For context since it's not mentioned on the website: This is a project by n-o-d-e[1], they make blog posts and videos about diy tech/mods. This specific project is described in [2].
They also have techno-optimistic YouTube channels that I love. There haven't been any new videos for a while, but some of the older ones are worth watching:
Why a PDF? The PDF is just pictures of things that link to an external site (Thingverse, various blogs, etc) where you find the actual instructions. The PDF itself doesn't contain instructions at all - just an index/catalog, really.
While I enjoy the content, I find myself surprisingly annoyed at choice of PDF as the format. It's the worst of both traditional and web publication modes; low accessibility AND low portability
This isn't the first time I've read a comment criticizing PDF, but it is the first time I can recall the Portable Document Format (PDF) being accused of low portability.
I'd call it low-portability. They're designed for large screens yet they're often viewed on phones where you need to manually zoom in and view each page some tiny portion at a time.
Was at a restaurant with a QR code that led to a PDF if their paper menu. It was horrible. For reference it was the Ralph Lauren Cafe in Omotesando Tokyo.
A pdf should not reflow nor be responsive. Aside from zoom/pan, how else could you possibly interact? I think it works fantastic, like holding a magnifying glass and panning around a surface
No one wants to carry a 10 tons rol of steel in a sports car. The majority of people getting a PDF on their phone though, do want to be able to read the information in it easily and they can't.
I don't know much about steel coils, and I'm hoping that something that fits in your back seat isn't as dangerous as those featured in YouTube videos, but the idea that the primary concern is just strapping the thing down is kinda funny
Shouldn't "portable" in the context of a document format mean "comfortably viewable on most systems" rather than "yeah you can view it but it's gonna suck and you'll get eye strain"?
I believe this is called "responsive design", a useful but differentiated concept.
It's pretty cool how PDFs don't typically load resources from an external website or CDN. They are self-contained, and thus demonstrably portable.
Gross analogy: Have you ever been to a multi-day music festival? A port-o-potty in the dark is disgusting, but still somewhat useable compared the alternative of going to the bathroom in public. PDF artifacts are in the same ballpark.
Or not. Maybe you'd get "infinite scroll". Or some other modern webdev bullshit that's strictly inferior to PDF (or plain HTML) and CTRL+F.
I'm actually surprised by the anti-PDF sentiment here (in general case, not necessarily this book). Modern web is so bad, that almost every day I end up on some page that would be strictly better if it were a PDF. So, to play devil's advocate, PDFs are cool because:
- The links may rot, but they remain, and so does surrounding content. Once you get a PDF, no one can take it away from you.
- It's self-contained. It can easily be transferred between devices and read without an Internet connection.
- It's a file. Yes, it's important to mention because in 2024, files cannot be taken for granted.
- Rich format without spurious dynamics and other web nonsense. Sure, PDFs technically can run arbitrary JavaScript, but hardly any reader supports that.
- Can't track you or spy on you (theoretically it could, in practice, see previous point).
I could come up with a few more. Point being, you could do worse, and modern web quite often is worse.
As for what could be an even better format, my mind is drawn towards CHM[0]. You know, like the help files in old Windows software. A self-contained file built of interlinked HTML pages, complete with index and internal search/xref. Kind of a better EPUB[1].
(Ironically, marketers should actually love PDF - total control over presentation is exactly what they've been trying to gain on the web all these years.)
- It's self-contained. It can easily be transferred between devices and read without an Internet connection.
- It's a file. Yes, it's important to mention because in 2024, files cannot be taken for granted.
(Btw it’s a sad state of affairs that we can less and less own our files)
But I do think in the post here, the issue is that the PDF in itself is pretty useless : it doesn’t contain any information and only links to … websites.
(Btw I wouldn’t criticize this a lot because I’m admirative of the indexation work, it’s pretty cool !)
Had the same thought - it's also annoying to update the PDF once links die, so I doubt that'll happen often. I guess it might be helpful if you want it as a coffee table book...
Funny, I have a folder of links of this very stuff: Future rainy day projects. Oh, to have the free time and focus!
Good job on the illustrations and the cultivating of so many projects into one book. I think you've given me a lifetime of weekend projects!
One note: you might want to put 'download' in the link to the PDF, so it downloads instead of showing up in a new browser window, which seems to be your OG design choice:
<a href="https://makeityourself.org/MIY.pdf" download target="_blank"><div class="download">Download</div></a>
> One note: you might want to put 'download' in the link to the PDF, so it downloads instead of showing up in a new browser window
I strongly disagree with this suggestion. My browser is my PDF viewer, if I want to actually download the PDF I can do it after the browser renders it.
There are precious few situations where <a download> is appropriate for PDF files. This is certainly not one of them. The user probably wants to view the content, let them handle it however.
The experience of PDFs that insist on triggering a download is sufficiently unpleasant that I use a browser extension <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/no-pdf-downlo...> that removes any `Content-Disposition: attachment` headers, and inserts `Content-Disposition: inline` headers, which in Firefox (but not Chrome, I believe) overrides even an <a download> attribute.
