book view

[Fedwin]

At the risk of sounding like a sclerotic old man, is there any way I can switch back and forth between code view and book view like in previous versions of Sigil? I do that a lot and the preview window is not the same thing. Thanks.

[KevinH]

Depends on what you are trying to accomplish that Preview side by side with CodeView does not already do?

If you are looking for simple visual editing, then use Sigil-Ebook's PageEdit program that allows editing much like BookView did. That said, the next version of PageEdit will improve the ease of editing a number of xhtml pages in an ePub in a visual manner. So you may want to wait for the upcoming release.

See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...2&postcount=32
for a video of what is coming in the next release.

See this post which tells you about the current release.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=322121

Note, the new Sigil External XHtml preference setting to allow easy launching of PageEdit from within Sigil.

[MrsCatnip]

This is incredibly frustrating to occasional users! I realize book view is gone – sadly.
So I installed Page Edit. I can’t use it with sigil.
It says: use sigils “Open with” function. Which is supposed to be where? I can’t find it. And it does not say anywhere, not even in the user guide, which in itself is not easily accessed.
It says: “by assigning it to Sigil's new "External HTML Editor" button”. How AM I supposed to do that? I can’t find that function either …
I only use Sigil occasionally and I have been a huge fan, but this is so annoying. And frustrating. And I feel I wasted 2 hours searching and trying just for making the mistake to update…
I would really appreciate some guides for us casual users to help us out with the changes. I really don’t know what to do.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by MrsCatnip

So I installed Page Edit. I can’t use it with sigil.
It says: use sigils “Open with” function. Which is supposed to be where? I can’t find it. And it does not say anywhere, not even in the user guide, which in itself is not easily accessed.

The user guide has an entire section devoted to the open with feature (I modified it last). Check out the External Editors section from the Table of Contents. And the location of the latest version of the user guide is always available from the Important Links section of the Sigil Wiki (check out the "Downloading Sigil (and other important links)" thread in the sticky section above for the location of the Wiki and to other important locations) as well as from the "Downloading Sigil (and other important links)" thread itself.

Links to the Sigil Wiki are provided in the Release Notes of every new Sigil release. Direct links to the latest release of the Sigil user guide have also been included in each the last two official releases (since the major changes).

Originally Posted by MrsCatnip

It says: “by assigning it to Sigil's new "External HTML Editor" button”. How AM I supposed to do that? I can’t find that function either …

It's in the Sigil Preferences under "General Settings." It's the entry labeled "Set your preferred alternative external xhtml editor." After setting the path to the PageEdit executable (after installing PageEdit), you can launch it using the F2 keyboard shortcut, or the new toolbar button provided (it has an icon of a pencil on it, and the tooltip says "Launch External Xhtml Editor" when the mouse hovers above it).

Originally Posted by MrsCatnip

I only use Sigil occasionally and I have been a huge fan, but this is so annoying. And frustrating. And I feel I wasted 2 hours searching and trying just for making the mistake to update…
I would really appreciate some guides for us casual users to help us out with the changes. I really don’t know what to do.

The easiest thing to do is to come here and ask for support BEFORE becoming entirely annoyed and/or frustrated. That's exactly what these Sigil support forums here at MobileRead are for. You're not supposed to be able to intuit everything on your own. Short of that ... go back to the version of Sigil you know and understand. It's as simple as uninstalling the new and installing the old.

Remember folks: we made changes to free software. We didn't shoot anyone's dog.

[MrsCatnip]

Ahhh, thanks for the feedback. Sorry if the annoyance was too much, I am very grateful for the good work. I am. Really.
It seemed like a simple thing to work out, so I tried, but I really could not make any headway on my own. I was stupidly looking in the Table of Contents + under Book Browser, hoping for more info. I now located "open with" infos by using the search feature.... Just not what I expected. sorry again.
And thanks for pointing me in the right direction as far as PageEditor goes. I will see if I can figure it out now.

[stumped]

just install the old version, and don't let it auto update

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by stumped

just install the old version, and don't let it auto update

Sigil has no auto-update ability. Never has.

[Notjohn]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Remember folks: we made changes to free software. We didn't shoot anyone's dog.

I like that, and I hope to be able to find a use for it in the future!

It reminds me of a frustrated critic's complaint about "The Ballad of Baby Doe" as the great American opera (an opinion I happen to hold): "But one can't criticize it! It would be like kicking a puppy."

[jafrako]

Ik ben al jaren een enthousiast gebruiker van Sigil maar ik haak af. Het installeren van die afzonderlijke edit faciliteit wordt me te gecompliceerd. Het installeren van een oudere versie is geen optie want dan ben ik die fantastische vernieuwing; nl. de automatische aanpassing van de html inhoudsopgave kwijt. Of is er iemand die een versie weet waarin al wel die automatische html vernieuwing zit maar nog niet de boekview editor is verdwenen.

