Hi Bowerbird, On 2012-09-22, Bowerbird@aol.com wrote:
but my best advice is this: "it's a trap! turn back!"
You are probably right, but I need something more specific or I'll forever be wondering if it could have been done, and that is even worse than trying and failing. Your ZML discussions shaped the idea of the MS and RTT. They demonstrated that you cannot hope to dictate an intermediate master format to volunteers, no matter what arguments and proof you can put forward to its superiority. If everyone wants to use their own master formats, then the RTT is as far as you can go. I understand that you are building up your own ebook repository. I would propose that for books with MS and RTT files in the PG archives, you could very swiftly mark them up in ZML and add them to your repository. Conversely, if you were working on books without MS and RTT files available, it would be very little extra work to produce these files and add them to PG as you build the books. In fact if you could push your MS through P1->P1->P2->P2 at DP as part of a recognised project, it would save you some effort. I am very aware that you have been working in this area for a long, long time, and that I am very much a newcomer. If that experience gives you an awareness of political or technical hurdles that will destroy this project, I implore you to detail them. If they appear to be insurmountable, I promise you that I will indeed turn back! Cheers Jon