10 Signs you spend too much time in Sigil

[deeplyblue]

I'm assured by a forum member of great experience that this isn't just me.

10 Signs you spend too much time in Sigil

1. You don't read any real books (dead tree) because you've lots of ebooks waiting.

2. You stop reading finished ebooks in ordinary readers because you've read them already when you "made them fit to read" in Sigil.

3. You've not the read the book properly because you were too worried about the layout.

4. You realise that you've lost the meaning of a sentence because you were too worried about where the punctuation went.

5. You've given up reading in text views and just use code view because you can see bad coding which is hidden when the text seems to work OK, but will need correcting - Just In Case.

6. You have a guide to CSS permanently loaded on your tablet. If you have a guide to regex permanently loaded on your tablet then you have it really badly.

7. When you read a well-edited mobi version of a book, you make sure you have an epub version to hand - just in case you spot something which needs editing. And then you always DO spot something that needs editing.

8. You keep all the epub versions you can find of a book, so that you have the maximum chance of getting a conclusive reading. And then keep a pdf version as well so that even bad OCR might give a proper clue.

9. You buy a paper copy of a book so that you can determine what the only corrupt ebook should have said, so that you can have a good ebook which you got to save you finding the shelf space for paper books.

10. You get given an audiobook, and your first instinct is to start loading Audacity so that you can alter the recording levels if it's a bad transfer from cassette.

[theducks]

1: True

2: False. I tend to see in 'overview mode' for formatting. Things out of place, like stray Capitals, 1 instead of I, jump out at me.

3: False(ish) But if I see something ugly that I missed, I have to go to the computer and fix it NOW!

4: ?? punctuation? OK wrong curly quotes (not a pair) bother me

5:

6: Binders and cheat sheets on the shelf under the desk

7: EPUB is my master version

8: You are talking about PD books here. Right?

9: "Why did they leave out the ...? It is in MY paper copy". Paper was first.

10: Audio? Edison cylinders. "Mary had a little lamb" (test recitation by Thomas Alva himself)

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

1. You don't read any real books (dead tree) because you've lots of ebooks waiting.

I don't read many ebooks lately either, because I am too busy converting more books to EPUB!

Last time I read a book was 02.10.2014, and maybe read half a chapter.

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

2. You stop reading finished ebooks in ordinary readers because you've read them already when you "made them fit to read" them in Sigil.

I don't read while I edit.

As theducks said, I typically just am running in "overview mode" while quickly scanning for errors.

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

3. You've not the read the book properly because you were too worried about the layout.

When I actually do get around to reading a book, I read SLOOOOW, because I am hunting for every single little typo/mistake.

If I am reading in bed, I write it down on a piece of paper next to my bed, and make the fixes next time I am on the computer.... and if I am reading on the computer, I fix it right there.

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

4. You realise that you've lost the meaning of a sentence because you were too worried about where the punctuation went.

Or when punctuation magically gets introduced, for example, depending on the fonts, a fancy italic 'm' might turn into a "m,".

Although I usually catch all punctuation errors way back at the OCR stage or the Regex stage.

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

5. You've given up reading in text views and just use code view because you can see bad coding which is hidden when the text seems to work OK, but will need correcting - Just In Case.

Yep, I do everything in Code View, and hideous code MUST BE CLEANED for maintenance purposes.

<p>The overwhelming majority of our contemporaries cannot understand the ascetic ideal. But once one rejects the principle of the ascetic conduct of life, one cannot reproach liberalism for aiming at outer well-being.</p>

is much better than:

<p class="s1">The overwhelming majority <span class="c5">o</span>f our <span class="c6">c</span>ontempo<span class="c5">r</span>aries cannot un<span class="c5">d</span>erstand t<span class="c5">h</span>e ascetic ideal. But o<span class="c5">n</span>ce one rejec<span class="c5">t</span>s t<span class="c5">h</span>e principle of the ascetic conduct of life; one can<span class="c5">n</span>ot reproach liberalism for a<span class="c10">i</span>ming at outer well-bei<span class="c5">n</span>g.</p>

The code itself should be readable to the human eye.

Note: Yes, this is a real example of an EPUB I just got a few days ago.

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

6. You have a guide to CSS permanently loaded on your tablet. If you have a guide to regex permanently loaded on your tablet then you have it really badly.

Permanently loaded into my brain maybe.

Regex, I have a ton saved up in Sigil Saved Searches, but most of the time I create them on a case-by-case basis off of the top of my head.

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

7. When you read a well-edited mobi version of a book, you make sure you have an epub version to hand - just in case you spot something which needs editing. And then you always DO spot something that needs editing.

I don't touch MOBIs... but I DO quite often do a lot of A/B code comparisons with other sources (for example, pulling HTML off of a website, and comparing the text, quickly OCRing a version off of Archive.org and comparing the two texts together).

For example, I just did an Archive.org PDF of the First Edition of a book, compared with the Third Edition of the book (to see exactly what changed).

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

8. You keep all the epub versions you can find of a book, so that you have the maximum chance of getting a conclusive reading. And then keep a pdf version as well so that even bad OCR might give a proper clue.

