How I'm writing my book using Vim, Git and Ruby(chrismdp.github.com)
chrismdp.github.com
How I'm writing my book using Vim, Git and Ruby
http://chrismdp.github.com/2010/11/how-im-writing-my-book-using-git-and-ruby/
6 comments
LaTeX is your friend...
Yeah, I thought about using LaTeX. I've certainly used it a lot in the past, but became quite frustrated with the weird syntax and difficulty extending. Plus its a 1.2GiB download on OSX.
I may well generate latex as an output format as a first formatting step.
I may well generate latex as an output format as a first formatting step.
There is a smaller package (92M) which is often enough:
http://www.tug.org/mactex/morepackages.html http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/mac/mactex/mactex-basic.pkg.z...
http://www.tug.org/mactex/morepackages.html http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/mac/mactex/mactex-basic.pkg.z...
Awesome: that's really useful! thanks!
...and also your enemy. "Frienemy", I think the word is. hat said, it's a nice back-end for the lightweight markup system I'm using on my own book this month. The memoir document class is really good stuff once you figure out how to use it.
[deleted]
glyph (http://github.com/h3rald/glyph) looks very promising for books writing
Hi, I am the creator of Glyph, thanks for the mention :-)
Glyph can be used in many different ways, either on its own (it can be effectly used as an alternative HTML syntax) or in conjunction with existing lightweight markups like Textile and Markdown.
When I originally thought about creating a document authoring framework, all I wanted was to extend Textile so that it could handle section. Soon afterwards, I realized I wanted more than that. I wanted the ability to reuse content through snippets and even the possibility of creating my own macros easily, so I ended up creating a new language.
How heavily you use glyph is entirely up to you. If you like Textile and Markdown, you can just use some of the core macros and sections. For example:
Regarding the syntax, I wanted something very basic (and easy to parse :P) but usable. Sometimes it may get a bit heavy, but on the other hand you can create macros for complex formatting, i.e. custom tables.
At any rate, if you have any ideas on how to improve Glyph PLEASE do contact me! I'm always looking for constructive feedback!
Glyph can be used in many different ways, either on its own (it can be effectly used as an alternative HTML syntax) or in conjunction with existing lightweight markups like Textile and Markdown.
When I originally thought about creating a document authoring framework, all I wanted was to extend Textile so that it could handle section. Soon afterwards, I realized I wanted more than that. I wanted the ability to reuse content through snippets and even the possibility of creating my own macros easily, so I ended up creating a new language.
How heavily you use glyph is entirely up to you. If you like Textile and Markdown, you can just use some of the core macros and sections. For example:
md_section[
@title[Test Section #1]
This is basically a titled div where you can use _markdown_.
]
txt_section[
@title[Test Section #2]
Here, instead, you can use *Textile*.
]
Regarding the syntax, I wanted something very basic (and easy to parse :P) but usable. Sometimes it may get a bit heavy, but on the other hand you can create macros for complex formatting, i.e. custom tables.
At any rate, if you have any ideas on how to improve Glyph PLEASE do contact me! I'm always looking for constructive feedback!
Hmm, that's cool. The new syntax puts me off somewhere, but this could form a good basis.
I'm still in procrastination mode and haven't tried glyph but it seems that textile and markdown are supported.
Looks like Markdown is only supported inline rather than a first class citizen. I think I'm after something lighter-weight than this, but I won't know until I come to try and write the publishing stuff :)
To throw another option out there, try Pandoc: http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/
Uses Markdown, converts to everything, written in Haskell.
Uses Markdown, converts to everything, written in Haskell.
This is absolutely fantastic, and quite possibly really useful...
Thanks. Been looking for a ruby like syntax to do text formatting for a while. Time to create one, I guess!
Again, not picking on the OP's tool-kit. Figured I would throw out another alternative.