Quote:
Originally Posted by crich70
I like how Sigil enables me to format how a book file looks without me having to learn or remember complex HTML coding which I'd have to do repeatedly throughout a text. I'm currently going back over some of the books that I have uploaded here at MR with the latest versions of Sigil to make them look better in their formatting. I like how you can not only generate a TOC but can now edit it and even create a HTML document in the file that keeps good formatting.
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For me, it's not the HTML-coding or CSS that is the problem, but EPUB itself. I don't know anything about the format, so I rely on Sigil to open the file, and in the end, write it again, taking care of any changes in the structure or things like the TOC.
I heavily rely on this program to pound my (
bought!) EPUBs into a presentable shape. Without it, I don't know if e-reading will be possible for me, as fixing an EPUB will become a matter of hours of work, instead of minutes. Maybe there is some sort of equivalent software to switch to if need be... I don't know (yet).
I for one am going to stash away a huge library of EPUB freebies and public domain books, the latest version of Sigil, and my old version of Windows XP. As long as there's a Windows version that runs Sigil, or if need be, a Virtual Machine that runs XP, I'll keep using the latest version.
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To the developer of Sigil: please do not take the following as an offence, as I do not mean any disrespect to you or anyone.
What is happening here is the one thing I always dread when starting to rely on an open-source product that is not backed by some sort of company or organisation; they are often one or two-man projects, and if something happens, they are in jeopardy of being abandoned.
You are still setting up a repository, and keeping an eye onto the program, maybe to see if there will be contributions in the future, but often even that doesn't happen.
It seems that all open source projects that are not backed by some huge organisation must face this fate some day. SourceForge and other sites are littered with once-promising projects, abandoned because the single maintainer either didn't have the time or the motivation anymore to develop it further. Even in Linux itself, people are often using software with known bus and missing functionality just because there is nothing else, and no-one willing or able to maintain that software.
The mantra "It is open-source, anyone who wants can pick this up" is great in theory, but in practice, it doesn't really work, except for the 800 pound gorilla's of the OSS world. Allthough this world has 7 billion people in it, the chance that someone else will take up development of Sigil is very slim indeed.
Theoretically, I could do it, as I know C++ (and other languages besides). Hoewever, I don't know QT, or EPUB, or writing software for the Mac or for Linux. I write software for micro-controllers (mostly C).
I hope it will happen, that someone who knows stuff like that will take up Sigil, because it's a great program, and, IMHO, as neccesary as Calibre itself. Even if Calibre and Sigil would become commercial products, asking (lets say) $29 for 3 years of upgrades, I'd buy them.