LaTeX, vector graphics, PDF, and EPUB

[Frotz]

I found that Pandoc is a very nice solution for building LaTeX typeset works into epub format, but I'm having a problem with vector graphics. Using pdflatex to build a I can easily get vector graphics embedded by converting them to PDF. If I tell Pandoc to create an EPUB, I get a blank area. I guess EPUB doesn't do PDF. Can someone suggest a way I can automatically get Pandoc to substitute an SVG instead of a PDF?

[Frotz]

I've been posting to the Pandoc discussion group at https://groups.google.com/forum/?fro...pandoc-discuss lately. The project owner added a --default-image-extension command line option when I framed the request generically.

[gmw]

Glad you found a solution. I'm guessing from the overwhelming response to your original response there's not a lot of Pandoc users on here.

Just curious, what sort of project has prompted you to go down this path?

[Frotz]

Originally Posted by gmw

Glad you found a solution. I'm guessing from the overwhelming response to your original response there's not a lot of Pandoc users on here.

Just curious, what sort of project has prompted you to go down this path?

I'm experimenting with book typesetting. Since I use LaTeX for all my papers, I decided to use it for doing book stuff. My objective is to create a single set of files that compiles to both PDF and EPUB without any changes -- just type "make pdf" or "make epub" in the project directory and the LaTeX source is compiled to the desired format. For this most part this works. There are a few pieces of functionality missing from Pandoc: centered text, manual pagebreaks, and sensible chapter numbering among others. I think I've managed to cajole the writer of Pandoc to adopt them.

There is another package that does this, but has a more narrow scope: it's tex4ebook. It's much less mature than Pandoc, but appears to have to potential to more fully support LaTeX. See https://github.com/michal-h21/tex4ebook if you're interested.

[gmw]

"just type "make pdf" or "make epub"" - I do that from LibreOffice. Well, almost.

If you've got everything else in LaTeX then I can understand the desire to keep with it. Good luck.

[rplantz]

I spent several months last year researching how to produce an epub version of my textbook that I wrote with LaTeX. It's a book on programming in assembly language so has lots of math, code listings, and vector graphics. I came to the conclusion that I would have to "dumb down" the look of the equations, listings, and graphics to such a point that it meant essentially re-writing the book. I gave up and finally published it in pdf and paperback. I will say that LaTeX made it very easy for me to tailor the pdf version to ereaders by making small, uniform margins (no gutter), hyperlinked cross-references, and syntax coloring for code listings.

If I write another book, I will not use LaTeX. I love it, but there is no good path to epub. Since I have Office, I will probably just use Word.

[Frotz]

Originally Posted by rplantz

I spent several months last year researching how to produce an epub version of my textbook that I wrote with LaTeX. It's a book on programming in assembly language so has lots of math, code listings, and vector graphics. I came to the conclusion that I would have to "dumb down" the look of the equations, listings, and graphics to such a point that it meant essentially re-writing the book. I gave up and finally published it in pdf and paperback. I will say that LaTeX made it very easy for me to tailor the pdf version to ereaders by making small, uniform margins (no gutter), hyperlinked cross-references, and syntax coloring for code listings.

If I write another book, I will not use LaTeX. I love it, but there is no good path to epub. Since I have Office, I will probably just use Word.

In general, the EPUB format isn't very conducive at all to math, code listings, and figures. EPUB3 somewhat remedies these problems by using math markup from HTML5. The big problem is that there are very few devices and programs available to read EPUB3.

[rplantz]

Originally Posted by Frotz

In general, the EPUB format isn't very conducive at all to math, code listings, and figures. EPUB3 somewhat remedies these problems by using math markup from HTML5. The big problem is that there are very few devices and programs available to read EPUB3.

Yeah, that's what I finally figured out. I think the basic rule when wanting to publish in the EPUB format is to think "HTML" (as you point out, not HTML5 yet).

There is some irony here. When I first started writing my book (1999) I did it in HTML, thinking that students (especially computer science students) would like to read online. However, they printed the pages, using up lots of paper and toner in our labs. That's when I converted to LaTeX and sold print copies through the campus bookstore (at cost - no royalty to me). Now that I've published it through Lulu, the pdf version accounts for 90% of the sales. Students much prefer the electronic version so they can read it on their mobile devices. If I had stayed with my original plan (HTML, online) the conversion to EPUB would have been trivial. Oh well, I learned a lot about LaTeX.