New Wordperfect Can Save in Epub Format

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Opinion is opinion, regardless of the "world beyond." G.K. Chesterton was pretty good at defending his opinions.

Not everybody else is.
Most are rationalizing rather than rational.

[binaryhermit]

TIL Wordperfect is a thing still.

I mean, in a world of libreoffice and google docs, not to mention the free online version of office, why?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

TIL Wordperfect is a thing still.

I mean, in a world of libreoffice and google docs, not to mention the free online version of office, why?

WordPerfect is still popular among certain groups, lawyers for one. I wasn't a huge fan of WordPerfect, but I liked it better than Word. Also, it's easier to fix formatting in WordPerfect (I mentioned Word's headaches with changing formatting in another post).

According to this article, WordPerfect is still the number 2 word processor (or was when the article was written a couple years ago)...

https://dfarq.homeip.net/still-uses-...?cn-reloaded=1

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I liked it better than Word. Also, it's easier to fix formatting in WordPerfec

WordPerfect's "Reveal Codes" is awesome, and the prime reason it was my wordprocessor of choice back when my work required one. It was especially helpful for cleaning up Word's own infamous formatting issues. Although my needs are simpler now, I still have fond memories of WP's functionality, and the helpfulness of its dedicated user community who added much value.

[johnwhelan]

Corporately we used WordPerfect for years. One major advantage was it didn't open a macro when the document was opened. We used to hear all sorts of tales of virus hits with Microsoft Word.

But the world moves on. Novell only wanted to talk to us about changing our LAN operating system to Novell and that wasn't going to happen. For most businesses they are interested in exchanging documents with other businesses. Word has an advantage in the business world called Microsoft SQL server. Visual basic can use them both and automate a lot of tasks. So if you're standardising you go with the most flexible and the one that most companies use. Also you need to take into account disabled people such as the blind and Word has a lot more niche products to assist them.

Wordperfect still has a niche, but it is growing smaller. Most communication these days is via email or social media and you don't need a word processing program for either.

One thing I did like about the old wordperfect was the ability to search for a document on the file system. Unfortunately this is now part of the professional version which is too expensive to use at home.

I have both Libreoffice and Wordperfect X9 on my machine at the moment and to be honest I often find myself using Libreoffice for preference.

John

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by johnwhelan

But the world moves on. Novell only wanted to talk to us about changing our LAN operating system to Novell and that wasn't going to happen. For most businesses they are interested in exchanging documents with other businesses. Word has an advantage in the business world called Microsoft SQL server. Visual basic can use them both and automate a lot of tasks. So if you're standardising you go with the most flexible and the one that most companies use. Also you need to take into account disabled people such as the blind and Word has a lot more niche products to assist them.

John

Right.
It's not just the tool by itself that matters these days.
Service and support adds a lot of value. Often enough todi tate tge final choice.

These days MS is actively promoting their office applications as an encosystem all their own and in the corporate environment they pretty much stand alone.

For years they've invested not just in the core Office products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) but in the next layer of tools (Project, Vizio, the now-defunct Team Manager, and Sharepoint). Lately, Teams is shapng up as a big part of the ecosystem.

The real breakthrough came with Sharepoint as an integrated document management system for Windows networks. Alternatives existed but they tended to be expensive and insular, often strong in one area but weak in others. With Sharepoint and SQL SERVER plus Windows Server and its network management tools, MS completed the package behind office.

Too many people look at Office and say the other suites match or better the features but miss the point than in a corporate environment Office and the Server products as a combo are significantly easier to deploy, manage, and ahem, pay for.

Just write one check to MS.
Once upon a time nobody got fired for buying IBM but in recent times people have been *promoted* for buying MICROSOFT.

They are ubiquitous and as you said, they have add-ons and support services for pretty much everything.
And now, thanks to Ray Ozzie, they're moving that environment to the Cloud, sort-of reinventing mainframes both as an external service shared with others or as a dedicated private system. Flexible and scaleable.

With no retraining, no conversion of data or internal apps.
Just like they migrated DOS users to Windows they're migrating entire data centers from distributed networks and hardware to virtual networks.

And because it all happens in the corporate IT space, folks focused on consumer apps and academic IT are missing their success.

There's plenty of word processors that are more pleasing to some audiences or better suited to dozens of niches; Word Perfect, Libre Office, Nota Bene, Framemaker, Atlantis, Vellum, Scrivener, Jutoh, and on and on.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_word_processors

But they're all pretty much standalone.

Word is rather like an iceberg: the part users see is a tiny part of the system that drives its use. It is a competent tool on its own but it is supported by a massive environment no other can match. Not that they don't try.

But much like Amazon in ebooks, Word holds the high ground and is showing no signs to giving it up. Too many people in too many different businesses make a living using it or supporting it for anything to catch up any time soon.
i suppose someday it'll fade but not just yet.

[DNSB]

One question that kept coming to mind as I read through this thread. Has anyone actually used the save to epub function in Wordperfect and what does the code quality look like when opened in an epub editor (Sigil, calibre's editor, whatever).

The reason for this question? The last product I dealt with that had a save to epub function was pretty grotty. Saving as a docx file and converting with calibre actually generated a cleaner epub.

[PeterT]

@dnsb I also wonder if we'll see the same garbage as one sees when a word document is formatted without intelligent usage of styles.

[arjaybe]

If I had WordPerfect I'd check it out. I wonder what the CSS looks like.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

If I had WordPerfect I'd check it out. I wonder what the CSS looks like.

I would test it, if I used Windows. You can download a free trial version.

Here's the blurb...

In addition to MOBI, the WordPerfect eBook Publisher supports the EPUB format. This provides compatibility with more eBook devices, such as Kobo, Nook, and Sony Reader. WordPerfect eBook publisher enables relative font and graphic sizing, and automatic conversion of footnotes to cross-linked endnotes. Best yet, now you can Save WordPerfect files as EPUB eBooks!

They also have a video here on the feature (done in 2014, I think). Apparently it's not a new feature — what's changed is that it now supports ePub rather than just Mobi.

https://www.wordperfect.com/en/produ...uite/#features

That's about all I can tell looking at it from the outside.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I would test it, if I used Windows. You can download a free trial version.

They also have a video here on the feature (done in 2014, I think). Apparently it's not a new feature — what's changed is that it now supports ePub rather than just Mobi.

https://www.wordperfect.com/en/produ...uite/#features

That's about all I can tell looking at it from the outside.

No Windows here. From the blurb, it looks as if it's better than the one I tried in LibreOffice last year.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

No Windows here. From the blurb, it looks as if it's better than the one I tried in LibreOffice last year.

I agree. I think they've withdrawn that feature/add-on (can't remember which). Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like I remember seeing that.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I agree. I think they've withdrawn that feature/add-on (can't remember which). Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like I remember seeing that.

It's still an option, built-in now, not an extension (LibreOffice 6.4.3.2)

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

It's still an option, built-in now, not an extension (LibreOffice 6.4.3.2)

Unfortunately, LibreOffice 6.4.3.2 still generates invalid epub2/epub3 books, can't handle lists and generates stylesheets with pt values instead of em/% values.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Unfortunately, LibreOffice 6.4.3.2 still generates invalid epub2/epub3 books, can't handle lists and generates stylesheets with pt values instead of em/% values.

I wasn't commenting on the quality of the function, I don't use it. I was simply responding to the person who said they thought the feature had been withdrawn.