Feature request: new CSS class from computed style

[kat7]

Hi Sigil,

I figured I'd share this idea for whatever it's worth (I'm that annoying person who isn't a programmer but has ideas that make me wish I was).

If Sigil had a tool where you could place the cursor at a particular point in the text, and then create a new CSS class based on the formatting of that text, that would be awesome for me.

So, if the particular text was in a <p class="W" id="X">, but also in a <span id="Y" style="Z">, the tool would take the ("computed") overall style expressed by the hierarchy of W, X, Y, and Z, and make a new, single CSS class with all that styling. I suppose it would have to prompt the user to name the class, and also to specify whether it should be for a block or for an inline element.

(Possibly helpful context: I routinely work on .epub files exported from InDesign, in which the layout person can create named "paragraph" and "character styles", which are directly translated to CSS classes. But the layout person can also apply "local" formatting in a haphazard manner which is not associated with their named styles. In the exported .epub, this local formatting is rendered as CSS classes called ParaOverride-15, CharOverride-107, and so forth.

The result is that some text in the epub is styled by way of three or four levels of confusingly named CSS, which makes it difficult to make a change without first untangling which CSS is overriding which other CSS. Also, text A may appear exactly the same as text B--so that in the ideal world they would be coded as the same element with the same class--however A may achieve its appearance using different classes than does text B, from unrelated "local" formatting applied in InDesign.)

Anyway just a thought in case it finds anyone else who feels similarly. And, if you have read this far, thank you for enduring my InDesign rant!

[st_albert]

+1 on the InDesign rant.

I solve that problem in ID before exporting, by, for example, searching for all italic character strings and applying an appropriate named character style to them. Repeat for bold, etc. as needed. Then select the entire document and "clear all overrides."

Follow up with a severe lecture to whoever created the ID file in the first place, requesting that they never use local formatting overrides. They'll probably make YOU the new internal book designer.

[eschwartz]

Reduce the whole thing to raw text, and send it back for proper formatting.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by st_albert

+1 on the InDesign rant.

I solve that problem in ID before exporting, by, for example, searching for all italic character strings and applying an appropriate named character style to them. Repeat for bold, etc. as needed. Then select the entire document and "clear all overrides."

Follow up with a severe lecture to whoever created the ID file in the first place, requesting that they never use local formatting overrides. They'll probably make YOU the new internal book designer.

We are the formatters for a number of print-layout houses--they can't abide the idea of making eBooks (for the amounts paid for eBooks), and we're always happy to do it. However, boy-o-boy-o, do we get some DOOZY INDD formatting.

When we establish a relationship with a print-layout house, we'll go through their first few, and make suggestions. However, there are some that come to us and we charge them as though we are making the file from PDF, rather than an INDD set, because the clean-up is just...ridiculous. As kat7 noted, once you start seeing "char-overrides" in the 60's, 70's, etc...it makes your eyes bleed.

Yes, a computed-style creator WOULD Be nice. That, and someone paying off my mortgage. I figure that they have about equivalent chances of actually happening, but just in case Santa was reading this thread, I'll plus-1 this. ;-)

(I must admit though: we do most of our INDD-export cleanups in Epsilon, not Sigil. Sorry, but there it is.)

Hitch

[jugaor]

Originally Posted by Hitch

(I must admit though: we do most of our INDD-export cleanups in Epsilon, not Sigil. Sorry, but there it is.)

Hi.
Sorry for the ignorance, what is Epsilon?
(a link would be nice )

TIA

[drjenkins]

I'm pretty sure he's referring to Lugaru Epsilon, the editor for programmers.

http://www.lugaru.com/

It's not cheap at $250.00.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by drjenkins

I'm pretty sure he's referring to Lugaru Epsilon, the editor for programmers.

http://www.lugaru.com/

It's not cheap at $250.00.

Yes, that's right.

Hitch

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by drjenkins

I'm pretty sure he's referring to Lugaru Epsilon, the editor for programmers.

He is a she.

[JSWolf]

But there is a bug in the computer CSS style. It's using px for the font-size and that's wrong. It should be using em.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

He is a she.

S/he doesn't mind. ;-)

HItch

[eschwartz]

Epsilon sounds interesting, but what speciically do you get over vim? I glanced at their comparison page but it looks like they hype a lot of things that you can do with the right vim plugins.

Of course, I imagine vim is more complex to learn (and I am a newbie ).

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Epsilon sounds interesting, but what speciically do you get over vim? I glanced at their comparison page but it looks like they hype a lot of things that you can do with the right vim plugins.

Of course, I imagine vim is more complex to learn (and I am a newbie ).

Couldn't say. I sort of inherited it, from one of our contractors, and stayed with it. Sort of a "if it ain't broke..." thing.

Hitch

[BetterRed]

I used Epsilon on a couple of projects. I (we) liked it because the scripting language is C-like, we were writing our software in C and assembler. It could also emulate Underware Brief which a lot of the programmers had used in previous jobs. As in Hitch's usage, it snuck in via a contractor - it replaced vi, emacs, and Brief.

Bit expensive for personal use though, we had a multi-seat site license.

BR

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Epsilon sounds interesting, but what speciically do you get over vim? I glanced at their comparison page but it looks like they hype a lot of things that you can do with the right vim plugins.

Of course, I imagine vim is more complex to learn (and I am a newbie ).

Don't go there, please! Warflame between Linux and Windows is sweeter than warflame between vi and emacs

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I used Epsilon on a couple of projects. I (we) liked it because the scripting language is C-like, we were writing our software in C and assembler. It could also emulate Underware Brief which a lot of the programmers had used in previous jobs. As in Hitch's usage, it snuck in via a contractor - it replaced vi, emacs, and Brief.

Bit expensive for personal use though, we had a multi-seat site license.

BR

Indeedy, BetterRed! To be clear--I inherited the habit of usage, but not a license--that, I had to pay for. For ALL dem seats, dammit! ;-) And, yes, I like it. It and NoteTab Pro were the two main instigators in me finally breaking down and buying Regex Buddy not only for me, but for those on my crew who were still learning regex-fu. (We have folks that come in, in customer service, who are curious about eBooks, and decide to learn to make them, and thus move over to production from CS. None of them have come equipped regex-ready!)

The divine Terisa de morgan said:

Don't go there, please! Warflame between Linux and Windows is sweeter than warflame between vi and emacs

Indeed. No wars here. I have a PC and a Mini-Mac sitting on my desktop (admittedly, I really don't love Macs), and a Linux box sitting next to the desk. My Customer Service Manager, assistant and head whip-cracker, Indy, uses a Linux laptop. We have Win 7, Win 8 and WinXP computers around the shop...we're ominvores.

Hitch