Looking for tester for EPUB software

[crankypants]

Hi,
I wrote some Perl software to make EPUB books from Markdown files. Markdown is a simplified language to you can focus on writing, instead of XHTML. I'm looking for 1-2 testers for this software.

- You will have to install Perl on your machine. It's for any OS that supports Perl. I develop it on a flash drive using Strawberry Perl.
- You will have to know how to unzip a .ZIP file.
- It comes with a 00readme.md file with instructions.
- I'm looking for feedback on how to improve the program, and feed back on bugs.
- It's free software.

Let me know and I will PM you a Dropbox link.

Features

1. It supports only Title and Author in metadata at this point. I'm looking for what other metadata it should support.
2. Almost all the Markdown is supported. But authors should not be doing anything fancy as most ebook readers only support basic tags.
3. An additional feature is added called Quicklinks. Anything that begins with "http", "https" or "ftp" in between < and > is a Quicklink that will be converted to an XHTML link. Example: <http://www.google.com>.
4. In the build (.BLD) file is where you list all your source (.MD) files, images, and CSS files along with meta data.
5. It supports multiple CSS files.
6. It supports multiple MD (Markdown) source files. The order they are listed in the Build file is the order they will appear in the EPUB.

Thanks.

[DaleDe]

The ePub standard requires a bit more metadata. You can look at our wiki https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Metadata#ePUB_metadata for details but the required items are title, author (if available), language, unique id. I might be interested in testing but I need to learn a bit about markdown files.

Dale

[crankypants]

This is the Markdown syntax. It's designed to be much easier to use than HTML or other languages and it's less intrusive when proofreading. https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax

But not all markdown supported should go into an ebook, not all ereaders support all XHTML. Just stick with basic Markdown. There is 00readme.md file included in the zip file.

I'll look into supporting the required meta data. I already have the author, title and language supported. I just need the unique id.

Examples of Markdown:

# This is header level 1.

## This is header level 2.

### This is header level 3.

*This is italic* text.

**This is bold** text.

This is inline code: `12345`

> This is a block quote.
> If the next line is below it, this line will be included and rewrapped as part of the block quote.

Paragraphs are separated by blank lines.
Focus on writing, not formatting.

[Turtle91]

Is this your own "flavor" of markdown or is it one of the standard? I'm not sure I agree with it being "easier" than html...I think it would be easier to use a tag that actually said what it is...but, to each his own!

######Header 6###### or <h6>Header 6</h6>
**bold** or <b>bold</b>
*italic* or <i>italic</i>

***Bold Italics*** or <b><i>Bold Italics</i></b> (does this even work in markdown???)

[crankypants]

If you're used to HTML then go with what you know. That, naturally, will be easier.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Is this your own "flavor" of markdown or is it one of the standard? I'm not sure I agree with it being "easier" than html...I think it would be easier to use a tag that actually said what it is...but, to each his own!

######Header 6###### or <h6>Header 6</h6>
**bold** or <b>bold</b>
*italic* or <i>italic</i>

***Bold Italics*** or <b><i>Bold Italics</i></b> (does this even work in markdown???)

Turtle:

Using that method, no, it doesn't work in Markdown. We use two brands of Markdown, in-house (not by choice, mind you); our Desk customer service system uses Textile, and our PM (production management) system uses the version that is used here.

Honestly, it drives me bonkers, having to switch back and forth between the two, ALL DAY LONG. But...that's one of the drawbacks to SAS; you don't get to drive the bus.

And no--I think if people know HTML (or have even used Wordperfect), using Markdown is make-work. Just my $.02. I know a number of people who are married to it, however. I absolutely don't understand how on earth it allows you to "focus on writing," when (and this is from someone who uses two flavors of Markdown, all. day. long.) you have to CONSTANTLY think about what to use to code italics, bold, headings, etc. Like you, I certainly don't see how using 4 hashmarks is faster than using an HTML h4 heading.

I guess...if you want to use a text editor, like NoteTab Plus, to do your writing, then...I guess Markdown works as good as anything else. ???

If memory serves, user_none was working on this very thing--a markdown ePUB-maker/editor, about...2 years ago, methinks. If he sees this post, perhaps he'll comment.

Hitch

[DaleDe]

I think the idea of Markdown is that the text is easier to proofread when reading the source file. It also requires less typing. The downside is that it is another thing to learn.

