[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by KevinH

I added a link to Tex2000ans PageEdit install / use guide as a new post to the sticky “Where is Book View” thread.

Although I just whipped that post up off-the-cuff... it wasn't my greatest work!

Originally Posted by Hitch

I mean to say--I KNOW that you two, Diap and Kev, don't deal with this kind of thing everyday (and be happy for that!), but I do.

[...]

I'm trying to think about how to reduce the number of questions and I recognize far too well your irritation.

[...]

IF Tex would post on it, which I know he'll do (it's like knowing that Halley's Comet will come past again...), his points on it really are better than mine.

Yeah, I sensed the extreme frustration from Kevin/Diap, which is why I decided to whip up those easy step-by-step instructions (WITH PICTURES).

Hopefully that'll alleviate some of the Book View questions, but there's still a lot more that can be done.

Originally Posted by Hitch

I do want to say that Tex's comment--that the PE installation is a bit much for The Average Bear--is correct.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, (because of that blog I haven't been getting around to... lol).

One thing I've been doing lately is trying to look at ebook creation through the lens of less technically savvy eyes.

Not to throw anyone under the bus here, but my good friend Gregg Bell for example. He's your typical author-user.

The typical author might:

• Only use Sigil once every few months, maybe once a year when they complete a book.
• Be used to Word/GoogleDocs/WYSWIG
  • They've never seen code/HTML/CSS in their entire lives.
  • This is why I think Book View (or now PageEdit) is a fantastic gateway.
    • I'll probably write a more detailed response later this week.

For the past 5+ years (?), every time there's a new Sigil (or LibreOffice) update, he's asking me if he should upgrade, and my answer is always:

"Yes! Upgrade. They just fix bugs that you probably will never run across and are always making Sigil better."

As was discussed, most users don't read the release notes to know which specific technical bugs were fixed, that would be way over their heads... but they do know the newer versions are (usually) better.

(Again, this is good practice we've been beating into their heads for years... UPDATE/PATCH YOUR OS/PROGRAMS DAMMIT.)

All of a sudden, some program they've been using for 5+ years on 5 books looks and functions vastly different just because it went from 0.9.14 to 0.9.15+.

Originally Posted by PeterT

Maybe the final release with bookview should have been released as 1.0.0 and the versions without it renumbered from 2.x on

I agree... it could've been handled a bit more tactfully.

I know I know, we have our programmer hats on, and version numbers don't mean much. But usually you would save a major (breaking) change for major version numbers.

I think that would've relieved some of these "Book View is gone" posts as well.

It could've turned into a large positive:

"Sigil v1.0 removed Book View."

Then there would also be an easy response to say: "If you still want Book View? Use v1.0 with PageEdit OR use the old Sigil v0.9."

And then when that major rewrite is finally completed:

"Sigil v2.0 has better EPUB3 support + a major internal rewrite to handle more flexible file structure."

(Yay, the only people who are going to be happy about that one is a small subset of power users!... but the typical author-user?)

Originally Posted by KevinH

I am confused ... PageEdit is installed just like any other standalone app. [...] This is documented in the latest version of the Sigil User's guide and in the release notes. It is not difficult.

Originally Posted by Hitch

When I look the Page Edit instructions, yeah, they're easy-peasy for us. But in thinking about what Tex said, I suspect he's right. We're still getting a lot of users that are looking for Word-plus and removing BV isn't going to change that.

I finally decided to test the latest Sigil + install PageEdit in a VM to take those screenshots... and when I got to the Github, the "typical author-user" was on my mind.

My Book View Is Missing. I Need to Install PageEdit

A search for PageEdit in Google (and some MR links) leads you here:

https://github.com/Sigil-Ebook/PageEdit/releases

or here:

https://github.com/Sigil-Ebook/PageEdit

Again, think "typical author". They open the page, and what do they see? Horrifying:



even if you scroll wayyy down:



Author: The instant they see words they finally understand: "Mac + Windows."... Build instructions, code blocks... wtf is this?

If they do scroll back up and click that little Releases tab.

Downloading from Github

The typical user needs an easy page. Big giant Download button, and human-readable links like this:

Sigil v0.9.18 (Latest Version):

• Windows
• Mac
• Linux
• [... further down...]
• Detailed Changelog (Link to Github)

Currently, they finally make it to the Github Releases page:



And yes, while Github is absolutely fantastic (and easy) for us programmers/power users... this is not very friendly:

• Big giant changelog.
• Big paragraphs of who knows what.
• [...]
• Assets in teeny tiny font.
  • PageEdit-0.9.5.zip.sig
  • PageEdit-0.9.5.tar.gz.sig
  • PageEdit_0.9.5-Win_x64.exe
  • PageEdit.app-0.9.5-Mac.txz
  • [...]
  • Source code (zip)
  • Source code (tar.gz)

Author: WTF! How do I download? What are those millions of files + extensions.

If they do piece together downloading Win + exe (probably words they recognize).

Installation Instructions

Then, they might even eventually stumble upon the PageEdit installation instructions (on a completely separate page from their downloads!):

Extract PageEdit somewhere... then go dig into the Sigil preferences.

"Set your preferred alternative external xhtml editor".

They'll see that and not understand 99% of that jargon. (Heck, even I'll admit, I didn't know wtf that setting was either even as I wrote those instructions.)

Finally, after hours of pulling my hair out... if I made it this far... I can now push the little paper and pencil icon to get a "Book View window to pop up" in Sigil v0.9.18.

Anyway, I hope you at least Kevin+Diap at least see some of the points I'm making here... and when I read posts about you guys getting rid of the Sigil website and pushing everything to Github, my eyes nearly pop out of my head!

The Sigil site/blog could be adjusted towards an "easy gateway", while the Github can continue to be for our hardcore users.