I've been slowly writing stuff with LyX for a long time. But never actually published any of it. Lately I've been thinking of epublishing something, but lyx doesn't output EPUB format. I found a discussion about it on their mailing list that said it was possible to use something Called Sigil to convert, at least simple documents from LyXHTML to EPUB. Somebody suggested it would be easier to write new stuff with docbook:

LyX mailing list post wrote:(Docbook) XMLMind, which outputs both PDF and ePub

Not having ever used docbook I thought I'd try it long enough to find out if I could stand it's user interface...

With Synaptic I first searched for Sigil, which I couldn't find... Then I installed Docbook. At least I thought I did. But I couldn't figure out how to get it started. So I went back to Synaptic and repeated the search for"docbook" and selected every single listed package with the word docbook in the name. In /usr/doc I now find a number of docbook2XXX filters but nothing to actually write anything with...

What am I missing here???

This is not my area of expertise, but it looks like docbook is a file format/xml schema language and not necessarily an app. The docbook wiki says you need a docbook aware text or xml editor for authoring. the suggested list in synaptic for docbook also pulls in gnu-emacs, which by all reports will work with docbook.

that said, when I installed docbook on my system, there is an option in libreofficer writer to save to docbook format.

this is a list from some ubuntu folks that might interest you.


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Just something to try. In root terminal
wait. It may take a minute or less to finish.
I use locate alot like a biker uses a roadmap when cruising through unknown territory.

Yes, docbook is a format of text, like manpages, the program suggested was XMLMind.

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You could use pandoc and convert .txt to epub:


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url was:"http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/epub.html"
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This means you can use any editor you fancy - you just have to add the 'right' format tags, as shown in the example. You could of course go straight Markdown, too (this would be like the wiki style).

rokytnji wrote: I use locate alot like a biker uses a roadmap when cruising through unknown territory.

I usually keep sniffing for beer.

dolphin_oracle wrote:This is not my area of expertise, but it looks like docbook is a file format/xml schema language and not necessarily an app. The docbook wiki says you need a docbook aware text or xml editor for authoring.

Well that explains that part of my problem anyway.

the suggested list in synaptic for docbook also pulls in gnu-emacs, which by all reports will work with docbook.

Unfortunately, in my case, emacs is very much UN-loved. And while I do like vim, I'm not interested in interrupting the creative flow of my words with having to figure out which tags to insert where... {And that's assuming that I can figure out the syntax of said tags} :sigh:

that said, when I installed docbook on my system, there is an option in libreofficer writer to save to docbook format.

Yes, I see that now. But that leaves me with a different problem. I read somewhere {wikihow I think} That I'd want to avoid using actual"point font sizes" in favor of a a relative sized system of measurement for text. I haven't a clue how to get libreoffice or abiword for that matter, to use relative font sizes.

Now about that Ubuntu link...:

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wrote: comments: LaTeX oriented but can import / export DocBook

But my copy of LyX {on antiX} doesn't include anything that looks like docbook to me in either the import or export menus... Which may be a moot point anyway because none of the docbook converters in /usr/bin seem to include an"docbook2epub" anyway.

fatmac wrote:Yes, docbook is a format of text, like manpages, the program suggested was XMLMind.

Thanks for the link... Hmmnnn In spite of what that Ubuntu link said of XMLmind:

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linktext was:"about LyX https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DocBookEditors"
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wrote: comments: not Open Source, free to use but restricted

It looks like XMLmind wants $400 USD for a user license, which just isn't in my budget right now.

machinebacon wrote:You could use pandoc and convert .txt to epub:

This means you can use any editor you fancy - you just have to add the 'right' format tags, as shown in the example. You could of course go straight Markdown, too (this would be like the wiki style).

Now that looks promising... It says it can convert between many file formats, including xhtml, latex, and epub. So maybe, I can continue to write with LyX, export to latex or LyXHTML {which results in filename.xhtml} and use pandoc to convert it to epub...

A quick and dirty test seems to work from the LyX's xhtml output. So far it looks like the main things I'll need to adapt to is: not using tables or footnotes, and to figure out how to use CSS instead of LyX's ERT codes.

Anybody know where I can find a good {beginner} howto on CSS???

Anyway, it looks like Pandoc might just work for me.

To all of you kind hearted souls who responded to my problem:

THANKS!

Here some resources for CSS:

Tutorials

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Reference

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Two links to Ebooks that I never posted __{{emoticon}}__


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machinebacon wrote:Here some resources for CSS:

Thanks for the links...