Using Sigil and the calibre editor: DiapDealer's help needed

[roger64]

Hi

The calibre editor, launched after Sigil's development has been stalled, has made very quick progresses.

Sigil is still the best for some missing features in calibre's editor: the "saved searches" and "save clips" are very useful. The spellchecking is wonderful. These things are currently missing in calibre's editor (v 1.2.4).

On the other hand, with the calibre's editor, the ability to add and subset fonts, the "compare", "check" and "beautify" features are very efficient and nice.

So, up to now, to enjoy the best of both worlds, you have to use both of them. And there is a pitfall for Linux users:

If you are using, like I was because it was the "latest" available binary Linux version from DiapDealer - that is the version 0.7.3 of Sigil -, and if you are using a lot of nbsp, then you'll realize that you have to make a choice between them. It's calibre OR sigil. There is the reason:

Calibre will suppress the DOCTYPEs and change the nbsp into their unicode - nice - equivalent. But, try to come back to Sigil for whatever reason, it will report the problems of the missing DOCTYPE and it will recreate all your missing nbsp. Not very nice.

For this reason, as long as calibre's editor has not reached parity on all features, and this may take a while, it would be very nice if Linux users could get a 0.7.4 version of Sigil's DiapDealer deb.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by roger64

So, up to now, to enjoy the best of both worlds, you have to use both of them. And there is a pitfall for Linux users:

If you are using, like I was because it was the "latest" available binary Linux version from DiapDealer - that is the version 0.7.3 of Sigil -, and if you are using a lot of nbsp, then you'll realize that you have to make a choice between them. It's calibre OR sigil. There is the reason:

Calibre will suppress the DOCTYPEs and change the nbsp into their unicode - nice - equivalent. But, try to come back to Sigil for whatever reason, it will report the problems of the missing DOCTYPE and it will recreate all your missing nbsp. Not very nice.

For this reason, as long as calibre's editor has not reached parity on all features, and this may take a while, it would be very nice if Linux users could get a 0.7.4 version of Sigil's DiapDealer deb.

It wouldn't be hard to do so, but I'm not sure 0.7.4 would really gain you much. It has its own issues with changing/deleting the   named entity and the   numeric entity. It certainly won't help you any to go back and forth between calibre's editor and Sigil--and I personally don't find the change from the named non-breaking space entity to the numeric non-breaking space entity very stable/complete.

Since I'm usually quite comfortable with my source xhtml, I just set the Clean Source setting (Pretty Print-only) to work upon Open AND Save and trust 0.7.3 to add the missing doctype and keep all my named non-breaking-space entities.

If I get some time, I'll see if I can get some binaries for 0.7.4 together, but I've frankly reverted to 0.7.3 on all my machines, because in my opinion, 0.7.4 introduced a few new glitches without really fixing (or adding) much of anything (with the exception of the OS X build of course).

[roger64]

@DiapDealer

Thanks for your reply. As I explained above, I can't use Sigil 0.7.3 after checking or "beautifying" an EPUB with the calibre editor because it complains about the missing DOCTYPE et recreates nbsp as named entities.

I tried Sigil 0.7.4 (with Wine) after checking or "beautifying" an EPUB with the calibre editor and, at least, these problems are gone.

A first screenshot with calibre's editor shows how nbsp and nnbsp are displayed. For the second entity, I had to read its name in the lower right part (screenshot 2).

To finish a screenshot of a short text with Sigil 0.7.4 showing how nbsp and nnbsp are displayed (the last one with a white square).

To conclude, I think a binary of Sigil 0.7.4 seems to be usable after calibre's editor without creating some new problems and for this reason would be much appreciated.

[DiapDealer]

No version of Sigil is going to play nicely with calibre's editor, in my opinion. Sigil is going to alter (potentially in structure and definitely in content) any epub created/saved/beautified/fixed with calibre's editor.

Like I said; I'll see if I can package up a version of 0.7.4 when I get time, but it's frankly not going to be able to be a priority right now.

My recommendation would be to choose one editor or the other, and not to mix (or at least not to go back to Sigil after editing with calibre). I'm still not quite certain why you think 0.7.4 will make it easier to use both editors on the same epub. It's still going to alter your code--regardless of whether or not it barks about a missing doctype.

[roger64]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Like I said; I'll see if I can package up a version of 0.7.4 when I get time, but it's frankly not going to be able to be a priority right now.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My recommendation would be to choose one editor or the other, and not to mix (or at least not to go back to Sigil after editing with calibre). I'm still not quite certain why you think 0.7.4 will make it easier to use both editors on the same epub. It's still going to alter your code--regardless of whether or not it barks about a missing doctype.

Your recommendation is just fine and I agree with it. If, for some reason, you wish to use both of them, for the time being, calibre's editor should have the last word.

I must correct what I wrote in the previous message. The "damage" done by Sigil sems to vary considerably between versions 0.7.3 and 0.7.4. None of these two versions of Sigil is perfectly safe but one seems to be worse than the other on this regard.

0.7.3 "barks" at missing DOCTYPE because it recreates named entities nbsp. It will display book view if you accept to add automatically a DOCTYPE.
I noticed also a lot of confusing FlightCrew "errors" which were in fact non-existent, not only about nbsp.

0.7.4. do not creates errors. However, it fails to recognize nbsp in their new unicode dress and deals with them as a common space. He also has no clue about the "new" nnbsp which is identified as an unknown character.

This means that, even with 0.7.4, if you wish to perform some task regarding the entities you are out of luck. But Sigil does not seem to damage this file: if you are perverse enough to open it again in the calibre editor, your entities are unmodified in their Unicode dress.

Assesment

Calibre 's editor has been created by common agreement to take the place of Sigil. It fulfills beautifully this task but for some missing features like saved searches and clips and spellchecking. It opens new ground with the "compare", "check and beautify" features as well as the bewildering "insert special character".

However, the rift about nbsp code (and other entities) makes this transition more painful that it should have been. Users have to be aware of what exactly happens to enjoy the wonderful features of both programs.

If you are in doubt: use calibre's editor last.