Looking for Volunteers for New Chapters for Sigil User's Guide

[Ashjuk]

Thanks for the information Kevin.

With my limited knowledge of EPUBs I will stick with what Sigil shows me by default. With my luck if I started to play with file locations I would end up in an horrendous mess.

[KevinH]

Thanks! I will do my best to incorporate it. FYI, since Sigil is cross-platform, we want to mainly focus on cross-platform approaches to reading in from docx files as opposed to MS only apps. I will make that part a footnote or aside so it is there but downplayed a bit.

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

I have taken a look at this chapter.

It is something I have not done before using Sigil but it all seemed fairly obvious to me. I have added some links to websites that are tutorials on converting Word documents to html, and also a link to a MS app that does the conversion.

I also installed the DOCXImport plugin and successfully imported a docx file into a new EPUB, so I have written a brief explanation - along with some new images - of its operation.

Hopefully it will be OK for you.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/at...1&d=1614773661

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Thanks! I will do my best to incorporate it. FYI, since Sigil is cross-platform, we want to manly focus on cross-platform approaches to reading in from docx files as opposed to MS only apps. I will make that part a footnote or aside so it is there but downplayed a bit.

No problem.

I stumbled across the app whilst searching for tutorials on converting MS Word docx to html and thought it might be useful note it.

I will have a look and see if there is anything similar for Mac and Linux.

Edit:
I have found a Mac document converter app that seems to work in converting docx files to html. Despite searching I could not find anything similar for Linux.

I have edited the tutorial_convert_to_html.html file to add some text and a link to the app.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/at...1&d=1614784845

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

... I'm not sure you can alter the folder structure of an epub - is it not part of the standard?

Yes, you can indeed alter the folder structure and no, there is no standard.

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

I have tried moving a file to an existing folder, and also to a new folder, but nothing happens when I do that.

That's because the folders in the Book Browser aren't "real" folders. They are virtual folders by file-type for organizational purposes only.

For example, a few weeks ago I came across an epub with the xhtml files in a "text" folder, but the nav.xthml in the parent folder along with the .opf. I used the "Move" command in the context menu to move the file into the "text" folder along with the other xhtml files (to make the links to TOC simpler).

In another of my books, all of the html files are loose in the OEBPS folder, which also contains a separate folder named "css" for stylesheets and "images" for jpgs.

But the Book Browser will not show all of these internal workings unless you change the setting in Prefs to show full filepaths. Even then the files are grouped in virtual folders by file type and not the actual internal folders. So the files in the Book Browsers' virtual "Text" folder can actually exist in multiple different actual real internal folders, even though Book Browser shows them all in a single "Text" folder. (You can also hover over individual files to see filepath via tooltip.)

I know this is confusing. It threw me for a loop when Sigil 1.0 first came out

Originally Posted by KevinH

... you can use Move in Book Browser to specify a new folder via the pulldown menu or enter a completely new path by typing.

I had figured out how to move to an existing folder via the pulldown menu. I didn't realize creating a new folder was as simple as typing a new folder name into the box I kept looking for explicit commands, like a "new folder" option at the bottom of the pulldown. I will include step-by-step instructions in the Book Browser chapter (which is ending up being overhauled given the changes from 0.9.x to 1.x. Thanks for the detailed explanation, btw. I feel better having my fuzzy understanding of Book Browser confirmed).

[Ashjuk]

Thanks odamizu

I have to admit all this 'not real folders' is a bit confusing for my old brain - I think I will leave all this to the experts.

[KevinH]

I have incorporated Ashjuk's edited tutorial_convert_to_html with no changes needed.
I have updated the first post in this thread with the latest epub version named:

src_updated_20210303_01.epub

So all files have now been claimed. Thank you everyone!

As soon as all edited chapters are in place I will update the repo and this thread.

[Ashjuk]

Apologies to everyone involved with the update but I completely missed a post from BeckyEbook a few days ago requesting some image changes.

I have now redone the images as per her request and attached them to this message. The Google Drive repository has also been updated.

Kevin would you please replace them in the master copy.

Sorry my bad.


https://www.mobileread.com/forums/at...1&d=1614849654

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by KevinH

I have incorporated Ashjuk's edited tutorial_convert_to_html with no changes needed.
I have updated the first post in this thread with the latest epub version named:

src_updated_20210303_01.epub

So all files have now been claimed. Thank you everyone!