It’s one of the main reasons I use Notion.so and its extremely flexible “database” pages, I can quickly drop links into them, and expand as-needed with more details.
I use git repos for anything that gets far enough to warrant a folder with files, but only because I tend to swap computers too often to reliably maintain a fixed file directory, but along the way I found that “plain git + files” is a surprisingly effective foundation for a project/knowledge management system.
You are missing time. Time will make the links break, and time will make the component parts harder to find, etc. Also, managing this catalog over time isn't glamorous enough for a headline or even a pretty picture. Economies change over time, and doesn't that go without saying?
You took parents sentence too mundanely. Why not add some basic capacitive or resistive touch layer to each page, so touching what was a link would be detectable, and then have a microcontroller blast the corresponding URL over whatever bullshit Bluetooth Low Energy iBeacon-like marketing spam protocol currently works best?
As cool as this is, it seems a bit bare? Titles/descriptions are hidden away at the bottom of each page and all the renders are plain black and white (which makes me ask why pdf anyway?) without detailing purpose or use (where not obvious)
For context since it's not mentioned on the website: This is a project by n-o-d-e[1], they make blog posts and videos about diy tech/mods. This specific project is described in [2].
[1]: https://n-o-d-e.net/
[2]: https://n-o-d-e.net/makeityourself.html
They also have techno-optimistic YouTube channels that I love. There haven't been any new videos for a while, but some of the older ones are worth watching:
https://www.youtube.com/@NODEtv/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@MOSFETnet/videos
I think all of the videos have a written version on https://n-o-d-e.net/ for those who prefer that style of content.
Anything on DIY piezoelectric actuators?
Why a PDF? The PDF is just pictures of things that link to an external site (Thingverse, various blogs, etc) where you find the actual instructions. The PDF itself doesn't contain instructions at all - just an index/catalog, really.
While I enjoy the content, I find myself surprisingly annoyed at choice of PDF as the format. It's the worst of both traditional and web publication modes; low accessibility AND low portability
This isn't the first time I've read a comment criticizing PDF, but it is the first time I can recall the Portable Document Format (PDF) being accused of low portability.
I'd call it low-portability. They're designed for large screens yet they're often viewed on phones where you need to manually zoom in and view each page some tiny portion at a time.
Was at a restaurant with a QR code that led to a PDF if their paper menu. It was horrible. For reference it was the Ralph Lauren Cafe in Omotesando Tokyo.
A pdf should not reflow nor be responsive. Aside from zoom/pan, how else could you possibly interact? I think it works fantastic, like holding a magnifying glass and panning around a surface
https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/reading-pdfs-reflow-ac...
Yeah that is ironic regarding both the name, and the fact that it's one of the most viewable formats on any given system.
> most viewable
It is, but the UX trying to read a A4/letter sized PDF document on a phone is absolutely horrible.
only a4 sized pdf.
You can make a phone-sized PDF and it'll be just fine.
it's not the file format.
And then the experience on a larger screen will be bad.
It is, unless PDF supports reflow?
By design it doesn't. It is a stated goal.
This is basically the same reason I think sports cars are horrible... trying to fit a 10 ton roll of steel in the backseat is nearly impossible.
No one wants to carry a 10 tons rol of steel in a sports car. The majority of people getting a PDF on their phone though, do want to be able to read the information in it easily and they can't.
So no, that's not the same type of complaint
It shouldn't be. 10 tons of steel takes up just about 1,300 litres. That should fit nicely in the back seat. Remember to secure your load.
> Remember to secure your load
I don't know much about steel coils, and I'm hoping that something that fits in your back seat isn't as dangerous as those featured in YouTube videos, but the idea that the primary concern is just strapping the thing down is kinda funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC6pn8n7MeY
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kDGfk-dOjq8
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=steel+coil+unwi...
Shouldn't "portable" in the context of a document format mean "comfortably viewable on most systems" rather than "yeah you can view it but it's gonna suck and you'll get eye strain"?
I believe this is called "responsive design", a useful but differentiated concept.
It's pretty cool how PDFs don't typically load resources from an external website or CDN. They are self-contained, and thus demonstrably portable.
Gross analogy: Have you ever been to a multi-day music festival? A port-o-potty in the dark is disgusting, but still somewhat useable compared the alternative of going to the bathroom in public. PDF artifacts are in the same ballpark.
Seems like it would be a lot more accessible for a lot of people if it were a set of HTML pages.
I expect that whatever was used to create the PDF could be configured to produce a website...
also on a webpage you would be able to filter it by available tools/knowledge
Or not. Maybe you'd get "infinite scroll". Or some other modern webdev bullshit that's strictly inferior to PDF (or plain HTML) and CTRL+F.
I'm actually surprised by the anti-PDF sentiment here (in general case, not necessarily this book). Modern web is so bad, that almost every day I end up on some page that would be strictly better if it were a PDF. So, to play devil's advocate, PDFs are cool because:
- The links may rot, but they remain, and so does surrounding content. Once you get a PDF, no one can take it away from you.
- It's self-contained. It can easily be transferred between devices and read without an Internet connection.
- It's a file. Yes, it's important to mention because in 2024, files cannot be taken for granted.
