gardner said:
>   I know BB talks a good deal about ZML
>   and it sounds pretty cool

wow, that almost sounds like it could be a compliment.


>   but I've googled till my fingers bleed and
>   I cannot tell for sure what exact ZML he has in mind.

oh, you just should have asked me, gardner.

google can't find everything, especially if something
ain't all that concerned with being found by google...

on the other hand, it's pretty easy to remember it:
>   http://z-m-l.com

and oh yeah, that stands for "zen markup language".

***

at the site, click "see some examples." which takes you to:
>   http://www.z-m-l.com/go/vl3.pl

you've come to a page that has filename links on the left,
and then a respective button for each one of those files...

let's say you click the link for the top file -- test-suite.zml:
>   http://www.z-m-l.com/go/test-suite.zml

make sure to click the text link -- don't click the button yet.

the file you're viewing -- the test-suite for project gutenberg
-- has been "marked up" with z.m.l. -- zen markup language.

(z.m.l. is "zen", so you won't actually "see" any markup,
at least not any anglebrackets with tags inside of them.
but you'll see that it's formatted regularly; that's z.m.l.)

i've appended the topmost lines from that file --
the cover page and some lines from the contents
--  to this post.  once again, this is the .zml file...

***

now click the "back" button to go back to this page:
>   http://www.z-m-l.com/go/vl3.pl

this time, click on the "test-suite" button on the right side.

this will perform the conversion of the .zml file into .html,
and take you to the resultant .html file right on the web...
text colors are used to signify different structural elements.

you can save this .html to your own machine to examine it.

or put it side-by-side with the .zml file to see the conversion.

this .html, with its c.s.s., certainly won't be your cup-of-tea,
but changing the c.s.s. is a mere matter of template editing.
it validates as is, to .html 4.01, which might work for kindle,
or might not, i haven't done any checking on that specifically,
but again, we modify the conversion by editing the template.

i pointed you to the test-suite first, because reading it will
give you an introduction to the overall philosophy of it all...

also, the second file is "the 11 rules of z.m.l.", which might
also give you a good orientation, even if the file is quite old.
(but as i'm reluctant to tie anything down, it's not outdated.)

i can also turn out a mean .pdf, with that conversion routine,
and since you can size the .pdf page (and all other variables,
like font, fontsize, leading, margins, etc.) however you want,
that ends up being quite usable on a fixed-size e-ink screen.

so we have .html (important in mounting a web version), and
.pdf (for those situations where it's the user-chosen solution),
but the best part of all is that zml-viewers are easy to program.

i've coded them in basic and perl, and python should be simple.
it's very fundamental coding, so it'll be portable to any language.
it also facilitates open-source efforts, because it's easy to hack...

zml-viewer-programs turn the .zml file into a beautiful e-book,
customized to the user's preference, and offering a wide variety
of high-functionality capabilities that make a .zml file powerful.

this combination of beauty and power make z.m.l. hard to beat.

-bowerbird

p.s.  the top of the test-suite file goes like this:


the test-suite for
project gutenberg


a document containing the
full range of features found
in project gutenberg e-texts


by bowerbird intelligentleman


greetings, earthling...

this is an e-text brought to you by project gutenberg,
a 35-year-old volunteer effort to put literature online.

please see the web-site for news and information on
usage conditions for e-texts, volunteering, and more...

http://www.gutenberg.org






table of contents


the test-suite for project gutenberg
table of contents
dedication
chapter 1 -- welcome aboard
chapter 2 -- the sections of the book
chapter 3 -- text "styling"