New ePUB on main Toolbar

[hiteshp]

Is there a way to have a create a new blank EPUB on the main Toolbar?

I have to edit any book and then in editor, I can create a new ePUB.

If not, Can we have that feature, as I am sure many prefer Calibre over Sigil to create new ePUBs.

[kovidgoyal]

right lcick the add books button and choose add empty book

[hiteshp]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

right cick the add books button and choose add empty book

Cool...Am getting greedy ... can we have a button instead on the main toolbar?

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by hiteshp

Cool...Am getting greedy ... can we have a button instead on the main toolbar?

See the attached test plugin. It provides a toolbar button to add empty books, and Calibre remembers the last format you have chosen, if any.

If you don't need toolbar button, Action Chains plugin also has this action available

[hiteshp]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

See the attached test plugin. It provides a toolbar button to add empty books, and Calibre remembers the last format you have chosen, if any.

If you don't need toolbar button, Action Chains plugin also has this action available

Works like charm .

I still wonder, why this feature cannot be simply incorporated into toolbar management, as calibre is now a choice for ePUB creators and not only a library management tool that converts format from one to another ( Kovid listening?)

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by hiteshp

I still wonder, why this feature cannot be simply incorporated into toolbar management, as calibre is now a choice for ePUB creators and not only a library management tool that converts format from one to another ( Kovid listening?)

I would disagree. calibre and it's ebook-editor are a good choice for editing existing ePubs. It is not a tool for creating an ePub from scratch. The authors I work with use a word processor to create their books (Word or LOWriter and applying styles are a popular choice) but typing into what amounts to a code editor is not a popular choice. I suspect that Kovid Goyal would be quite happy to admit this as are the maintainers of Sigil, another ePub editor.

If you wanted to create your manuscript in Word or LOWriter with appropriate styles, you could get much advice on the use of styles to make it easy to create an ePub that will need minimal touchup after a calibre docx to epub conversion to be publication ready.

[Comfy.n]

I think one of the reasons is the fact that Calibre is really a high-calibre software and, as such, has thousands of commands available.

So I think it must be a complex task for developers to keep the program balanced for most users, including in that balance a certain limit on the actions available to add to taskbars and menus.

And also, for certain actions I think by design, they shouldn't be directly accessible.

I've been making some plugins to make more directly accessible some actions I've been using more often recently and those were the two reasons that surfaced as applicable.

[hiteshp]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I would disagree. calibre and it's ebook-editor are a good choice for editing existing ePubs. It is not a tool for creating an ePub from scratch. The authors I work with use a word processor to create their books (Word or LOWriter and applying styles are a popular choice) but typing into what amounts to a code editor is not a popular choice. I suspect that Kovid Goyal would be quite happy to admit this as are the maintainers of Sigil, another ePub editor.

If you wanted to create your manuscript in Word or LOWriter with appropriate styles, you could get much advice on the use of styles to make it easy to create an ePub that will need minimal touchup after a calibre docx to epub conversion to be publication ready.

It seems, you are mixing making a book v/s making an ePUB. And I am solely talking of creating ePUBs. Well, I have created couple of ePUbs using Calibre and find it more flexible to use, than Sigil. My comparisions are between Calibre and Sigil. I will prefer Calibre anyday than Sigil.(There seems to be a very thin line between 'creating a new ePUB' and 'editing a new ePUB created in other software')

If you talk about word processors, then, here I would still prefer Libreoffice, which gives me an option to directly save to an ePUB.

But in the end, it simply boils down to personal taste and liking and Calibre is in best of taste for me.

[hiteshp]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

I think one of the reasons is the fact that Calibre is really a high-calibre software and, as such, has thousands of commands available.

So I think it must be a complex task for developers to keep the program balanced for most users, including in that balance a certain limit on the actions available to add to taskbars and menus.

And also, for certain actions I think by design, they shouldn't be directly accessible.

I've been making some plugins to make more directly accessible some actions I've been using more often recently and those were the two reasons that surfaced as applicable.