- Rich format without spurious dynamics and other web nonsense. Sure, PDFs technically can run arbitrary JavaScript, but hardly any reader supports that.
- Can't track you or spy on you (theoretically it could, in practice, see previous point).
I could come up with a few more. Point being, you could do worse, and modern web quite often is worse.
As for what could be an even better format, my mind is drawn towards CHM[0]. You know, like the help files in old Windows software. A self-contained file built of interlinked HTML pages, complete with index and internal search/xref. Kind of a better EPUB[1].
(Ironically, marketers should actually love PDF - total control over presentation is exactly what they've been trying to gain on the web all these years.)
--
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help
[1] - Despite being a decade older.
I guess the sentiment is because
a) it cannot be automatically reflowed
b) it’s a complete mess of a file format with tech deb spanning 30 years
c) the linked ressources info
Everything else is fine with it and apparently lotta folks write plenty of software to read it.
Perhaps epubs (and .mobi etc) come close but they are not universally adopted
I do agree, especially on
- It's self-contained. It can easily be transferred between devices and read without an Internet connection. - It's a file. Yes, it's important to mention because in 2024, files cannot be taken for granted.
(Btw it’s a sad state of affairs that we can less and less own our files)
But I do think in the post here, the issue is that the PDF in itself is pretty useless : it doesn’t contain any information and only links to … websites.
(Btw I wouldn’t criticize this a lot because I’m admirative of the indexation work, it’s pretty cool !)
Had the same thought - it's also annoying to update the PDF once links die, so I doubt that'll happen often. I guess it might be helpful if you want it as a coffee table book...
n-o-d-e publishes most (all?) projects as open source, I'm sure the book sources are/will be available somewhere
This sounds like a good job for a fancy LLM.
”For each entry in this PDF, follow the link and give a structured explanation of how to make the thing."
I don't know if any off-the-shelf tool is capable of that today though.
A picture says more than 1000 words
Funny, I have a folder of links of this very stuff: Future rainy day projects. Oh, to have the free time and focus!
Good job on the illustrations and the cultivating of so many projects into one book. I think you've given me a lifetime of weekend projects!
One note: you might want to put 'download' in the link to the PDF, so it downloads instead of showing up in a new browser window, which seems to be your OG design choice: <a href="https://makeityourself.org/MIY.pdf" download target="_blank"><div class="download">Download</div></a>
> One note: you might want to put 'download' in the link to the PDF, so it downloads instead of showing up in a new browser window
I strongly disagree with this suggestion. My browser is my PDF viewer, if I want to actually download the PDF I can do it after the browser renders it.
There are precious few situations where <a download> is appropriate for PDF files. This is certainly not one of them. The user probably wants to view the content, let them handle it however.
The experience of PDFs that insist on triggering a download is sufficiently unpleasant that I use a browser extension <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/no-pdf-downlo...> that removes any `Content-Disposition: attachment` headers, and inserts `Content-Disposition: inline` headers, which in Firefox (but not Chrome, I believe) overrides even an <a download> attribute.
It’s one of the main reasons I use Notion.so and its extremely flexible “database” pages, I can quickly drop links into them, and expand as-needed with more details.
I use git repos for anything that gets far enough to warrant a folder with files, but only because I tend to swap computers too often to reliably maintain a fixed file directory, but along the way I found that “plain git + files” is a surprisingly effective foundation for a project/knowledge management system.
You mentioned the folder, now please share it! I enjoy these ideas very much.
Pretty cool that it's just free and there's really no pretext just a compilation of cool projects. Almost makes me feel like I'm missing something.
You are missing time. Time will make the links break, and time will make the component parts harder to find, etc. Also, managing this catalog over time isn't glamorous enough for a headline or even a pretty picture. Economies change over time, and doesn't that go without saying?
Can you buy this as a printed book? The design/inspirational quality is exceptional.
Without clickable links to actual content it is not very useful to have it printed.
Wait, so adding clickable links would make it more useful after being printed??
In all seriousness, I, too, immediately wanted to buy it for the coffee table and to thumb through for inspiration in an analog way.
You took parents sentence too literally. After having it printed it is without clickable links and hence not very useful.
You took parents sentence too mundanely. Why not add some basic capacitive or resistive touch layer to each page, so touching what was a link would be detectable, and then have a microcontroller blast the corresponding URL over whatever bullshit Bluetooth Low Energy iBeacon-like marketing spam protocol currently works best?
QR code per item would be helpful with the printed version probably
I'm curious about printable hinges. Has anyone tried them? How sturdy and reliable are they?
As cool as this is, it seems a bit bare? Titles/descriptions are hidden away at the bottom of each page and all the renders are plain black and white (which makes me ask why pdf anyway?) without detailing purpose or use (where not obvious)
I was just thinking that I pour most of my "Make It Yourself" energy into making food (which doesn't make an appearance here, logically enough).
Thank you so much for sharing! I needed an inspirational smack in the face and this did the trick.
WARNING:
Do try this at home.
love the illustrations! all custom made?
what are the other options?
Stock illustration sites. Renders of stock 3d models. Stolen without credit. AI generated.