EPUB 3 support?

[jjenkov]

Hi Sigil developers,

First of all, cool tool! I like it! Easy to get around etc.

I read that Sigil has full EPUB 2 support. That's great!
But do you plan to add EPUB 3 support too? I mean, Amazon's
Kindle's will have support for this in future. Will Sigil too?


- Jakob Jenkov

[JSWolf]

You seriously believe that ePub 3 will be supported by Amazon? No way. They'd lose control. It'll never happen. Besides, Amazon has KF8. They don't need ePub 3.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You seriously believe that ePub 3 will be supported by Amazon? No way. They'd lose control. It'll never happen. Besides, Amazon has KF8. They don't need ePub 3.

KF8 is just a compiled version of ePub 3 (a subset of full ePub 3 functions but they are likely to add more.) I.e. it starts with ePub 3 or ePub 2 formatted document and compiles it into the standard PDB (MOBI) wrapper like they do with other formats.

Dale

[stanislavf]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

KF8 is just a compiled version of ePub 3 (a subset of full ePub 3 functions but they are likely to add more.) I.e. it starts with ePub 3 or ePub 2 formatted document and compiles it into the standard PDB (MOBI) wrapper like they do with other formats.

Dale

Agreed. Additionally, iPad and Nook (and even other readers) are not dead yet! I think many would LOVE for Sigil to have ePub 3 capabilities. It has been about a year since the adoption of the standard and the Christmas device rush is not that far off. Google is releasing their tablet. Microsoft theirs. B&N and Amazon will no doubt release new ones. The rumors on iPad mini never cease (yawn).

I think the fixed layout and embedded audio will definitely take off in textbooks and children's books. B&N also uses a form of ePub 3 for their "read to me " books, which sooner or later they have to allow small publishers to use (currently they only allow big publisher partners to create those).

Don't get me wrong: I love Sigil. Keep it up.

[Toxaris]

I really don't care too much about ePUB3. They only thing I have seen so far that sounds very promising, is the handling of footnotes. I doubt if it would be backwards compatible though.

[kiwidude]

Sigil has *far* bigger issues than adding ePub3 support for the developers to bother wasting their time on at this point. Like just getting a stable release that doesn't crash every few minutes out there - thats what many would LOVE for Sigil.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

Sigil has *far* bigger issues than adding ePub3 support for the developers to bother wasting their time on at this point. Like just getting a stable release that doesn't crash every few minutes out there - thats what many would LOVE for Sigil.

Kiwidude: Don't use the right-click options in the scroll bar. 100% guarantee Crash.
I have done dozens of edits with 902 without crashes (following my own advice). There are Big annoyances, like every add split marker (Chapter split, now only works in CV ) and it scrolls to the bottom of the file.

[kiwidude]

The list is a lot longer than that I'm afraid - I found three (other) different ways to crash Sigil 0.5.3 repeatedly within the first 5 mins of using it. And Find/Replace has (at least) two variations of not actually replacing or replacing with \1 instead of the backreference. I reported the crashing scenarios to the bug tracker, but by then the developers had moved onto the great hope of 0.6 which is clearly a long way away yet.

I would give my first-born child for a 0.5.4 release which fixes those crashes I reported (which are a regression and can't be blamed on Qt) and adds zero new features. If it then takes a year for 0.6 to come out with all the ambitious changes the developers are trying to make with it I don't care - I just want a release that doesn't continually crash from basic operations like removing files.

[DiapDealer]

I can't remember the last time my 0.5.3 crashed ... and I use the piss out out of almost all the features. Granted... I remember it crashing when I first started using it, but it would seem that my "crash avoidance" techniques didn't require too much awkward hoop jumping—since I'm no longer even aware that I'm doing anything special. Still... can't really argue with a "less crashes please" request.

[kiwidude]

The only crash avoidance technique on Windows at least is to not open it in the first place.

[DiapDealer]

The only crash avoidance technique on Windows at least is to not open it in the first place.

Simply not true. I use it on Windows a lot. Crash-free.

[kiwidude]

I am afraid it is true if you intend to do certain operations or strike an epub with certain content.
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/issues/detail?id=1403
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/issues/detail?id=1406
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/issues/detail?id=1398

[DiapDealer]

I never meant to suggest that there aren't ways to crash the program ... only that I've found ways to do everything Sigil 0.5.3 is capable of doing without crashing (on Windows or Linux). Of course there are issues ... I just haven't found the measures necessary to avoid those issues that difficult or off-putting. And certainly not inconvenient enough to render the program completely unusable. *shrugs*

[kiwidude]

Well that is the difference between you and me - I unfortunately hit the first issue in particular on pretty much every epub I edit. And after the first few crashes the novelty wears off somewhat. After several hundred as I have had now you start trying to find ways of avoiding Sigil.

[DiapDealer]

Understandable. Different strokes and all. I'm not looking for a fight.