09-17-2013, 05:41 PM | #31 | |
actually it is /var/log
Posts: 341
Karma: 2994236
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: usually Europa
Device: prs t1
|
Quote:
@Hitch The Linux lives as open source project because a lot of competing vendors see advantage to use and improve it. Is similar model in your field impossible? |
|
09-17-2013, 06:19 PM | #32 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,111
Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
|
|
Advert | |
|
09-17-2013, 06:54 PM | #33 |
350 Hoarder
Posts: 3,574
Karma: 8281267
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Midwest USA
Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2
|
I would be absolutely lost without Sigil. I've purchased books that were a mess ranging from various size text popping up within chapters, even within same paragraphs, to overuse of tables that chopped off the majority of the text on my readers, where it was too annoying and even impossible to read without fixing it.
I'm perfectly happy with Sigil it in its current state even if it never makes another update. Other than if somewhere along the line epub3 replaces epub2, just so it can work on whatever new standard would take over. I'm sure all of us appreciate this program more than we ever say and thank you and all the past contributors for keeping it available for us. Here's hoping it somehow still has a long and healthy life. |
09-17-2013, 07:27 PM | #34 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,111
Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
|
I agree with Ripplinger. Sigil became a great program in the last two years.
It would be worth it to maintain its current working status by bugfixes where necessary, even if it never received another new feature. |
09-17-2013, 08:29 PM | #35 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,309
Karma: 43993832
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Monroe Wisconsin
Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)
|
I have to agree with that too. There have been some improvements since I first found my way to Sigil (a lot in ease of use I think) and if you keep on adding on new stuff eventually the main program could get buried. In any event even if new features aren't added (either in the short or long term) it does work great as is. Are there still some bugs? I don't know, though I do agree it is possible, and as OS's change some issues may develop in the future. Still it does what it is designed to do and does it well. What more could anyone ask?
|
Advert | |
|
09-17-2013, 10:33 PM | #36 |
Guru
Posts: 697
Karma: 150000
Join Date: Feb 2010
Device: none
|
Well, shucks! I shouldn't have waited this long to jump into this thread, and now I struggle to find something cogent to say to all the commentary that has gone before.
First, I want to thank John, Dave, and the other contributors (Drake? - I surely don't want to leave anyone out, but since the source tree has been removed from google code, I'm working from (a very faulty) memory) for the absolutely awesome work they have done to bring sigil to this point. I've been using it since about version 0.2, when it was still mostly a gleam in Valloric's eye, until now. When he handed it off to user-none, I had the same misgivings as Hitch. Namely, that its days were numbered. But, I thought, by now the basic functionality I needed was in place; and not too buggy, so dayenu! It is enough! But that was not to be. I have been following the code base all along, and I wonder how many regulars in this thread realize how massive the changes "under the hood" have been since user-none stepped up to the plate. People, according to the fascinating statistics cited above, there are over a million lines of code in the current project. And, it's C++ at that. If you are not a C++ coder -- and I'm not, though not for want of effort -- let me tell you that John et al. have done a mighty work to bring Sigil to where it is today. Who am I, and where am I coming from? As some of you know, I work for a small-press publisher that has been active in both e-books and print for a decade or more. My job is to prepare the e-books for distribution. (BTW, for better or worse, we are adamantly non-DRM, so that isn't a consideration.) In my workflow, I take master files in Adobe InDesign format, or Word .doc files (if there is no print contract, or if we are doing an ARC), export them as an epub, and use Sigil to make final modifications, which are not insignificant. Sigil is so important to our workflow, that if it ceased to exist, I would create a virtual Linux machine at the last level that was compatible with Sigil, and install the Last Sigil, and keep it as an application that would enable me to edit and modify our epubs, from which we make every other commercial format. And yes, my company are monitary contributors to the Sigil project. And if stepping that up would help, I'm sure we would. Not that I have any control over those decisions, but my input is valued, I think. Sure, I could do it by hand, but Sigil does all the book-keeping when an epub is modified. To do it by hand, I'd never remember all the changes in content.opf, for example, not to mention the toc.ncx, and whatever else. So yeah, Sigil in its present form will live forever on our network. But I hope it will manage to survive in development somehow. And with heartfelt thanks to John et al. I remain, Albert Last edited by st_albert; 09-17-2013 at 11:22 PM. |
