Sigil-0.9.1 Released

[CalibUser]

Thanks for all the work that has gone into making Sigil a brilliant program; I look forward to using it.

[theducks]

reformatting a Stylesheet (multiline) with comments also has always been ugly

The code still works
Since the coder is usually the only one to see it.... why

[Capricorn]

The flightcrew checking has now wandered to a plugin.
Is there a possibility to have an icon (to start a plugin directly) next to the green gumbo sanity check icon on the toolbar)? I tried to figure this out in 0.9.1 but I do not see any possibilities, neither in the view menu, in the preferences, or in the keyboard shortcuts, or the tools menu. Any ideas how this could be done, would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Capricorn

[KevinH]

Hi Capricorn,

As some users do not want to use flightcrew and instead want to use epubcheck or do the validation outside of Sigil, or not at all, flightcrew is not officially part of Sigil anymore and was moved to a plugin.

Since the set of plugins a user has installed is specific to that user, the plugin menu is built dynamically for that user on the fly. As it stands, many people do not bother to use or install flightcrew, so there can be no single button/icon to launch it.

You can simply use the plugin menus to launch it. Given the flightcrew's validation occurs on the entire ebook, filling the validation pane with all of the errors, there really is no need to be running it more than a few times on any ebook.

If, instead you are looking to find and catch simple editing mistakes in an xhtml file, you are better off using either sanity-check or turning on Preview which will provide almost immediate feedback on the problem issue.

At some point in the distant future, we plan to add 5 user assignable buttons for common plugins but that point has not come yet and won't until we get some basic epub3 features supported.

KevinH

[Capricorn]

Hi KevinH,

Many thanks for that info.

So for now, I need to use the plugin menu to activate the plugin. And at some point in the future buttons will be possible. That sounds very good to me.

I not only use the flightcrew plugin, but also the sigil sanitycheck and the epubcheck plugin. Additionally I use the check of the calibre editor. And recently (a week), the preview. Experience has taught me that doing it this way works very well for me without having to understand every single detail and without having to be a programmer. And it seems to cover most mistakes that may be present in the epub.

[Notjohn]

Originally Posted by KevinH

As some users do not want to use flightcrew and instead want to use epubcheck or do the validation outside of Sigil, or not at all, flightcrew is not officially part of Sigil anymore and was moved to a plugin.

I am sorry to see it go. I suppose I will have no trouble plugging in the plug-in, but really, I'd rather not have to!

Flight Crew is a wonderful feature. I run it almost every day when I'm working on a book; it hardly takes longer than saving the file. Only at the very end do I upload it to Epubcheck.

For the time being, I'm sticking to 0.8.7, while I wait to make sure all the bugs are out of 0.9.x, and perhaps also to avoid having to cope with a plug-in.

[KevinH]

To each their own ... the flightcrew plugin is easy to install and launch and Sigil-0.9.1 is about as stable as 0.8.6 was (0.8.7 actually has a number of bugs and is NOT recommended).

FWIW, Sigil-0.9.1 has fixed many of the remaining bugs in Sigil 0.8.X series when it comes to losing css stylesheets, using find in an image only page, etc.

KevinH

[DiapDealer]

Flightcrew didn't "go" anywhere. I fail to see how (after the initial plugin installation) the addition of one more mouse-click to run it, can be perceived as any sort of real hardship. Some people just like to gripe, I guess.

If it's change in general you dislike @Notjohn, why are you not still using the 0.4.x Sigil? I remember it being quite stable.

[Toxaris]

I actually don't like the plugin runner screen, especially since it does not add a lot to most plugins. I think mostly because it is a popup instead of an dockable screen. A dockable screen with the plugins and their output could be nice, but it is not a showstopper at all.

[KevinH]

Actually, the pluginrunner screen is a modal dialog to prevent you from making underlying changes to the epub when the plugins are running. That was the simplest way to prevent issues. For validation plugs, the plugin runner auto closes if no errors happen while running it, so it literally is just a extra click.

[DiapDealer]

Well two extra clicks, I guess. You do have to hit the start button after you get the plugin launched.

[Notjohn]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

If it's change in general you dislike @Notjohn, why are you not still using the 0.4.x Sigil? I remember it being quite stable.

I like changes that move me forward, like the Preview panel. But I never update unless there's something to be gained by it, a policy that has saved me from the disaster of Windows 8 and the internet connectivity problem of Windows 10.

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Actually, the pluginrunner screen is a modal dialog to prevent you from making underlying changes to the epub when the plugins are running. That was the simplest way to prevent issues. For validation plugs, the plugin runner auto closes if no errors happen while running it, so it literally is just a extra click.

Oh, it makes a lot of sense, but for some (most?) plugins it is just another screen with a start button. It feels a bit out of touch with the rest. If a plugin is not using the screen, it would be nice if the plugin can just start without the additional modal dialog. You could still block the rest until the plugin is finished. In that case the validation result window could be used for feedback if required. Just a thought.

Again, it works fine as it is now.

[rubeus]

The plugin runner window shows up clearly the break between Sigil itself and the plugins: A plugin isnt working on the data directly but on a copy which can be send back. If this wouldnt be so clear more peoplewill ask for a plugin working more integrated in Sigil (for example paste imagesa dn the workaround by doits works, but isnt really smoothly integrated,)

The only thing i miss a little bit is the possibility to insert code having some special attributes.

For example inserting images. I dont want them to blow up on hires screens over the "natural" size so i have a common code snippet and to make it individual to each image i'm applaying the with via inline stylesheet:

<div...>
<img ... style="max-width=xxxpx;" />
</div>

would be extremly helpful when this could be more automated. Currently i have a plugin creating an allpic html file containing the code snippets go each picture so i can copy & paste the code.

But when i remember the 034 and what was possible in former times...

[eschwartz]

I noticed in master the ability to set SIGIL_CUSTOM_PREFS_DIR=/path/to/sigil/config/dir

Would it be possible to make that less wordy?
SIGIL_CONFIG_DIRECTORY (similar to calibre) or maybe SIGIL_PREFS_DIR

The word "custom" in there is unnecessary.


P.S. Thank you for the change.