Phone/Tablet Documentation Versions

[Bill Phillips]

I would really appreciate addition of phone/tablet formatted version of CbB documentation.

I tend to use downtime away from my DAW to catch up on the Cakewalk forum discussions. The forum topics that interest me often include links to CbB documentation which are difficult for me to read on my Samsung S7 phone. To read the documentation I use landscape view and zoom to make text legible which requires me to scroll left/right to read each line. 

[Jim Fogle]

The excellent Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Guide is a 2,184 page, 41.9 MB pdf file.  While excellent, the manual has too many pages to print out and carry.

PDF files became a de-facto standard because of the parent program's capability to operate on multiple computer platforms and the program's ability to efficiently store pages formatted for printing on standard page sizes.  Little attention has been paid to formatting the content for display on multiple screens with a variety of sizes and resolutions.

Last but not least. although PDF is a de-facto standard, it's not an open-source standard.  Adobe may choose to charge for use of its proprietary standard at any time.  Adobe recently sent a (printed) letter to people using older copies of one of their products stating (paraphrasing) update or risk a lawsuit if you continue to use the outdated product.

My suggestion is for BandLab Technologies to adopt the e-book file format, EPUB.  EPUB is supported by many e-readers and compatible software is available for most smartphones, tablets, and computers.  EPUB is a open-source, technical standard published by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF).   Here is a link to a Wikipedia article and a second link to the IDPF website where the standard is available for download.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB

https://www.w3.org/publishing/groups/epub3-cg/

Edited May 19, 2019 by fogle622
Added comment about recent Adobe action

[Bill Phillips]

On 5/19/2019 at 3:04 PM, fogle622 said:

The excellent Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Guide is a 2,184 page, 41.9 MB pdf file.  While excellent, the manual has too many pages to print out and carry.

My suggestion is for BandLab Technologies to adopt the e-book file format, EPUB.  EPUB is supported by many e-readers and compatible software is available for most smartphones, tablets, and computers.  EPUB is a open-source, technical standard published by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF).   Here is a link to a Wikipedia article and a second link to the IDPF website where the standard is available for download.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB

https://www.w3.org/publishing/groups/epub3-cg/

For me Bookmarks, Search, ability to go to a page, and both Contents and Index link list are the most important. I just started using free foxit PDF reader because it has those things. I like the idea of going to the open-source  EPUB format as long as I can find a, preferably free, reader that has the important features listed above. A quick in the Microsoft Store turned up freda as a possible good fit. Anybody using freda?

Edited July 28, 2019 by Twisted Fingers

[Jim Fogle]

The existing pdf file format has the capability to embed document navigation hyperlinks.  While the existing Cakewalk by Bandlab Reference Guide uses this capability, use is too limited.  I think at the very least every listing in the Table Of Contents and Index should have a link to the listed content.

[Bill Phillips]

20 hours ago, fogle622 said:

 I think at the very least every listing in the Table Of Contents and Index should have a link to the listed content.

Jim, The Table Of Contents does have links to listed content. Click on any line to go to that page and content. Having the same in the Glossary would be nice.

[Jim Fogle]

@Twisted Fingers

I stand corrected.  I assumed all the guide hyperlinks are blue but they are not.  I will pay closer attention to my mouse cursor in the future.  Thank you for identifying my error.

It turns out I am also wrong about Index hyperlinks.  The content name is not hyperlinked but each page number has a hyperlink.  That makes sense when one Index entry is included on multiple pages.

One last thought.  The Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Guide is updated with each new product release.  2019.07 was released yesterday (July 30, 2019).  Users can download the current 1724 page pdf document by opening the "Cakewalk by Bandlab" tab at the top left of each webpage and then selecting the "Reference Guide PDF" selection from the drop down menu.

Edited July 31, 2019 by fogle622
added missing word

[Bill Phillips]

1 hour ago, fogle622 said:

It turns out I am also wrong about Index hyperlinks.  The content name is not hyperlinked but each page number has a hyperlink.  That makes sense when one Index entry is included on multiple pages.

Thanks I'd missed that too.

1 hour ago, fogle622 said:

One last thought.  The Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Guide is updated with each new product release.  2019.07 was released yesterday (July 30, 2019).  Users can download current 1724 page pdf document by opening the "Cakewalk by Bandlab" tab at the top left of each webpage and then selecting the "Reference Guide PDF" selection from the drop down menu.

Thanks for the reminder. I took a look at the extensive new features section. Makes me wish that I'd saved all the previous versions. Also, now I'm not so interested in bookmarks since I can't transport them from one version to the next.