[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: good "book" format for html? -- LyX is probably what you want

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Sun, 2004-11-28 at 01:18, Robert Pearson wrote:
> I'm replying because I am looking for a tool to use as a framework for
> a person writing books, articles, technical papers and documentation
> in general.

Are you fixed to using HTML?

Otherwise, this is the staple of LaTeX.  And the favorite WYSIWYM for
LaTeX is Qt-based LyX:  
  http://www.lyx.org/

If you have a MacOS X system:  
  http://wiki.lyx.org/pmwiki.php/LyX/Mac  

LaTeX is eternal.  The #1 typeset everyone considers for conversion
to/from when they create a new XML or other document format is LaTeX.

This includes export to ASCII, HTML, DocBook, etc...  Extensive PDF
export/publication is probably the highlight for LaTeX -- definitely a
major plus if you are going to self-publish.  This includes _complete_
and _autogenerated_ hyperref tags beyond just URLs like bookmarks,
hyperlins, TOC<->section links, etc..., as well as thumbnails of each
page.  One of my favorite Perl scripts to automate this is "tex2pdf".

My PDF outputs make MS Word + Adobe Distiller users barf on how much
manual they have to do to create the same that pdflatex+hyperref+other
tools _autogenerate_ just from the LaTeX markup.  It rivals what Adobe
FrameMaker does inherently (although LyX has no where near the DTP
capabilities of FrameMaker -- hence why I also use Scribus when
necessary).

There are converters to/from OpenOffice XML that work quite well,
including for sectioning and equations.  This is because OpenOffice XML
has quite proper sectioning, and it uses MathML for equations.  Both
convert to/from LaTeX very well.

> In one case it would be strictly private and in other cases it might
> be collaborative.

LaTeX is specifically designed for putting together collaborated
documentation.  It's how the IEEE has produced nearly all of its
journals and magazines for the last 2 decades.

You don't worry about formatting, you just write, with only minor
character/paragraph changes.  Then the publisher applies a
template/stylesheet to format as they wish.

> My preference it that the tool be written in Python.

???  Why this requirement  ???

Most standard documentation is in text format/markup.  You can then
parse external to the program.  Or you can easily add menu items to
programs like LyX to call them directly on the file.

> When I was working with SCCS every day I used my own version of SCCS
> as a document management tool. I had "how-to" procedures and "Help"
> for everything I ever wrote, which was a lot. All this text was stored
> in SCCS. Now I want to write a book. A CVS repository is overkill. A
> lightweight CVS might work.

CVS uses RCS.  The direct equivalent to SCCS is RCS.

Oh yeah, BTW, LyX has RCS/CVS support under "File -> Version Control". 
If CVS is setup (./CVS working subdirectory exists), it will
automatically use it (and call CVS to push to your repository).  If not,
it simply uses RCS and creates ",v" files locally (under the ./RCS
subdirectory if it exists).

> I am sure you have already looked at this. I'm still sorting out how
> all this works.
> My need is different from yours in that my base Information needs to
> be in text but there will be graphics and math formulas to be stored.

Then you _really_ want LaTeX and LyX.  LyX is simply the _fastest_ way
to in-line equations and complex math.

I spent the first 4.5 months this year as a middle school teacher of
math and science, and having my Linux notebook with LyX let me crank out
worksheets and exams in no time -- much faster than the crappy Windows
programs designed to do the same.

As far as graphics, LyX supports import/conversion from any, but
Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) is its native/preferred.  This is
typically what publishers use anyway.

> Hmmm! Write in HTML and have a parser format it? I'll have to think
> about that.

No documentation language I know of has more macros and parsers for it
than LaTeX.  LyX probably doesn't even do 5% of LaTeX, but it does
everything I need.  I _rarely_ have to add "Evil Red Text" (ERT =
in-line TeX).


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                    b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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