09-18-2013, 03:29 AM | #37 | |
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
Posts: 11,482
Karma: 158448243
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2
|
Quote:
I suspect not. Most of my "competitors" are using insta-programs like Jutoh, or AWP, or are uploading Word files that have been cleaned at NookPress and KDP. I just don't see a large enough commercial market for Sigil if, say, 20-30 largish commercial supporters don't step up and commit to $X annually to keep it going. And I don't think that means only $100 or even $500 each. I don't think most people have any idea what it takes to support coding. (I'm talking about someone nearly half-time, to keep up with the requests for everything that gets whacked around in here, as an OS project--not talking what I'd need for a forked version, supported by me for my company only). John and the other guys have done yeoman's jobs...but again, nobody is going to do that for nothing forever. That's a reality of life. Just my $.02. Yes, Sigil as-is will live on our servers for a long, long time...but as Albert knows, the market changes constantly. As little as a year ago, we didn't need some of what we need now. Some things--as small as DC: categories, can cause an ePUB to die at Lulu, for example (e.g., the Creator meta, instead of author). These things are easy to fix with Sigil, harder with other programs. I don't particularly want to use something else or to do most of this crap by hand, myself, and I promise my staff doesn't. Hitch |
|
09-18-2013, 05:45 AM | #38 | ||||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,111
Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
|
Quote:
Same goes for LilyPond and Frescobaldi. Maybe I should start looking into a Linux VM in case things go wrong. (As in: Windows changes in such a way that one of these programs won't run, and they can't be updated anymore.) A Linux VM may be more future-proof than the already ancient Windows XP. Quote:
Sigil keeps the details of how EPUBs are constructed out of the way, letting you do what you actually need to do. Quote:
Quote:
"I want a button that does <insert huge complex task> here, as we promised that to our clients. It has to be done in a month." - "Dude... that's a MASSIVE task. That will take two people half a year to develop!" "But it's only a button! You drag it on the form and write some code for it." - *sigh* The times I've had conversations like that... Last edited by Katsunami; 09-18-2013 at 07:15 AM. |
||||
09-18-2013, 06:35 AM | #39 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,377
Karma: 12117217
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Madrid, Spain
Device: Kobo Clara/Aura One/Forma,XiaoMI 5, iPad, Huawei MediaPad, YotaPhone 2
|
Quote:
|
|
09-18-2013, 08:27 AM | #40 | |
Wizard
Posts: 4,334
Karma: 4000000
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Paris
Device: Cybooks; Sony PRS-T1
|
Quote:
Juho does some decent job with css / html, but as someone with knowledge in css / html, it pains me to see badly codded ePubs. And sigil is a wonderful tools for that. |
|
09-18-2013, 08:41 AM | #41 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 27,995
Karma: 199013032
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD
|
I've been fairly impressed with the simplicity/efficiency of the markup/css behind commercial epubs I'm starting see that appear to have been created with AWP. That's not to say they haven't been cleaned up a bit after AWP, but still... pleasantly surprised.
But yeah, the level of detail/granularity that Sigil provides for the tweaking of an existing ePub is where it really shines. |
09-18-2013, 11:49 AM | #42 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,309
Karma: 43993832
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Monroe Wisconsin
Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)
|
Quote:
|
|
09-18-2013, 03:18 PM | #43 |
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
Posts: 11,482
Karma: 158448243
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2
|
We have similar discussions, even down at the lowly ebook level. "Why can't you just put three columns for my glossary," or my personal favorite "why can't you do it right now? It's only ONE little edit!"
That's the main problem, with user_none supporting Sigil. It's just too much for one guy, with a full-time job, who isn't being paid. {shrug}. We're all going to have to roll our own, I suspect. Hitch |
09-18-2013, 04:25 PM | #44 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,111
Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
|
Quote:
I think I'm going to hang myself. If there's one thing that's hard to do in CSS, it's columns. Yeah, it can be done with tricks, but you often need(ed) different tricks for different browsers. Quote:
|
||
09-18-2013, 04:49 PM | #45 | |
eBook FANatic
Posts: 18,301
Karma: 16071131
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Alabama, USA
Device: HP ipac RX5915 Wife's Kindle
|
Quote:
"This would be a great job if it were not for the cudtomer." |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
SAD NEWS | Nate the great | Lounge | 6 | 12-29-2007 03:24 PM |
Sad news about Jim Baen | Liviu_5 | News | 2 | 06-17-2006 09:29 PM |