MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Best workflow for data->database->epub?

clemens14 · 12-10-2014, 10:00 AM

Hi,

thank you for your kind reply.
Indeed the situation is very specific.
The main idea is that I want to go through various books, collecting data (both in text format and image format) related to ideograms and put them together in a coherent way, this is why I was thinking about a database, which doesn't necessarily have to be online. The idea is to have a well defined input mask, so data is uniform

Then, from the data inserted in the database, I would like to make a digital text that can be easily formatted (CSS?).
I was thinking about epub, since I have worked with it quite a bit, although not with the latest standards, but other formats would be fine as well.

With the same data, I would also like to make a website (this reinforces my idea that perhaps epub is the ideal format to consider for the ebook).

I would like to accomplish this the smoothest way possible, i.e not having to insert data and then copy and paste around the various information many times (for example once for the database, once when making the epub and once more for the website).

I know a little bit of coding, or better, I can follow and use a bit the code others have made, although my knowledge is very limited. I have used a bit of php (written by others) to batch fix (mainly footnote problems) various epubs made with Indesign 5.5, since it didn't export too well to epub, then fixed some more with Sigil, mainly by modifying the css files.

If you wish you can PM me, but it is also fine to have the discussion public if you prefer.

Thank you again,

Clemens

p.s. another option I was suggested was through MultiMarkDown, making one "factsheet" fot each ideogram considered, but I am a bit worried about the images and the internal references, therefore I though perhaps a proper database might be more solid (I am talikng about 5,6 thousand ideograms)

12-10-2014, 10:00 AM	#3
clemens14 Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: none	Hi, thank you for your kind reply. Indeed the situation is very specific. The main idea is that I want to go through various books, collecting data (both in text format and image format) related to ideograms and put them together in a coherent way, this is why I was thinking about a database, which doesn't necessarily have to be online. The idea is to have a well defined input mask, so data is uniform Then, from the data inserted in the database, I would like to make a digital text that can be easily formatted (CSS?). I was thinking about epub, since I have worked with it quite a bit, although not with the latest standards, but other formats would be fine as well. With the same data, I would also like to make a website (this reinforces my idea that perhaps epub is the ideal format to consider for the ebook). I would like to accomplish this the smoothest way possible, i.e not having to insert data and then copy and paste around the various information many times (for example once for the database, once when making the epub and once more for the website). I know a little bit of coding, or better, I can follow and use a bit the code others have made, although my knowledge is very limited. I have used a bit of php (written by others) to batch fix (mainly footnote problems) various epubs made with Indesign 5.5, since it didn't export too well to epub, then fixed some more with Sigil, mainly by modifying the css files. If you wish you can PM me, but it is also fine to have the discussion public if you prefer. Thank you again, Clemens p.s. another option I was suggested was through MultiMarkDown, making one "factsheet" fot each ideogram considered, but I am a bit worried about the images and the internal references, therefore I though perhaps a proper database might be more solid (I am talikng about 5,6 thousand ideograms)