Where should we store the image source files?

[xfq]

For background, see: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-jlreq-admin/2019AprJun/0097.html

A lot of images source files are in .ai and .indd formats, we should figure out how to store them.

I'm not aware of any established practice in the W3C community. One possible approach is to track them with git-lfs (perhaps in a separate repo, to maintain a relatively fast cloning experience for the main jlreq repo).

Another possible way is using a file hosting service. The Publishing BG uses Google Drive (mostly for sharing documents, tho).

Just my 2 cents...

PS: IIRC most .ai and .indd files are under 2 megabytes, which doesn't seem to be that large.

[r12a]

@xfq did we check whether we already have these stored in CVS?

[xfq]

After checking with @r12a, we didn't find the .ai and .indd files in CVS. There are only some PNG and SVG files.[1][2]

Links:

[1] https://www.w3.org/2007/02/japanese-layout/docs/aligned/Images-en/
[2] https://www.w3.org/2007/02/japanese-layout/docs/aligned/Images-ja/

[r12a]

To my mind, the next question is: Do the .ai files contain things that the .svg files don't? (eg. perhaps they contain useful layers?)

[himorin]

I cannot open .ai files, so I have no idea on any additional layers to .svg-s and how .svg-s are built from, but at least for updated images .ai/.indd files are the sole source which are better to be kept in repository.

[r12a]

Given that we serve images as .png, i find myself wondering why we stored .svg versions in the past. Perhaps Kobayashi-san can tell us.

[kojiishi]

Isn't it for other authors to modify existing images? Having the sources is helpful for such cases.

[r12a]

@kojiishi but it seems like the original source files were .ai (Illustrator) fliles, from which it seems both .svg and .png files were exported. I suppose that .svg is more accessible to many editors than .ai files, but they may also have different properties as source files.

So i was curious, and hoping that perhaps someone like Kobayashi-san would remember the original rationale for generating the .svg versions.

[xfq]

Reply from Bin-sensei: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-jlreq-admin/2019AprJun/0179.html

[himorin]

Thank you for pointing this @xfq , and sorry for late to mention on that here...

• he has no idea why SVG files are generated, and proposing to delete them if possible
• some .ai files contain layer data which .svg files do not have, but these are drafts or references and only useful for editors of .ai files

[himorin]

I'd propose to ignore about .svg files in CVS, and push .ai/.indd files currently used for editing in some directory like "source" or "images_source".

[xfq]

We could change the PNG images in the document to SVG in the future, to make them smoothly zoomable, although that's a separate issue, and does not necessarily need addressing in the 2nd (current) edition.

[xfq]

I'd propose to ignore about .svg files in CVS, and push .ai/.indd files currently used for editing in some directory like "source" or "images_source".

@himorin You mean, in this GitHub repo?

[himorin]

I'd propose to ignore about .svg files in CVS, and push .ai/.indd files currently used for editing in some directory like "source" or "images_source".

@himorin You mean, in this GitHub repo?

ah, yes, sorry that it was not clear. first sentence is for CVS, latter is for this GitHub repo.

[r12a]

Note that the english and japanese images have the same file names, so if we store the .ai files on github, i'd suggest avoiding to have more top-level directories and instead create a 'source' directory under /images and another 'source' directory under /images_ja, and add the relevant files there.

[himorin]

starting uploading to https://github.com/himorin/jlreq/tree/himorin/issue-63 branch.
like https://github.com/himorin/jlreq/tree/himorin/issue-63/tables/source

[himorin]

PR merged, closing.