Gregg's Nearly Interminable Adventures in Linux Land

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

@Dennis I wonder that a professional publisher specializing in mathematical stuff uses InDesign. That because I've read that especially when it comes to composing mathematical formulas LaTeX (guis like LyX were recommended) give quality wise much better pdfs than Adobe's own tools ever did.

From what I know, typesetting math is always a pain. (And the publisher in the case I mentioned was Cambridge University Press, who did math among other things.)

But recall that the original manuscript is imported to InDesign for markup and typesetting. In the case of formulas and equations, I suspect those were originally created by the author in LaTex, and simply get embedded as a graphic image in InDesign.
______
Dennis

[Gregg Bell]

@Peter. I think the compare idea is valid. I know of no way of comparing epubs except unzipping them and comparing the htmls. I've got Beyond Compare and like it a lot.But for a quick job I like QuickDiff. http://www.quickdiff.com/

@Dennis I don't use Sigil to edit per se. But it just works out that way. I can edit the document in .odt till I'm blue in the face. So I convert it to html and save it to Sigil. Well, I'm gonna find stuff to tweak there. Until I drop the thing on Amazon I'm going to find stuff to tweak.

[PeterT]

Just copy the epubs, rename the copies to zip and then have Beyond compare compare the zip files. It will uncompressed and then compare the individual files in each zip.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Just copy the epubs, rename the copies to zip and then have Beyond compare compare the zip files. It will uncompressed and then compare the individual files in each zip.

Wow. Thanks. That will be a great help! Appreciate it!

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Just copy the epubs, rename the copies to zip and then have Beyond compare compare the zip files. It will uncompressed and then compare the individual files in each zip.

I couldn't get it to work. I turned the epubs into zips and uploaded them in the "Text Compare" and got the screenshot.

[PeterT]

I dont have easy access to BC right now, but you don't just compare the zip files like regular files. There is another comparison option you have to use

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I dont have easy access to BC right now, but you don't just compare the zip files like regular files. There is another comparison option you have to use

Hmm. I just got a BeyondCompare window saying I was on a trial version. It's $30 to purchase. Don't think I would use it enough to justify the expense. May just stick with Diff Checker.

But would any other (free) software allow comparing epubs?

[Gregg Bell]

Anybody know what this update style addition to the toolbar icon is there for?

I've been having to do things like copy a whole document to change the font, that sort of thing. Now this addition to the toolbar is there asking me if I want to update style. (screenshot)

I found this:

https://help.libreoffice.org/Writer/...rom_Selections

but I'm not really sure what it says and more than anything I don't want to screw anything up.

Thanks.

[Glorfindel]

Looks like you'd use that to copy some special formatting from text to use elsewhere.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

@Dennis I don't use Sigil to edit per se. But it just works out that way. I can edit the document in .odt till I'm blue in the face. So I convert it to html and save it to Sigil. Well, I'm gonna find stuff to tweak there. Until I drop the thing on Amazon I'm going to find stuff to tweak.

Uh huh.

You use Libre Office Writer to create your work in the first place. That's your original source document. Then you convert to ePub, and tweak endlessly till you are ready to drop the result on Amazon. The result you drop on Amazon will increasingly diverge from your source document.

What happens if you decide to do a rewrite, and produce a version 2 of the book? (More likely in non-fiction, I think, but happens in fiction, too.)

Do you think you can do that in Sigil? (I don't.) So you have to go back to the LO Writer file you started from and redo that, but it won't have all the tweaks you added after the fact in Sigil, so you must redo all of those (and remember what you did because there isn't a good way of recording them and automating doing it again).

The whole point I am making is the need to master your tools to reduce the amount you will tweak after the fact. In a perfect world, you could convert from LO Writer to ePub and everything will be good enough that Sigil isn't required. It's an imperfect world, so Sigil will remain in the workflow.

But as much as possible, tweaks should not be made to do something you didn't know how to do in LO but can do after the fact in Sigil. You should know how to do it in LO.

I'd start keeping records when I fiddled in Sigil on what changes I made and why, and review periodically to see where better knowledge of LO would have eliminated the need to tweak in Sigil, then go back and play with LO to acquire the knowledge.
______
Dennis

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

Looks like you'd use that to copy some special formatting from text to use elsewhere.

Thanks Glorfindel. I just noticed (duh!) that when I hover the cursor over the icon I get:

Update style (Ctrl&Shft&F11)

Not that I know what that really means, but obviously it has something to do with Styles, which I do use in a minimal way.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Uh huh.

You use Libre Office Writer to create your work in the first place. That's your original source document. Then you convert to ePub, and tweak endlessly till you are ready to drop the result on Amazon. The result you drop on Amazon will increasingly diverge from your source document.

What happens if you decide to do a rewrite, and produce a version 2 of the book? (More likely in non-fiction, I think, but happens in fiction, too.)

Do you think you can do that in Sigil? (I don't.) So you have to go back to the LO Writer file you started from and redo that, but it won't have all the tweaks you added after the fact in Sigil, so you must redo all of those (and remember what you did because there isn't a good way of recording them and automating doing it again).

The whole point I am making is the need to master your tools to reduce the amount you will tweak after the fact. In a perfect world, you could convert from LO Writer to ePub and everything will be good enough that Sigil isn't required. It's an imperfect world, so Sigil will remain in the workflow.

But as much as possible, tweaks should not be made to do something you didn't know how to do in LO but can do after the fact in Sigil. You should know how to do it in LO.

I'd start keeping records when I fiddled in Sigil on what changes I made and why, and review periodically to see where better knowledge of LO would have eliminated the need to tweak in Sigil, then go back and play with LO to acquire the knowledge.
______
Dennis

Thanks Dennis. You're absolutely right. And now that I need to do different formatting for Createspace and the paperbacks I'm really going to streamline things so I rely much more on LO as my base source.

[Gregg Bell]

Can you guys help me get this grammar checker? It's only for Windows of course but I kept around an old HP box with XP on it for just such occasions. But the .exe file won't run on it. When you hover over the file it doesn't even identify it as a .exe file. It just says 'software application.' This think would really help me. I've been Googling till I'm blue in the face.

This is the closest I've come to a solution and I don't even know how to implement what they're suggesting.

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

It's a grammar checker by Ginger. http://www.gingersoftware.com/download

Thanks!!

[PeterT]

See http://help.gingersoftware.com/hc/en...-specification

I doubt XP is supported

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by PeterT

See http://help.gingersoftware.com/hc/en...-specification

I doubt XP is supported

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Oh, makes sense. Thanks a lot, Peter. I was banging my head on the wall trying to figure this out.