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[QUOTE=MacEachaidh;988851]
I gather I really need to understand at least basic HTML and CSS to be able to use Sigil. I don't, currently. I sub-edit and do desktop layout for a living, so a lot of the concepts aren't unfamiliar to me; I just don't know the language and parameters of the code.
I've sort of been in your position, because I worked pretty intensively with pagemake (which is, after many buyouts and takeovers, kind of indesign's grandparent, I think). It was totally second nature to me and I couild do all the preliminary decisions on the computer.
You've got two main tasks, the first being to come up with an epub document. This can be done quite well in sigil's book view, as far as I can see, as long as you keep things straightforward. But its new software, so things won't be so 'intuitive'.
The second task is more difficult -- its to design the actual document so that it looks good and works effectively, the look rater than the content. The easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is to go back to art school days, and dig out a pad of paper and a few pencils. Once you have brainstormed the basic parameters of your document, editing it in sigil is just 'pick and shovel work' -- the main thought is beforehand and so you have a better idea of the eventual result.
Its nice to know HTML And All That, but that's for later on -- I wish there was a 'coding cookbook' listing the ingredents (HTML elements and what they do), plus increasingly complex recipes (things to do with them).
(Perhaps there is -- please tell me someone! Or perhaps we should write one?) But I should just dive in and have a go.
have fun! from edella
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