On 01/24/2011 11:25 PM, Jim Adcock wrote:
using z.m.l. -- or r.s.t. for that matter -- i can churn out an .html file which knocks the socks off anything you do, and i can also churn out a .pdf that looks very _beautiful_ (or "pretty", if you prefer, both words apply fine, thanks.)
The simple answer to "I can do it" is to actually show that you can do it, but everything I see "churned out" is butt ugly -- and then excuses are made.
No excuses! He *has* written a tool (on Mac OS 7.5) that is *almost* in beta now and you may backchannel him for a copy and it really *works* (in the sense that it sometimes manages to print a splash screen before it dies a horrible death.) But don't tell him that or, out of spite, he will spend another couple of years to program the best tool on earth to do just what you need and then put it on the top shelf because you don't deserve to use it.
HTML is far from perfect for PG needs, but it can be made to work, as 10s of thousands of HTML formatted books for PG already attest -- as does the preference from real users to download HTML or one of its derived formats.
What we need is a library, that is: a body of texts done all the same way. 10.000s of books made in HTML just attest that you can do books in HTML in 10.000 different ways. It is practically impossible to teach good markup to people that have had a prior exposure to HTML: as markup editors they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration. In book markup HTML is a problem not a solution.
Or, better yet, put up some ZML or RST test files on the PG website and count on your fingers and toes how many customers you actually get for your newly invented file formats! Good luck on that one!
These 10 books were made with rst: 34605 34654 34978 35031 35034 35044 35077 35078 35079 35080 You can test them on your devices of choice and tell me what doesn't work. -- Marcello Perathoner webmaster@gutenberg.org