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Originally Posted by Valloric
This is a very good idea.
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i'm glad you think so ; i had you in mind when i thought of it.
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I know no one likes the idea of two different epub files. One risks the creation of a sub-format. But I don't see a way around this. A purely standards compliant epub is a must; current practical limitations may (and will) disappear with time. But one must also be realistic: there's no point in high-horsing around with compliant epubs that nobody can read on portable device like the Sony Reader.
I am very much interested in what other people think about this.
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well, you're right, this isn't the optimum situation, however it seems a reasonable compromise to me. particularly since the "standards epub" can also be used for archival purposes and as a source format for conversion to other formats as needed. i'm not an expert though ; i'll be interested to see other reactions.
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My working idea is to have a WYSIWYG interface, but with a "view code" view, like for instance in Dreamweaver. If someone wants to mess with it directly, they should be able to.
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right, that's rather the idea i had in my head as well.
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Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
1. and 2. are incompatible.
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why are 1 and 2 incompatible, kovid ?
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Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
Also I think you need to more clearly define what the use case is for this tool. Is it for authors who want to write books, or is it for proofreaders who want to touch up and convert existing books.
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the users of this tool as i see it are very much the *latter* case you describe : they are the same kinds of people using BookDesigner or ETI's eBook Publisher or Mobipocket Creator today, but who want a good tool for making epub files. so really closer to dreamweaver than to word or any writing tools. i imagine they would *already* have the finished text, either PD texts or their own manuscripts, and just want to turn them into ebooks. so, yes, a wrapper around a good html editor with a wysiwyg mode. but i think there are some particularities specific to epub that would need to be addressed (creation of the different file types, creation of the epub container...).
anyway this discussion looks to be off to a good start ! i'm glad to see it !