Just a ping to make sure this doesn't get lost...

Thanks!

cheers... -Adam

On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 12:29 PM, Adam Engst
wrote:
> I've been playing with BookType Pro some more, and I've come up with a
> few questions:
>
> * Is there a way to preview custom CSS directly in the Web browser
> without having to generate a screen PDF? I see that I can view the
> book on the Web, but I can't seem to control the CSS used for that
> view.
>
> * How can I generate a screen PDF with fonts other than Fontina San,
> Arial, Helvetica, and Courier? We don't have truly extravagant font
> needs (mostly Georgia and Verdana), but more control is necessary.
>
> * In the screen PDF, I can't see any way to control the position of
> the page numbers; since it's a screen PDF, I don't want them to be
> positioned as though there were left/right pages. Plus, how do I
> control their font and size?
>
> * In the screen PDF, there's always a blank page at the top; how do I
> get rid of it? Obviously, I could delete it in Acrobat or the like,
> but then the page numbering is off by one.
>
> * In the screen PDF, there appears to be some sort of front page that
> has the title, publish date, and license, but I can't figure how to
> control what else should appear on that page, or how to get rid of
> those items and replace them with, say, a cover graphic.
>
> * If I create a section called "Table of Contents" and put it above my
> chapters, BookType Pro automatically creates a table of contents (but
> not with any page numbers). How would I control the styling of the
> table of the contents and get the appropriate page numbers to appear?
>
> * Speaking of sections, I discovered that I can delete one by dragging
> it to the Hold area, but I can't figure out any way to rename one. Am
> I missing something or is the only approach to delete and recreate?
>
> * Is there any way to create internal links between chapters that
> would work in PDF, EPUB, and Mobi?
>
> * Has there been progress on providing an interface for custom styles
> that will map to CSS classes? What I'm playing with right now has
> essentially no styling, but our real books have numerous styles,
> lists, tables, figures, captions, and so on.
>
> * It would be nice if there was a faster way to enter custom CSS
> rather than clicking Next multiple times to get to the Advanced
> screen. It's rather tedious when experimenting.
>
> cheers... -Adam
>
>

On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 3:43 PM, adam
wrote:
> hey

Thanks for the reply and sorry for my slow response - we had a major
release last week that sucked all available time.

> On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 9:29 AM, Adam Engst <<br />> booktype-support@lists.sourcefabric.org> wrote:
>
>> I've been playing with BookType Pro some more, and I've come up with a
>> few questions:
>>
>> * Is there a way to preview custom CSS directly in the Web browser
>> without having to generate a screen PDF? I see that I can view the
>> book on the Web, but I can't seem to control the CSS used for that
>> view.
>
> not as yet. it is coming. please see http://bookjs.net - that is where we
> are going. its usable now but not integrated into Booktype.

Got it... Do you have a target date?

>> * How can I generate a screen PDF with fonts other than Fontina San,
>> Arial, Helvetica, and Courier? We don't have truly extravagant font
>> needs (mostly Georgia and Verdana), but more control is necessary.
>
> you can use @font-face in the css and link to fonts.

Good - that's entirely doable...

>> * In the screen PDF, I can't see any way to control the position of
>> the page numbers; since it's a screen PDF, I don't want them to be
>> positioned as though there were left/right pages. Plus, how do I
>> control their font and size?
>
> at the moment you cant position page numbers. you will be with the next
> version (bookjs) of the renderer). you can control the css of the numbers
> ot change size etc. have a look at this css example:
> http://blog.booki.cc/2011/12/innovative-use-of-booki-css/

OK, as long as it's on the list... Again, a target date?

>> * In the screen PDF, there's always a blank page at the top; how do I
>> get rid of it? Obviously, I could delete it in Acrobat or the like,
>> but then the page numbering is off by one.
>>
> blank page at the top? you mean the very very first page or the first one
> after the toc?

The very first page. Now I suppose I could just replace that with a
cover image, so it's not horrible, but still...

>> * In the screen PDF, there appears to be some sort of front page that
>> has the title, publish date, and license, but I can't figure how to
>> control what else should appear on that page, or how to get rid of
>> those items and replace them with, say, a cover graphic.
>
> at the moment you cant change it. next version it is in the milestones and
> you will be able to do what you need and *much* more

Good...

>> * If I create a section called "Table of Contents" and put it above my
>> chapters, BookType Pro automatically creates a table of contents (but
>> not with any page numbers). How would I control the styling of the
>> table of the contents and get the appropriate page numbers to appear?
>
> see that above css example

Ok...

>> * Is there any way to create internal links between chapters that
>> would work in PDF, EPUB, and Mobi?
>
> there is a chapter link tool in the editor

That works well in the Web view, but doesn't work for PDF, at least. I
didn't test EPUB or Mobi.

>> * Has there been progress on providing an interface for custom styles
>> that will map to CSS classes? What I'm playing with right now has
>> essentially no styling, but our real books have numerous styles,
>> lists, tables, figures, captions, and so on.
>
> this is coming too

OK...

>> * It would be nice if there was a faster way to enter custom CSS
>> rather than clicking Next multiple times to get to the Advanced
>> screen. It's rather tedious when experimenting.
>
> i agree! thats largely why we are throwing away that system and using
> bookjs...you can use bookjs now by the way. it would meet all your needs
> now but it needs me to show you how. happy to do so if you want to try it

I'd be interested in giving it a try, but if not enough of the other
"coming soon" items mentioned above are ready, it would make more
sense to wait.

Along with doing our normal Take Control books in Booktype Pro, one of
the things I'm trying to wrap my head around is the following possible
workflow:

* Write a book as a series of sequential chapters, publishing each in
turn as a separate article on our TidBITS Web site. We write in
Markdown and generate HTML from that, so we have some control over the
HTML, but it's not nearly as semantically rich as our current approach
in Pages.

* Export chapters from our homegrown CMS to Booktype Pro, perhaps with
some munging en route to apply particular styles or change things like
relative references to absolute references, and making sure images are
linked up properly.

* Create books of either single chapters (for tossing into the
iBookstore and its lowball price scenario) or multiple chapters (for
real publishing).

* Be able to go back to the source (whether on our site or in Booktype
Pro is an open question), update it, and republish the books, as
easily as possible.

cheers... -Adam