I don't trust ANY conversion I find 100%.

I always try to store the source material.

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

9. You buy a paper copy of a book so that you can determine what the only corrupt ebook should have said, so that you can have a good ebook which you got to save you finding the shelf space for paper books.

Nah, I don't go this far! Wasting money on a physical book? BAH!

A physical book is only allowable in the extreme case that a book just DOESN'T EXIST online in any form... then it is allowed, only for the purpose of digitization.

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

10. You get given an audiobook, and your first instinct is to start loading Audacity so that you can alter the recording levels if it's a bad transfer from cassette.

Not too big on audiobooks, but it does irk me when what is said in the audio =/= exactly what the text says (happens quite often in games, makes me want to pull my hair out!).

[varlog]

@deeplyblue
What are you actually trying to say? That we, free human beings, spend too much time doing what we really like to do... for instance preparing to do something really nice in the future?
That said: I read at least one hour daily, on my train to/from job. I would correct all those ugly things I see - but, outside the train, I've time only for essentials... whatever it is at the moment!

[icallaci]

<sigh> At least I'm not the only one. Re: #9, I usually check out the book from the local library, rather than buying the print version--although I have been known to buy the print version if the library doesn't have a copy.

I think I will print this list out and post it near my computer to remind me that I really would rather read than fix. There is no reason to be obsessed with the code if the ebook displays ok on my reader, but...but...but...I can't help myself! I need an intervention!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by icallaci

<sigh> At least I'm not the only one. Re: #9, I usually check out the book from the local library, rather than buying the print version--although I have been known to buy the print version if the library doesn't have a copy.

I think I will print this list out and post it near my computer to remind me that I really would rather read than fix. There is no reason to be obsessed with the code if the ebook displays ok on my reader, but...but...but...I can't help myself! I need an intervention!

There is Displays OK, but has a page load time from h*ll because of the horror code, like shown by tex2002ans

[cybmole]

11. copying the list into sigil & improving the layout

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

11. copying the list into sigil & improving the layout

And using Roman Numerals because they are way cooler

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by deeplyblue

9. You buy a paper copy of a book so that you can determine what the only corrupt ebook should have said, so that you can have a good ebook which you got to save you finding the shelf space for paper books.

Actually, you don't buy. You get it from the library so you don't have to keep it and take up that shelf space. That and so you don't have to pay for it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by icallaci

<sigh> At least I'm not the only one. Re: #9, I usually check out the book from the local library, rather than buying the print version--although I have been known to buy the print version if the library doesn't have a copy.

I think I will print this list out and post it near my computer to remind me that I really would rather read than fix. There is no reason to be obsessed with the code if the ebook displays ok on my reader, but...but...but...I can't help myself! I need an intervention!

What happens is that you go into the eBook to fix something like changing the generic cover for the real cover and then you find the crappy code that you must fix in case you need to go back in again.

[icallaci]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What happens is that you go into the eBook to fix something like changing the generic cover for the real cover and then you find the crappy code that you must fix in case you need to go back in again.

Exactly! I try not to look, but it jumps off the page at me, grabs me by the throat, and screams, "FIX ME!" How can I not?

[deeplyblue]

Originally Posted by theducks

And using Roman Numerals because they are way cooler

Or removing the Roman numerals because looking cool is just so wrong for this book.

Ditto styles involving light blue inherited from Word 2010 - yesterday's cool.

[deeplyblue]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What happens is that you go into the eBook to fix something like changing the generic cover for the real cover and then you find the crappy code that you must fix in case you need to go back in again.

<Groan> The trouble that impulse has got me into.

The thing is that with Sigil you can ignore the code when all you want to correct are typos - just stick to Book View.

But if you want to fix the way a cover displays, then you have to face structural issues - and that inevitably leads you into markup codes. I used to be able to do some quite clever things with WordPerfect for DOS - which required you to be able to see the codes. And later I got into writing simple macros for Word.

So I know what bad coding looks like and once you see stuff like horrors tex produced for us, then you don't have to know anything about this markup language to know that it's being badly done. And also, fatally, that you could do better. All that's needed is ...

And that's the next few weeks (at least) gone while you get to grips with the odd bits of syntax you need and the odder bits of code which you produce.

The really unkind bit is that, having spent all that time, you discover that 2 of the problems you went in to fix aren't fixable. It's murder trying to get anything to replace those horrid covers and can't be done for some combinations - like the one where on a Kindle Fire HD you can get the cover to show as a thumbnail in the list of books in the menu, but it disappears as soon as it gets to the carousel. And (thanks to Hitch for confirming this one) the Kindle DX (original e-ink but without the keyboard) won't indent quotations both sides not no how.

[GrannyGrump]

Item No. 12 -- Having the Worst of Two Worlds.
You really want to read a particular book, but your time is being taken up by editing another. So you get an audiobook of the first, and listen to it while editing the latter.

I personally tend to type what I hear... this way lies madness...

[doubleshuffle]

13. The book you're reading looks perfectly fine on your reader, but you can't really enjoy it because you looked at in Sigil and know how much gunk there is in the code.