Sigil and Math

[canopus56]

I am testing Beezer's First Course in Linear Algebra (Epub 3.0 version, Sigil 0.9.9). The equations do not render properly in WSIWYG mode. Is there a plugin or something that I need to install or some other action to take? Previously, I have tested Beezer's book using EPUB 2.0 readers, and renders math properly. Thanks, Kurt

[KevinH]

In Sigil, BookView is practically deprecated and is really not the best way to edit any ebook. Enable Sigil's Preview window and your mathml should properly appear.

Please remember Sigil is an ebook editor, not an ebook reader such as calibre. Calibre has long supported use of mathml for epub2 in its ebook reader app.

[roger64]

Originally Posted by KevinH

In Sigil, BookView is practically deprecated and is really not the best way to edit any ebook. Enable Sigil's Preview window and your mathml should properly appear.

Good to know... Never to late.

As I knew -for a long time- that Sigil had an alternate book view you wanted to keep, I did not look for, even less expect such a nice feature. Preview indeed. A simultaneous display with code view, at last! Probably it has been here for ages...

If you recommend using this feature, maybe it could make some sense to enable preview by default when we open Sigil just because some people are used to book view and do not look further down in the menu. This could open the eyes of some old but not necessarily very gifted users of yours (I speak about me here).

And maybe, in the Display menu, preview should be placed above book view.

[KevinH]

Moving the menu order for Preview, something that has been there literally for years and years, just does not make sense. There are many ways to use Sigil. Eventually we will remove BookView completely and at that point we will make Preview more promnent.

[roger64]

A similar thing happened to me with the Calibre editor. There is a very nice feature for group searches: using the top line field, you can summon a group using only some few letters. It's quite fluid and, one you know about it, you wonder how you could do without.

Well, I just "discovered" it reading an offhand Kovid's comment and it had been there for quite a long time too...

To come back to your last comment, I find it surprising (but of course it's your choice). I do not think that the fact that book view has been placed here for ages justifies keeping it in such a prominent position as long as you recommend a better solution.

Book view, at least in your eyes if not yet de facto, is dead or about to die. Why let a corpse keep the front seat?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by roger64

Book view, at least in your eyes if not yet de facto, is dead or about to die. Why let a corpse take the front seat?

Because removing it (without gutting Sigil like a fish) is going to be a huge, complicated undertaking.

[roger64]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Because removing it (without gutting Sigil like a fish) is going to be a huge, complicated undertaking.

Of course, but only demoting it further down in the Display menu does not seem so far-fetched.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by roger64

Of course, but only demoting it further down in the Display menu does not seem so far-fetched.

My 2 cents worth

Some of us navigate menu's spatially, in this case I tap Alt+V then up arrows to ToC, Preview, Book Browser etc. I'd be a trifle peeved if the position of Preview was changed just to give it precedence over Book View.

Besides which the Preview, ToC, BB and VR options display EXTRA windows, whereas the Book View option is an alternative to Code View in the SAME window - in other words they're chalk and cheese.

@DiapDealer - if you want to discourage the use of BookView you could pop a dismissible (maybe) message when the menu option is selected or the toolbar button is clicked, that read, "BookView is deprecated - to use it press Shift+Alt+F10 (or some similarly awkward key sequence)", with a link to a "Why you should use the Preview feature" sticky in the MR Sigil forum.

BR

[roger64]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

My 2 cents worth

I'd be a trifle peeved if the position of Preview was changed just to give it precedence over Book View.

Besides which the Preview, ToC, BB and VR options display EXTRA windows, whereas the Book View option is an alternative to Code View in the SAME window - in other words they're chalk and cheese.

BR

OK Let's comment further using "chalk and cheese" language if this is clearer for you.

Today we have chalk (F2 and its alternate Bookview) and cheese (other display choices, among them F10 and is side preview). If you place them in reverse order: "cheese" on top and "chalk" at the bottom, the perceived change is that the first display choice is no more Bookview.

In the long term, (and we have been told that the physical disappearance of Bookview may last a long time) it could be an effective way to modify user perception about Bookview, from its today default choice to a little extra.

I fail to spot exactly which hardship it would inflict to spatially minded persons.

[BetterRed]

I don't watch the menu, I watch the second monitor where I usually have the PV window.

After 5+ years of usage my fingers just know Alt+V↑↑↑Enter will show/hide the PV and Alt+V↑↑↑↑↑Enter will show/hide the BB. I can't use the mouse because of hand injuries, so I drive most programs via their menus with two fingers without even looking; if there's a properly constructed Ribbon (Fluent) interface I can do it with one finger

Enough said.

If KH and DD want to rearrange the menus I can choose not to upgrade. I don't edit to publish publicly so the sky won't come crashing down around us. As time passes I find myself using old versions of quite a few programs - notably firefox, calibre-server, and xplorer²; so an old version of Sigil on my taskbar would find itself in good company

BR

[roger64]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Enough said.

Yes. I intended to speak only on broad general terms.

The other thing before I stop too on this off topic, is that it should also be possible to set up Sigil to open by default with F10 enabled. It would be a clear way of recommending its use over a "deprecated" feature...

Sorry to have been so long on this.

[DiapDealer]

I will look into making Preview enabled by default on new installations, but where to position the widget? On the right stacked with the ToC? Tabbed with the ToC? By itself on the right and make the ToC disabled by default?

It's not as easy as "just make Preview enabled by default." Something else has to give to make that happen.

[roger64]

Thanks for looking into it

If Preview is the future for Sigil users, there is nothing wrong to test its use right now, one way or another. It will provide users with an efficient way how to use it. If not, they have to make do by themselves, which is hardly better... Later, you can trust MR for comments.

My choice would be to place it on the right side just under the TOC and to be able to close any of them at wish.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by roger64

My choice would be to place it on the right side just under the TOC and to be able to close any of them at wish.

It would always be able to be moved, closed, tabbed, stacked in any way the user can currently configure it (and it wouldn't change existing configurations). It would merely dictate where Preview appears by default for brand new installs of Sigil (no Sigil INI file).

The only place it can't currently be is the central widget. That's inextricably tied to Codeview/Bookview for the time being. I'd also frown on Preview defaulting to the top or bottom dock areas.