Comfy, thanks .. your plugin is of great help.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by hiteshp

It seems, you are mixing making a book v/s making an ePUB. And I am solely talking of creating ePUBs. Well, I have created couple of ePUbs using Calibre and find it more flexible to use, than Sigil. My comparisions are between Calibre and Sigil. I will prefer Calibre anyday than Sigil.(There seems to be a very thin line between 'creating a new ePUB' and 'editing a new ePUB created in other software')

If you talk about word processors, then, here I would still prefer Libreoffice, which gives me an option to directly save to an ePUB.

But in the end, it simply boils down to personal taste and liking and Calibre is in best of taste for me.

It seems a bit strange that you are requesting a tool to create a new blank ePub when your stated intent is to edit an ePub. An epub created by conversion from another format whether created by calibre, word processor or other program would not need a blank ePub as a starting point.

And I would disagree that there is a thin line between creating a new ePub and editing an ePub (not editing a new ePub since editing would suggest the ePub already exists).

For me, creating a new ePub is going into Word or LO Writer, writing the text using styles and saving as a docx. Since most of the docx I import are from other people, I use calibre to convert to an ePub (Sigil does have a docx import plugin but it requires a style mapping table which makes it more accurate but also less useful when importing a random docx). I would then edit the ePub to correct any formatting errors, to add accessibility bits and bobs, etc. If I find spelling/grammar/word usage errors, they are bounced back to the original author for action. At times, Sigil's companion PageEdit tool is useful for viewing a page as are it's EpubJS, Bibi and Readium plugins but I do not do edits in PageEdit and calibre's ebook-viewer does not have editing options.

After editing is finished, I test the ePub on various apps and devices and convert to azw3/KF8 or KFX for local testing on Kindle ereaders and apps. I will also use Send to Kindle to check the appearance of a KFX converted by Amazon. calibre's ebook-viewer is web browser based and like most web browsers attempts to work around user errors making it fairly useless for testing. Most ebook publishers are not as forgiving and if your ePub does not pass epubcheck and in some cases, the Daisy accessibility checker, it will get bounced back for fixing.

I use both Sigil and calibre's ebook-editor since there are features that I use in one that the other lacks. I have played in past with WYSIWYG ePub editors but they lacked the fine control I prefer.

[hiteshp]

Originally Posted by DNSB

It seems a bit strange that you are requesting a tool to create a new blank ePub when your stated intent is to edit an ePub. An epub created by conversion from another format whether created by calibre, word processor or other program would not need a blank ePub as a starting point.

And I would disagree that there is a thin line between creating a new ePub and editing an ePub (not editing a new ePub since editing would suggest the ePub already exists).

For me, creating a new ePub is going into Word or LO Writer, writing the text using styles and saving as a docx. Since most of the docx I import are from other people, I use calibre to convert to an ePub (Sigil does have a docx import plugin but it requires a style mapping table which makes it more accurate but also less useful when importing a random docx). I would then edit the ePub to correct any formatting errors, to add accessibility bits and bobs, etc. If I find spelling/grammar/word usage errors, they are bounced back to the original author for action. At times, Sigil's companion PageEdit tool is useful for viewing a page as are it's EpubJS, Bibi and Readium plugins but I do not do edits in PageEdit and calibre's ebook-viewer does not have editing options.

After editing is finished, I test the ePub on various apps and devices and convert to azw3/KF8 or KFX for local testing on Kindle ereaders and apps. I will also use Send to Kindle to check the appearance of a KFX converted by Amazon. calibre's ebook-viewer is web browser based and like most web browsers attempts to work around user errors making it fairly useless for testing. Most ebook publishers are not as forgiving and if your ePub does not pass epubcheck and in some cases, the Daisy accessibility checker, it will get bounced back for fixing.

I use both Sigil and calibre's ebook-editor since there are features that I use in one that the other lacks. I have played in past with WYSIWYG ePub editors but they lacked the fine control I prefer.

My problem is solved by the gentleman who created a shortcut of what I needed on the toolbar, instead of educating me of my needs, which I did not ask Sir David. The day when I get stuck with my ways of creating ePUBs, will come and revisit this thread to check what have i missed. But for now, I required that button.

Thanks again Comfy. That button is of great help.

[Comfy.n]

I am glad it helped you.