Simpler Editor

CrossReach · 08-02-2016, 04:40 PM

Wouldn't it be nice to give those of us with no experience in HTML a simple editor, say if we wanted to remove the front or back matter only. Wikipedia has such an option even though their normal editor is still far easier to manage than Calibre's one. I am completely lost going in there, yet every time I convert to DOCX I lose all of the hyperlinks and have to go through the whole document again adding them back in manually. If I had a simple editor just to remove the bits I don't want it would make my life so much easier. Thanks for reading.

theducks · 08-02-2016, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrossReach

Wouldn't it be nice to give those of us with no experience in HTML a simple editor, say if we wanted to remove the front or back matter only. Wikipedia has such an option even though their normal editor is still far easier to manage than Calibre's one. I am completely lost going in there, yet every time I convert to DOCX I lose all of the hyperlinks and have to go through the whole document again adding them back in manually. If I had a simple editor just to remove the bits I don't want it would make my life so much easier. Thanks for reading.

Maybe you want a WYSIWYG editor like Atlantis.

Deleting standalone (page) section files require no HTML. BE SURE that is the only stuff on that section
find the 'page': delete the highlighted file in the 'files browser list': save

in most cases, that is all that is needed. (exception, is the inline TOC may have a dead linkage)

BTW most ebook HTML is dead simple, not like the complex stuff many WEB pages contain

BetterRed · 08-02-2016, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrossReach

Wouldn't it be nice to give those of us with no experience in HTML a simple editor, say if we wanted to remove the front or back matter only. Wikipedia has such an option even though their normal editor is still far easier to manage than Calibre's one. I am completely lost going in there, yet every time I convert to DOCX I lose all of the hyperlinks and have to go through the whole document again adding them back in manually. If I had a simple editor just to remove the bits I don't want it would make my life so much easier. Thanks for reading.

@CrossReach - I just round tripped a commercial ePub that has http hyperlinks from ePub to DOCX and back to ePub, and the http links survived the ordeal. Don't forget, in Word you have to use ctrl/click to go to the external link.

If your links are not working in the DOCX then maybe they're not well formed in the original ePub. I used the default settings for DOCX and ePub Conversion Input and Output.

If the front/back matter are in separate files (best practice is that they should be) then just delete the files in the Files Browser - normally in the left sidebar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Maybe you want a WYSIWYG editor like Atlantis.

@theducks - AFAIK editing an Epub in Atlantis is not substantially different from using calibre's Unpack Book, you end up editing the HTML using a text editor (their tutorial uses Notepad) - and you pay US$35 for the privilege

BR

eschwartz · 08-02-2016, 06:30 PM

I believe Atlantis' application for tweaking EPUBs is free.

Maybe you can import an EPUB into Atlantis and edit it as a word document? I assume that would use the WYSIWYG interface.

...

Sigil does WYSIWYG editing. calibre doesn't.
Kovid has stated that calibre will never do WYSIWYG editing, no matter how much people ask him.

CrossReach · 08-04-2016, 05:38 PM

Why would he be so opposed to doing a WYSIWYG editor?

theducks · 08-04-2016, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrossReach

Why would he be so opposed to doing a WYSIWYG editor?

because it is not simple.

Word is wysiwyg and the HTML it generates is HORRIBLY Bloated

BetterRed · 08-04-2016, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

because it is not simple.

Word is wysiwyg and the HTML it generates is HORRIBLY Bloated

But in 2016, nobody in their right mind would save a word document as HTML if their target was EPUB, that went out with button up boots and dirigibles.

A sensible person would use calibre's DOCX conversion, or the calibre-editor DOCX import feature, or Sigil's DOCX import plugin, or the facilities in Toxaris' ebook-tools add-in for Word. or...

Not only are your mantra's tedious - they're also out-of-date.

Just this morning I read this: "I guess most of us make up things we want, don't get them, and get too old, or too lazy to make up new ones" - Lillian Hellman, Toys in the Attic (1960)

BR

eschwartz · 08-04-2016, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrossReach

Why would he be so opposed to doing a WYSIWYG editor?

Do you have any idea how fragile Sigil's Code View/Book View duality is?

Even the Sigil developers consider keeping that around to be a daring proposition, they have suggested once or twice that they would dearly love to drop support for it (but don't quite dare, since Sigil users really want that feature and it isn't yet worth ripping out that working code just to simplify further development).

And most people simply do not draft their ebook in an EPUB editor -- they use a word processor and convert that (DOCX/ODT) to EPUB. The biggest value in an EPUB editor is manipulating the code and that is what he wants to focus on.

...

What is your initial format? Do your books begin life as EPUB, or do you convert from something?

KevinH · 08-05-2016, 10:49 AM

FWIW, I agree with eschwartz here. So called WYSIWYG editing of xhtml inside a WebEngine or Webkit widget (or any browser) is very limited in scope and is dangerous when highlighting seemingly contiguous pieces of text to modify when in fact that text is not contiguous and contains numerous tags or worse partial tags.

Sigil views BookView as a necessary evil to allow easy proof reading with immediate single word or short phrase text changes possible (and possibly a good vehicle for pasting new text blocks that need xml escaping) and not as a substitute for a WYSIWYG word processing program.

If writing a book from scratch, I would start with LibreOffice/OpenOffice or Word and use an importer plugin (or a docx converter like Calibre) to generate the main epub and begin fine tuning from there.

If your input is already html or an epub and you need to make significant text changes, BV would not be the best choice.

My 2 cents...

08-02-2016, 04:40 PM	#1
CrossReach Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Device: Android	Simpler Editor Wouldn't it be nice to give those of us with no experience in HTML a simple editor, say if we wanted to remove the front or back matter only. Wikipedia has such an option even though their normal editor is still far easier to manage than Calibre's one. I am completely lost going in there, yet every time I convert to DOCX I lose all of the hyperlinks and have to go through the whole document again adding them back in manually. If I had a simple editor just to remove the bits I don't want it would make my life so much easier. Thanks for reading.

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08-02-2016, 06:30 PM	#4
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I believe Atlantis' application for tweaking EPUBs is free. Maybe you can import an EPUB into Atlantis and edit it as a word document? I assume that would use the WYSIWYG interface. ... Sigil does WYSIWYG editing. calibre doesn't. Kovid has stated that calibre will never do WYSIWYG editing, no matter how much people ask him.

08-04-2016, 05:38 PM	#5
CrossReach Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Device: Android	Why would he be so opposed to doing a WYSIWYG editor?

08-05-2016, 10:49 AM	#9
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 7,727 Karma: 5444398 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	FWIW, I agree with eschwartz here. So called WYSIWYG editing of xhtml inside a WebEngine or Webkit widget (or any browser) is very limited in scope and is dangerous when highlighting seemingly contiguous pieces of text to modify when in fact that text is not contiguous and contains numerous tags or worse partial tags. Sigil views BookView as a necessary evil to allow easy proof reading with immediate single word or short phrase text changes possible (and possibly a good vehicle for pasting new text blocks that need xml escaping) and not as a substitute for a WYSIWYG word processing program. If writing a book from scratch, I would start with LibreOffice/OpenOffice or Word and use an importer plugin (or a docx converter like Calibre) to generate the main epub and begin fine tuning from there. If your input is already html or an epub and you need to make significant text changes, BV would not be the best choice. My 2 cents...

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