Blue Griffin ePub authoring tool

[caleb72]

I stumbled across this product on the net and it didn't come up in a search on the forums (although I might just not be searching properly).

This is not a free tool and it looks quite expensive for a license. However, for the sake of having this information on the forum for people looking for available software on ebook authoring I thought I'd post something.

Features:

• Windows, Mac OS X and Linux
• Truly Wysiwyg
• Conformance to EPUB2 and EPUB3 specifications
• No proprietary pivot format, works directly on your *.epub files
• Creates EPUB2 and EPUB3 books from scratch
• Conformance to XHTML 1.1 and HTML 5 (xml serialization) for content documents
• Full metadata support for both EPUB2 and EPUB3
• Files and directories management
• Full support for Guide (EPUB2) and Landmarks (EPUB3)
• Full support for NCX (EPUB2) and Table of Contents (EPUB3)
• Compatibility output of Guide and NCX in EPUB3
• Full support for Spine (EPUB2 and EPUB3)
• Full support for EPUB3 properties on meta/link/item/itemref
• User interface for direct manipulation of epub:type attribute
• UTF-8
• One of the best CSS editors on the market
• Builtin SVG editor
• DOM view and ActiveView
• Word count
• MathML editor
• HTML Table Layout editor

It seems (on the surface) to be a pretty comprehensive authoring tool. However, I've never used it myself and the asking price of 195 Euros + VAT is pretty steep.

That said, I know we have some professional ebook creators on the forum and if they haven't seen this before, it's probably worth at least a download of the demo to see if it brings anything new or convenient to their workflow.

EDIT: And a working link to the site might be helpful:
http://www.bluegriffon-epubedition.com/BGEE.html

[AlexBell]

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

[JSWolf]

They cannot be selling it since it's powered by Mozilla.

[DiapDealer]

You're mistaken, Wolfie. There are provisions in the Mozilla Public License to accommodate both open source and commercial/proprietary projects.

You're still, of course, bound by the MPL (with regard to providing source code for MPL-covered code), but if all you do is statically link against MPL-covered code, then all you need to do is make sure you comply with the terms for the stuff that was MPL-covered before you started.

http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/FAQ.html

Q11: How 'viral' is the MPL? If I use MPL-licensed code in my proprietary application, will I have to give all the source code away?

No. The license requires that Modifications (as defined in Section 1.10 of the license) must be licensed under the MPL and made available to anyone to whom you distribute the Source Code. However, new files containing no MPL-licensed code are not Modifications, and therefore do not need to be distributed under the terms of the MPL, even if you create a Larger Work (as defined in Section 1.7) by using, compiling, or distributing the non-MPL files together with MPL-licensed files. This allows, for example, programs using MPL-licensed code to be statically linked to and distributed as part of a larger proprietary piece of software, which would not generally be possible under the terms of stronger copyleft licenses.

I believe we've had this discussion before.

[Togijak]

BlueGriffon is a multilingual web editor that provides a forthright working environment for creating professional-looking webpages. Its compatibility range extends to the latest standards and technologies, allowing the creation of HTML 4 and 5 documents, as well as XHTML 1, 1.1 and 5, compatible with all major browsers. What is more, the application makes it possible for you to easily create and edit EPUB2, EPUB3 and EPUB 3.1 ebooks.

Feature-packed yet very novice-accessible web content editor
The application bundles a diverse collection of templates that can represent the starting point in new web design endeavors, while advanced users can code a webpage from scratch. Alternatively, the integrated wizard can guide you throughout the process of configuring your new project, from choosing its type and entering the document properties to customizing appearance and layout.

Aside from text, pages can include tables, images imported from the local computer, links, anchors, bars and forms, HTML markup, tables of contents, comments and PHP. Providing support for the HTML5 standard, BlueGriffon allows you to insert specific elements, such as articles, buttons, labels, forms and embed audio and video content into your page.

Accurately tweak, analyze and edit webpages with the help of BlueGriffon's extensive set of tools
As expected, BlueGriffon allows the preview of the webpage in browser mode, as well as source mode, enabling more experienced designers to edit the code directly.

The editor features basic text formatting options and automatic spell checking, offering you the freedom to customize the final look of the webpage according to your preferences. It can emphasize text sections, find acronyms, manage links and let you experiment with various style properties to view the color, geometry and layout combination you like best.

Robust HTML and EPUB editor, wrapped in one modern-looking UI
The 'DOM Explorer' enables you to view the structure of your webpage, while the 'Markup cleaner' helps you remove empty blocks and fix nested links. BlueGriffon can manage stylesheets, handle the CSS 3 language thanks to its integrated parser and use the integrated JavaScript console to work on errors and warnings.

BlueGriffon combines ease of use with rich editing options, mainly addressing beginners. However, its functionality can be extended using addons, which enrich the feature set, making it a worth having tool for more experienced users as well.

Operating System: Windows 7, 8/8.1, 10 (32 and 64-bit)

Home Page - http://www.bluegriffon.org/

[GrannyGrump]

http://www.bluegriffon.org/#buy

Basic Web editor = € 75 // $87
Upgrade to ePub editor € 195 // $227




Sigil:
€ 0 // $ 0

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

http://www.bluegriffon.org/#buy

Basic Web editor = € 75 // $87
Upgrade to ePub editor € 195 // $227




Sigil:
€ 0 // $ 0

Suffice to say, I looked at BG some years back, and was thoroughly underwhelmed--and the price is pretty much hysterical, given that as near as I can tell, it's not even comparable to Sigil or Calibre's editor.

For that type of dough, we use Epsilon--which provides a crapload more functionality than BG, and makes it worth the money.

Hitch