As soon as all edited chapters are in place I will update the repo and this thread.

Well done everyone!

I was only too pleased to be able to help out in some small way.

I am looking forward to reading the final version - perhaps then I won't have to keep asking you all stupid questions.

[KevinH]

Will do.

Thanks.

KevinH

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

Apologies to everyone involved with the update but I completely missed a post from BeckyEbook a few days ago requesting some image changes.

I have now redone the images as per her request and attached them to this message. The Google Drive repository has also been updated.

Kevin would you please replace them in the master copy.

Sorry my bad.


https://www.mobileread.com/forums/at...1&d=1614849654

[KevinH]

Hi All,

Updated src_updated_20210304_01.epub with the updated images (Thank you Ashjuk) and some minor editorial changes to make it pass epubcheck again.

We have 4 claimed chapters that still need to be edited and updated but that should come over the next week or two, which is just fine. After that I will pass it along to BeckyEbook as she volunteered to do a final cleanup. And finally I will update the repo version and release epub version.

Hopefully we can keep it up to date this time!

[Banjo]

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

No problem.

I stumbled across the app whilst searching for tutorials on converting MS Word docx to html and thought it might be useful note it.

I will have a look and see if there is anything similar for Mac and Linux.

Edit:
I have found a Mac document converter app that seems to work in converting docx files to html. Despite searching I could not find anything similar for Linux.

I have edited the tutorial_convert_to_html.html file to add some text and a link to the app.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/at...1&d=1614784845

FYI, on Linux you can convert the docx format into html using LibreOffice, which is installed by default on most distros. Open the docx file in LibreOffice, then save it out using one of:

File => Save a Copy... setting the filter to "HTML Document (Writer) (.html) "

or

File => Export... setting the filter to XHTML (.html;.xhtml) "


"Save a Copy" creates a cleaner output than Export. It puts less formatting trash in the document. It also links to any images, whereas Export embeds the image data in the file. I suspect that "Save a Copy" would be preferable for use in an ePub.

[KevinH]

Thanks,

I will try to add that to the tutorial_convert_to_html chapter. Since LibreOffice isfully cross-platform it could help all users and not just Linux users.

KevinH

Originally Posted by Banjo

FYI, on Linux you can convert the docx format into html using LibreOffice, which is installed by default on most distros. Open the docx file in LibreOffice, then save it out using one of:

File => Save a Copy... setting the filter to "HTML Document (Writer) (.html) "

or

File => Export... setting the filter to XHTML (.html;.xhtml) "


"Save a Copy" creates a cleaner output than Export. It puts less formatting trash in the document. It also links to any images, whereas Export embeds the image data in the file. I suspect that "Save a Copy" would be preferable for use in an ePub.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by KevinH

I will try to add that to the tutorial_convert_to_html chapter. Since LibreOffice isfully cross-platform it could help all users and not just Linux users.

FYI: the current LibreOffice versions come with an Epub export filter that allows users to export both epub2 and epub3 books.
Unfortunately, the epubs that it generates will fail EPUBCheck and not all LibreOffice document properties are supported.

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by Banjo

FYI, on Linux you can convert the docx format into html using LibreOffice, which is installed by default on most distros. Open the docx file in LibreOffice, then save it out using one of:

File => Save a Copy... setting the filter to "HTML Document (Writer) (.html) "

or

File => Export... setting the filter to XHTML (.html;.xhtml) "


"Save a Copy" creates a cleaner output than Export. It puts less formatting trash in the document. It also links to any images, whereas Export embeds the image data in the file. I suspect that "Save a Copy" would be preferable for use in an ePub.

I had a feeling that the process of saving to html would be very similar to that of MS Word seeing how aligned they are in other matters, but not having LibreOffice installed I could not be sure.

What I was actually looking for was a stand-alone program that would take a pre-saved docx (odt?) file a convert it to html similar to the ones I have linked to for Windows and Mac.

Thanks for the information.

@Kevin.

When I was looking at that chapter in the latest release I spotted a small change that I would like to make to my editing. It was probably not worth changing for just that, but now there is this information regarding LibreOffice to add would you like me to look at the chapter again?

[Ashjuk]

I have edited the tutorial_convert_to_html file to include the LibreOffice information provided by Banjo (thanks) and the small change I wanted to make.

Hope it is OK.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/at...1&d=1614936507