Re: [eLyXer-users] Pass LyX comments through eLyXer?

[Alex Fernandez]

Hi Steve,

On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 6:06 PM, Steve Litt <address@hidden> wrote:
> Abso-Lutely, but I just had another thought. After seeing how LyXHTML
> handled comments, I'm beginning to wonder if the metadata not already
> provided in LyX (Title, Author and Date) should simply be put in a
> tiny XML file.
>
> Doing it separately kinda sorta makes sense when you think about it.
> In my opinion, the LyX file should always be about how it looks in
> PDF, with another file(s) providing looks/metadata in a flowing text
> eBook. Actually, it might end up with three files, one for Kindle, one
> for iPad, and one for Nook, and one for Open ePad (yeah, I have
> trouble counting :-).
>
> If you already have something that passes through comments, I'll be
> glad to test it today or in the next few days. Such a thing is
> probably a good thing in general. However, if you're doing it just for
> this specific thing, I'm thinking maybe hold off until all of us give
> it more thought.

OK, I will wait to hear from you.

> I'm most of the way through a post processor for eLyXer-derived HTML
> files that turns them into everything needed to make a Kindle. My
> script is ugly, probably crashy in other circumstances, limited in
> what situations it can handle, featureless, and pre-pre-alpha, but
> when I get it working it can at least serve as a platform for
> discussions on how to do it right the next time.

Ideally, that post-processor should be integrated within eLyXer to
generate EPUB or Kindle documents. I would be glad to add new options:
  $ elyxer.py --epub input.lyx output.html
or, for Kindle:
  $ elyxer.py --kindle input.lyx output.azw
(if that is indeed the extension for Amazon Kindle). The problem I
found when I looked into supporting EPUB was the definition of the
format itself: the supposedly open validator rejected a lot of the
constructs which eLyXer uses in its output, but they worked fine in
e.g. Calibre to generate a full EPUB document.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB#Validation
Perhaps newer versions of the specification have improved in that respect.

> Thanks for eLyXer. When you're making a Kindle book, it's the coolest
> thing since sliced cheese.

Thanks :)  I have copied the eLyXer-users list, if you want to discuss
eLyXer-specific stuff we can continue the discussion over there.

Alex.