Added by KevinH: English Translation from Google
I have been an enthusiastic user of Sigil for years, but I quit. Installing that separate edit facility is too complicated for me. Installing an older version is not an option because then I am that fantastic innovation; the automatic modification of the html table of contents is lost. Or is there someone who knows a version that already contains the automatic html renewal but the book view editor has not yet disappeared?

[DiapDealer]

Seems kind of silly to quit using a program you're otherwise satisfied with just because you don't want to upgrade (and don't have to). But whatever makes you happy.

I'm not entirely certain what you mean about doing without automatic HTML ToC generation. That's been a feature for a long time. It existed both before Book View and after. I see nothing in the changelog that indicates any changes to that feature since Book View was dropped in Sigil 0.9.15.

[jafrako]

Dank voor deze laatste opmerking. Ik wist niet dat er een oudere versie is MET bookview en al met automatische TOC-aanpassing.
Daar kan ik wat mee.

[Evil Overlord]

I appreciate all the work that goes into Sigil. I depend on it heavily for my work. At the same time, the uncertainty about the Book View change meant that it's taken me until now to upgrade from v.9.1.3.

Having done so, and now tried Sigil 1, with PageEdit 1, I'm not really clear on why the change. One significant benefit Sigil had over casual editing in Calibre was the F2 BookView option. PageEdit seems a much clunkier way to accomplish the same thing.

I do most of my editing in code view, but WYSIWYG exists for a reason - it's just easier to make minor tweaks in BookView mode - inserting commas, checking capitalization, seeing whether a dash is an em, en, or hyphen, etc. I also used it for writing short elements - prefaces, forewords, copyright sections, etc. - anything where creating a separate LibreOffice file and then exporting to html would be too much bother.

WYSIWYG is one reason Word won out over the more powerful WordPerfect (except for lawyers) way back when. I don't know the basis for the BookView removal decision, and the forum suggests there are strong views on this, but if there's a way to bring it back - or to make PageEdit work the way BookView used to, that would be good. The preview window just doesn't do the same thing, and the separate PageEdit window is messy.

I appreciate that PageEdit exists, but I do wish BookView still did.

[DiapDealer]

The reason for the the change is quite simple. Book View sucked. Maintaining it sucked, updating it sucked, and finding workarounds for everything that it broke sucked. Every new feature envisioned had to jump through convoluted hoops just to make sure Book View didn't blow it all up. That sucked. Everything about it sucked. So we chucked it. Just as we warned we were going to do for years. It was a developmental boat anchor and I dance on its grave every single night.

[KevinH]

If you actually want to make the Sigil to PageEdit transition easier for minor edits and proofing, please make sure you have set PageEdit as the Eternal Xhtml Editor in Sigil's General Preferences, then in Sigil, open the opf in the current Tab and then invoke PageEdit with the icon.

You should now be able to edit and proof any of the xhtml files in spine order with easy/fast navigation among the pages. If you want to see the code itself or make minor edits use the Inspector right in PageEdit. When you are done, save the pages and exit back to Sigil.

That is how the interface was meant to work.

[Balentius]

Originally Posted by KevinH

If you actually want to make the Sigil to PageEdit transition easier for minor edits and proofing, please make sure you have set PageEdit as the Eternal Xhtml Editor in Sigil's General Preferences, then in Sigil, open the opf in the current Tab and then invoke PageEdit with the icon.

You should now be able to edit and proof any of the xhtml files in spine order with easy/fast navigation among the pages. If you want to see the code itself or make minor edits use the Inspector right in PageEdit. When you are done, save the pages and exit back to Sigil.

That is how the interface was meant to work.

...Wow, that's so much easier than simply clicking 'book view' in Sigil /s

While it may have been a boat anchor for you, for someone like me that really doesn't care about the actual formatting code 90% of the time (at least), and just wants to fix a few errors, it was much easier.

Now, instead of opening a document, making a change or two, then closing it, I get to open it, select the correct section, open it with another program, make my changes there, return to Sigil, and then close it.

It's your software, and it is free. You have the ability to do whatever you want with it. In fact, you could make the backgrounds fluorescent yellow and the text blinking purple, and no one could object on a 'hey, we paid for that!' level. Just understand that there are other people that really like the previous functionality, and so you're going to hear about this for years as people upgrade and realize what they've lost.

In fact, I just created this account only to make this comment - I've used Sigil for years, only upgrading (mainly) as either I've gotten a newer PC or I've seen a prompt in the program saying 'new version!', and I've found it very helpful. However, if this is the final direction that you are taking, and the PageEdit integration isn't any easier, I'll probably start looking elsewhere for my purposes.

Thanks for all your work on this program, for a free program it has been exactly what I've wanted, and I know that it takes a lot of work to keep something like this current and functional. I would take this outcry about the change as a compliment; people have come to really depend on it, which is not a bad thing.

Balentius