Possible new conversion setting - stripdown

Perkin · 04-12-2011, 12:25 PM

To hopefully save a lot of problems, how about a setting which will strip a lot of the extraneous stuff from Word-html output (or any other output).

The setting can be a non-rembered setting - to save problems where users would 'accidently' lose formatting from edited content.

The conversion could just keep headers, paragraphs and main formatting like italics and bold (and possibly a few others).

The first conversion (and any subsequent conversions) should then also be a LOT faster.

Depending on output - editing will be a lot simpler as well.

Opinions / ideas ?

kovidgoyal · 04-12-2011, 12:28 PM

calibre already strips Microsoft CSS automatically, which is what is the slowest to parse.

Perkin · 04-12-2011, 12:39 PM

I meant so that the output would then be fairly streamlined, just basic paragraphs with some formatting (bold/italics) and headers.

With also possibly an option to remove images/links.

kovidgoyal · 04-12-2011, 12:39 PM

How's that different from converting to Mardown/Textile TXT today?

Perkin · 04-12-2011, 12:44 PM

That's what I do normally, just thought it might be easier for other users to have the simpler 'stripdown' option rather than the multi step of converting to textile/markdown and back again.

kovidgoyal · 04-12-2011, 12:46 PM

You mean in an EPUB->EPUB conversion? I don't think that's a good idea, there's too much risk that the process will remove something the user didn;t want removed and then unless they've backed up the epub, its gone forever.

Perkin · 04-12-2011, 12:52 PM

Yep, fair enough.
Thanks for consideration anyway.

I just thought it might also stop a lot of the threads complaining about the 'stuck at 1%'.

That's also why I suggested a non-remembered setting - so any future edits etc wouldn't then get stripped.

It would only usually be use on first conversion and with Word-html-output.

kovidgoyal · 04-12-2011, 12:58 PM

At some point I plan to implement a mechanism for automatically backing up the old format in a format->format conversion. Once that's done, we can revisit this.

Perkin · 04-12-2011, 01:03 PM

Thanks.

user_none · 04-12-2011, 02:24 PM

I believe ldolse was thinking about this very thing as a heuristic option.

04-12-2011, 12:25 PM	#1
Perkin Guru Posts: 655 Karma: 64171 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent, England, Sol 3, ZZ9 plural Z Alpha Device: Sony PRS-300, Kobo Aura HD, iPad (Marvin)	Possible new conversion setting - stripdown To hopefully save a lot of problems, how about a setting which will strip a lot of the extraneous stuff from Word-html output (or any other output). The setting can be a non-rembered setting - to save problems where users would 'accidently' lose formatting from edited content. The conversion could just keep headers, paragraphs and main formatting like italics and bold (and possibly a few others). The first conversion (and any subsequent conversions) should then also be a LOT faster. Depending on output - editing will be a lot simpler as well. Opinions / ideas ?

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04-12-2011, 12:28 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre already strips Microsoft CSS automatically, which is what is the slowest to parse.

04-12-2011, 12:39 PM	#3
Perkin Guru Posts: 655 Karma: 64171 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent, England, Sol 3, ZZ9 plural Z Alpha Device: Sony PRS-300, Kobo Aura HD, iPad (Marvin)	I meant so that the output would then be fairly streamlined, just basic paragraphs with some formatting (bold/italics) and headers. With also possibly an option to remove images/links.

04-12-2011, 12:44 PM	#5
Perkin Guru Posts: 655 Karma: 64171 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent, England, Sol 3, ZZ9 plural Z Alpha Device: Sony PRS-300, Kobo Aura HD, iPad (Marvin)	That's what I do normally, just thought it might be easier for other users to have the simpler 'stripdown' option rather than the multi step of converting to textile/markdown and back again.

04-12-2011, 12:46 PM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	You mean in an EPUB->EPUB conversion? I don't think that's a good idea, there's too much risk that the process will remove something the user didn;t want removed and then unless they've backed up the epub, its gone forever.

04-12-2011, 12:52 PM	#7
Perkin Guru Posts: 655 Karma: 64171 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent, England, Sol 3, ZZ9 plural Z Alpha Device: Sony PRS-300, Kobo Aura HD, iPad (Marvin)	Yep, fair enough. Thanks for consideration anyway. I just thought it might also stop a lot of the threads complaining about the 'stuck at 1%'. That's also why I suggested a non-remembered setting - so any future edits etc wouldn't then get stripped. It would only usually be use on first conversion and with Word-html-output.

04-12-2011, 12:58 PM	#8
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	At some point I plan to implement a mechanism for automatically backing up the old format in a format->format conversion. Once that's done, we can revisit this.

04-12-2011, 01:03 PM	#9
Perkin Guru Posts: 655 Karma: 64171 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent, England, Sol 3, ZZ9 plural Z Alpha Device: Sony PRS-300, Kobo Aura HD, iPad (Marvin)	Thanks.

04-12-2011, 02:24 PM	#10
user_none Sigil & calibre developer Posts: 2,488 Karma: 1063785 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Florida, USA Device: Nook STR	I believe ldolse was thinking about this very thing as a heuristic option.