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ecbritz · 05-07-2013, 12:15 AM

By distilling what has been written up to now, it seems that a beginner should follow these three steps when he wants to learn Sigil:

Step 1: Find out what an ePub really is

Toxaris has suggested http://www.jedisaber.com/eBooks/Introduction.shtml as a general starting point for learning about ePubs.

I find the Sigil User Guide and the Sigils Tutorials, which can be accessed from the Sigil interface, very well written and very helpful. If you read jedisaber and work through the Sigil tutorials, trying out the Sigil interface as you go along, you will be pretty clued up about what an ePub really is in the end.

Step 2: Decide if you are really serious about producing eBooks or whether you just want to have fun

By the time you have worked through jedisaber and the Sigil tutorials, you will probably be able to manipulate the Sigil interface as well. And you will probably have realized that to limit yourself to Sigil’s Book View might seem easy but that it is a deceptive ease. You will probable have seen that you would be “digging a hole for yourself” and your activities would amount to “picking up bad habits”, as it has been put by certain forum members.

If you were really serious about understanding what you are at, if you really wanted to control what your ebooks will look like, and really wanted them to play on most eReaders, you would know that you need to start working in Sigil’s Code View as soon as possible.

If a beginner just wants to have fun or stick to very simple ePubs, I don’t see why he/she should not do what he/she likes, also use or abuse ePubs produced by programs such as OpenOffice, WordPerfect, PagePlus or InDesign. If the beginner is serious about producing eBooks, he/she will soon enough discover that trying to reproduce page formatting in Sigil’s Book View, or mixing and matching .xhtml’s and their paired files from different ePubs, won’t cut it. All the dire warnings are really unnecessary because Sigil will do its own teaching by way of failed results.

Nevertheless, one can have fun trying out the free lunches. What is wrong with a free lunch?

Step 3: Learn to code HTML and apply CSS

Leaving the fun-loving beginner behind at step 2, the seriously interested ebook learner proceeds to study HTML and CSS.

According to the advice received to date, the serious beginner goes to the following sites:

GrannyGrumpy mentioned https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=130390 where Pablo's tutorial can be found.

MrMikel mentioned http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp and http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp .

In case this is not sufficient, Mr Hitch recommends two paid publications:

Liz Castro's ePUB: Straight to the Point ($20)
http://store.kagi.com/cgi-bin/store....5/0/quantity=1

and

Huey Tsen’s How to Create and Format EPUB eBooks Using SIGIL (v 0.7.1) ($11)

http://www.amazon.com/Create-Format-.../dp/B00BXJAUQ6

Granny Grumpy and Mr Hitch both recommend the books of one Jellby as examples of excellent eBook publishing.

Mr. Hitch’s refers to a paid eBook editing program which might be superior to Sigil, namely JUTOH.

http://jutoh.com/index.htm

How good is Jutoh? Whether Sigil should be chucked for Jutoh, is worth a thread by itself.

05-07-2013, 12:15 AM	#18
ecbritz Book Concocter Posts: 59 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: China Device: Sony Reader	By distilling what has been written up to now, it seems that a beginner should follow these three steps when he wants to learn Sigil: Step 1: Find out what an ePub really is Toxaris has suggested http://www.jedisaber.com/eBooks/Introduction.shtml as a general starting point for learning about ePubs. I find the Sigil User Guide and the Sigils Tutorials, which can be accessed from the Sigil interface, very well written and very helpful. If you read jedisaber and work through the Sigil tutorials, trying out the Sigil interface as you go along, you will be pretty clued up about what an ePub really is in the end. Step 2: Decide if you are really serious about producing eBooks or whether you just want to have fun By the time you have worked through jedisaber and the Sigil tutorials, you will probably be able to manipulate the Sigil interface as well. And you will probably have realized that to limit yourself to Sigil’s Book View might seem easy but that it is a deceptive ease. You will probable have seen that you would be “digging a hole for yourself” and your activities would amount to “picking up bad habits”, as it has been put by certain forum members. If you were really serious about understanding what you are at, if you really wanted to control what your ebooks will look like, and really wanted them to play on most eReaders, you would know that you need to start working in Sigil’s Code View as soon as possible. If a beginner just wants to have fun or stick to very simple ePubs, I don’t see why he/she should not do what he/she likes, also use or abuse ePubs produced by programs such as OpenOffice, WordPerfect, PagePlus or InDesign. If the beginner is serious about producing eBooks, he/she will soon enough discover that trying to reproduce page formatting in Sigil’s Book View, or mixing and matching .xhtml’s and their paired files from different ePubs, won’t cut it. All the dire warnings are really unnecessary because Sigil will do its own teaching by way of failed results. Nevertheless, one can have fun trying out the free lunches. What is wrong with a free lunch? Step 3: Learn to code HTML and apply CSS Leaving the fun-loving beginner behind at step 2, the seriously interested ebook learner proceeds to study HTML and CSS. According to the advice received to date, the serious beginner goes to the following sites: GrannyGrumpy mentioned https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=130390 where Pablo's tutorial can be found. MrMikel mentioned http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp and http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp . In case this is not sufficient, Mr Hitch recommends two paid publications: Liz Castro's ePUB: Straight to the Point ($20) http://store.kagi.com/cgi-bin/store....5/0/quantity=1 and Huey Tsen’s How to Create and Format EPUB eBooks Using SIGIL (v 0.7.1) ($11) http://www.amazon.com/Create-Format-.../dp/B00BXJAUQ6 Granny Grumpy and Mr Hitch both recommend the books of one Jellby as examples of excellent eBook publishing. Mr. Hitch’s refers to a paid eBook editing program which might be superior to Sigil, namely JUTOH. http://jutoh.com/index.htm How good is Jutoh? Whether Sigil should be chucked for Jutoh, is worth a thread by itself. Last edited by ecbritz; 05-07-2013 at 04:30 AM.