyX, maybe they need tweaking to look good (though I thought the point of LaTeX was to avoid that necessity...), but in general the only thing I prefer is the typeface. The small size of the text and the wide margins that leave much of the paper blank do not appeal to me.
- BrandonM 16y ago
  > LaTeX conversion usually requires three different tools That's what shell scripts are for. It is trivial to write a script that will accept a LaTeX filename and run the necessary commands on it. It is only a little bit more work to add in hooks (e.g., to your IDE) such that the script is run automatically upon saving the file. Moreover, with .tex files being plain-text, you could even write simple scripts to assist with updating the documents themselves. Something like "add-new-reference" or "update-hobbies" could accept input from the user and add it to the .tex file quite trivially. This is in contrast to a GUI program, where you are basically forced to fire up a heavyweight editor, perform the changes by hand, and then perform each export one-by-one, also by hand. I know you could script old versions of OpenOffice using Java or Python, but that ends up being way more convoluted than doing the equivalent with a .tex file.

jat850 16y ago

That's really neat. Is the CSS file readily available (for others to use), or something you'd prefer not to give out? (I realize I could probably crawl through the source on your page and just take it, but that seems rude without asking.)

ronnier 16y ago
It's as simple as creating a style sheet, targeting items you don't want to print, or create a class such as .noprint, and hide the items with { display: none; } You'd want to put that CSS in a separate file and include it like this: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" href="print.css" /> The important bit is the media="print". Look at mine all you like, nice of you to consider asking :)

antrix 16y ago

I do something similar for my resume (http://antrix.net/resume/ http://antrix.net/resume/). Started with a template by timbray [1] which I 'imported' into Google Docs by directly editing the document CSS & HTML. Finally, export from Google Docs as doc, pdf, etc. The HTML version on my site has additional print specific CSS to switch fonts, background colour, etc. making the print output more pleasing. [1]: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2005/11/12/Template.html http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2005/11/12/Template.h...