A tiny proposal

[roger64]

Hi

Since v 1.0. Sigil leaves the choice of adopting the Sigil architecture (Text, Fonts, Images,..) to the user.

This fairly inocuous choice has nevertheless some consequences. Some Sigil plugins require the Sigil architecture to work. So, as a user addicted to these plugins, I need to use Sigil architecture.

Life being like it is, sometimes I forget to select the needed option in Tools when opening a new ePub and, later, I scratch my head trying to understand why some font is not properly embedded, why...

For some headless users like me, I think it would be nice to see a "remind me" pop up dialog box. As in many other pieces of software, there also would be a tick box inside for people who wish to never see again this dialog box.

It would appear only when opening a new ePub.

[DiapDealer]

I'm not fond of popups that show once and are then (usually) dismissed forever. It's too easy to forget that a choice was made, and too hard to unmake it if one wants to.

Seems to me that you're basically asking for a preference setting to automatically restructure all epubs upon opening. What would be the advantage of a popup over a regular preference choice?

I'm just not sure how feasible such an option is.

Have you asked the author of the plugin(s) if they could update them to work with any and all possible epub structures? Many of them already do, after all. The Restructure tool was initially intended to give plugin devs time to update their plugins to match Sigil's new capabilities. I'm not really keen on the notion of modifying Sigil in a way that makes it easier for them to never do so.

[roger64]

If easily doable, a preference setting choice would certainly be a good solution.

[BeckyEbook]

My two cents for @roger64:
* Since the plugins you use are not adapted to the non-standard epub layout, they probably are not updated for some reason.
* As a result, it would be enough for you to add a condition in those specific plugins that only support the standard epub layout:

Code borrowed from @Doitsu – add at the very beginning of the run(bk):

    # this plugin only works with standard file paths
    if bk.launcher_version() >= 20190927 and not bk.epub_is_standard():
        print('This plugin only works with standard epubs.\nPlease select Tools > Restructure to Sigil Norm before running this plugin.\n\nClick OK to close the Plugin Runner window.')
        return 0

On the other hand – if KevinH and DiapDealer were so willing – I can imagine an additional "Tweaks" option on the left side of Preferences in Sigil, where tiny toggles like these would be added to the extra parameters customized for each user.
Although I would personally see a few settings there, but I think each such option should be thoroughly discussed.

[KevinH]

Simply fix the plugins. I will do it if need be. Otherwise we end up with users setting that option for no valid reason and we are back to the limited layout which is not what we want just to save one use of a menu.

There really is no valid technical reason for a plugin not to be updated.

So which exact plugins have not been updated that are "must have"?

[roger64]

Thanks to BeckyEbook, I've found at least one such plugin, an unpublished FootnoteMoverX with such kind of code. There may be other(s) and I'll report it as soon as I bump on it. As I have been caught before, I determined that I would use permanently the standard layout.

 # get proper endnotes href
        if bk.launcher_version() >= 20190927 and not bk.epub_is_standard():

But, nevertheless, I fail to see the logic:

1. Sigil recommends this standard layout (it's even named "norme Sigil" in the French menu).
2. But it requires the user to perform one special step to implement it.

I read two days ago some comments from a French user who - wrongly - complained being confused with "virtual" paths in Sigil and even recommended to other users to rename ePub to zip and open this new zip file with 7zip to know the real path of the files. This is rubbish, but it shows that some users are still confused or uncertain about this choice.

Why require a special step, which some casual users may ignore, which some old users may forget, to follow a "Sigil norm" ? If there is no warning, it should belong to the Preferences settings. The least that could be expected from Sigil would be to make this choice trivial.

Determining what will be the architecture of the ePub, seems to be as important a subject as, say the display of entities. It's a major choice that should appear clearly.

[KevinH]

Then enable full book paths in BookBrowser via Preferences so it will always show full paths (or just mouseover without that preference set).

There is no true standard layout for epub2 or epub3. The old Sigil "standard" layout is and was a horrible kludge and harsh limitation for an an epub editor that forced file relocations on opening that did end up breaking things like javascripts and etc.

We will not be bringing it back.

If you build epubs from scratch you can create a template empty epub that matches the layout you want using Sigil empty layout tools.

If you open an existing epub, you open it with the layout as set by the original epub developer.

If you do not like that layout, you can use Sigil to move folders and files where you like or use the menu tool to make it like the old forced layout.

None of this will be changing.

That said, point me to broken plugin code and I am sure that I and others can fix them so that they work with any layout. That is how Sigil should have been from the very beginning.

[KevinH]

If you pm me with a link to FootnoteMoverX, I will take a shot at updating it.

[roger64]

Hi Kevin

OK, pm sent.

I have already ticked the preferences settings to display full paths some time ago but it's useful to point it again. Of course, I had forgotten about it but it stayed enforced.

[KevinH]

Okay, I have updated it. I just need a testcase. So if anyone knows of a public domain epub with footnotes in each chapter that could be converted to endnotes, please let me know.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by roger64

Why require a special step, which some casual users may ignore, which some old users may forget, to follow a "Sigil norm" ? If there is no warning, it should belong to the Preferences settings. The least that could be expected from Sigil would be to make this choice trivial.

Determining what will be the architecture of the ePub, seems to be as important a subject as, say the display of entities. It's a major choice that should appear clearly.

We're not "requiring" any special step. We're, in fact removing a limitation. The "Sigil Norm" was never canonical. It was not required by Epub spec or by any validator, or submission guidelines. It was never anything more than bandaid used by Sigil developers to make things easier for them. It was not a user-facing or user-beneficial "feature". It was always one of Sigil's goals to remove the enforcement of an arbitrary and unnecessary archive restructure upon opening each and every epub. And we accomplished that goal.

If you want to cling to that arbitrary and unnecessary structure for whatever reason, we've provided a means for you and others to do so. But we're not going to revert to providing a way to make enforcing an arbitrary, pointless, and unnecessary structure automatic.

We'll change the name of the feature to something "legacy" related, if use of the word "Norm" is giving people trouble.

[roger64]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

.../...The "Sigil Norm" was never canonical.
.../...

Thank you both for your help and clearing a misunderstanding of mine. Sorry for giving this useless trouble and thanks for the new version!