Dale

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I think the idea of Markdown is that the text is easier to proofread when reading the source file. It also requires less typing. The downside is that it is another thing to learn.

Dale

Well, I can state that if this old broad can learn Markdown (two types, mind you) in minutes, so, too, can anyone. But for me, it's just faster to type the coding for HTML/XHTML than markdown. Admittedly, it's likely the EASIEST markup language/mechamism in existence, but that's because it's so bloody limited. For simple text, however--say, a fiction novel--what it does should suit most.

I have at least one friend that processes Markdown-->HTML-->ePUB. Hey, y'know, whatever floats your boat.

Hitch

[dickloraine]

Some flavors of markdown are good for writing mathematical or programming related texts, supporting code highlighting, math equations etc. With pandoc for example you can produce a html, epub, latex and pdf file out of your source, all very decent and without knowing anything about these formats. If one wants/needs full control over the layout, markdown is of course not the best choice.

I think github for example uses markdown for creating documentations and readmes.

[Arios]

This is a nice initiative crankypants!

I'm busy presently, but I'd surely like to give it a try (I'll send you a PM).

I think markdown is very useful for short notes and to begin a writing project.

I tend to use WriteMonkey (http://writemonkey.com/index.php) because it can export to the default web browser so you can see the source and get html codes easily. Moreover, you can choose different markup standard: nice!

By the way, the main screen looks like an old DOS app!

The fun thing is when you have learned the codes pertaining to your "markdown flavor": you can use it with the most simplistic text editor.

Turtle91, do you use <h6> regularly? I think I never gone so deep.

PS MarkdownPad (also freeware) is not bad either.

[eschwartz]

Competing markdown standards are fun

Since we're going with make-work anyway, has anyone ever thought of using ReStructuredText as the source?

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by Arios

Turtle91, do you use <h6> regularly? I think I never gone so deep.

Only in one text-type book I made a few years ago. <h6> was just an example to show that markdown isn't what I consider "easier". It's just a different language that the author would need to learn. As Hitch stated - the author would have to keep trying to remember what the codes were when typing. Is bold one or two asterisks??? Where they could just use a "b" for bold and never forget.

Of course, the author could just have a cheat sheet taped to the side of the monitor showing what all the markdown would be for each different case...but it seems like it would be just as difficult while "proofreading" to keep looking at the sheet to remember what *** meant.

Alternately, the cheat sheet could simply have:
<p> - paragraph
<b> - bold
<i> - italics
<h1-6> - header
<blockquote> - blockquote

And they would be done... especially when they could use a simple tool that automagically added a new <p></p> when you hit the enter key, or added the appropriate tags around a highlighted word or phrase with the push of a button

[dickloraine]

It's about readability in that simple case. Especially that you don't need a <p> tag for every paragraph. And it strictly seperates the layout from the content (of course your simple html does that too). Because it is so simple, automatic processing is simple too.

[Arios]

Turtle91 we are not going to set the Thames on fire here as I totally agree with you! Moreover, crankypants has nailed it perfectly: the best thing is to use what we are used to.

And this exactly what I do for html, using a text editor (usually NoteTab Light and some clipbooks) and applying needed codes through it: very simple and effective.

Though, codes used in markdown are also easy to remember (at least for me, but I have only one set to deal with ) even if there are some variations in sets.

Borow from WriteMonkey help card 

Phrase emphasis

**bold**
*italic*
or _bold_ / _italic_

Structure

Heading 1
=======

Heading 2
------------
or

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
...
###### Heading 6

LINKS
[link text](http://blabla.com)

ORDERED LIST

1. First
1. Sub item indented with TAB
2. Sub item indented with TAB
2. Second
3. *Third*

UNORDERED LIST (use -, + or *)

- First
- Sub item indented with TAB
- Sub item indented with TAB
- Second
- _Third_

INDENTED PARAGRAPHS (BLOCKQUOTES)

> This paragraph is indented
>> This is nested indented paragraph

HORIZONTAL RULES, PAGE BREAK
--- , +++ or ***

IMAGES
! [Alt text] (http://blabla.com/img.jpg)

Anyway, I don't care here to own the truth, I just want to say again that markdown can be fun to use and useful for some kind of projects and a few people.

[DaleDe]

Anyone interested in markdown and other pure text formats may be interested in our wiki. In particular Pandoc is a good place to start as it can convert many different formats.

Dale