Thanks, Xavier!
On Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 1:02:08 PM UTC-4, Xavier wrote: > > Hi Ed, > > Not yet ready because of some pressing redesign, but it will eventually be > released as a normal plugin, hopefully via some Community Plugin Library > that TW5 greatest minds have given thought to recently. > > Cheers, > -- Xavier Cazin > > > On Thu, Jun 25, 2020 at 6:44 PM Ed Heil <edh...@fastmail.fm <javascript:>> > wrote: > >> Was the "epub slicer" ever released publicly? >> >> >> On Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 6:33:57 AM UTC-4, Xavier Cazin wrote: >>> >>> Hi everyone, >>> >>> TL;DR: Go to >>> https://www.7switch.com/fr/ebook/9783962558772/great-expectations-serapis-classics, >>> >>> click on "Read an extract" and play with it. Then come back if you'd like >>> to know more. >>> >>> I have been working in the publishing industry for the past 25 years, >>> including the last 10 years as the co-founder of a French ebook >>> distribution company, *immatériel.fr <http://xn--immatriel-f4a.fr>*. >>> Among many things that got me frustrated in the course of selling ebooks is >>> the fact that ebook formats have never been in phase with how we have >>> linked ourselves to knowledge in the two last decades. >>> >>> >>> The main reason for this particular failure is because ePub and >>> Mobipocket were initially (around 2010) imposed to publishers by Apple and >>> Amazon respectively, and became soon the only digital formats that >>> publishers could sell to the main vendors (actually, Google Play Books also >>> sells PDF books). >>> >>> While there are other reasons to rant about the current state of the >>> ebook market, I gave some thought about what could be a likeable modern >>> format for eBooks, and as you guessed, TiddlyWiki checked all the boxes: >>> >>> 1. the book should be easy to open: the reading app could be the >>> same browser that you used to buy the book, whether you are on your >>> mobile >>> or at your desktop; >>> 2. it should be readable both offline or online; >>> 3. it should open at the same place where you stopped reading last >>> time; >>> 4. typesetting should be as beautiful and complex as a website can >>> be; >>> 5. content should be truly multimedia, including live content from >>> anywhere on the network. Audio books should be a mere byproduct of this >>> feature; >>> 6. authors should be allowed to multiply standpoints on its content; >>> 7. readers should be able to reorganise the initial content, and >>> also write above and around it; >>> 8. for the paranoids out there or those who missed Tim O'Reilly's >>> famous piece on piracy >>> >>> <https://www.oreilly.com/content/piracy-is-progressive-taxation-and-other-thoughts-on-the-evolution-of-online-distribution/> >>> >>> back in the days, book content should be easy to encrypt. Ebooks lending >>> to >>> libraries might actually be a good use case. >>> >>> So we at *immatériel.fr <http://xn--immatriel-f4a.fr>* considered that >>> this territory was worth exploring and we dedicated our 2019 R&D efforts >>> into building a TW5 alternative format for customers who were regularly >>> buying ePubs at our experimental bookstore *7switch.com >>> <http://7switch.com>*. We had to move forward on two fronts in parallel: >>> >>> - Converting our full catalog of 80K ePubs from more than 1000 >>> (mostly French) publishers into TW5 >>> - Figuring a way to display books in an homogeneous way, yet >>> familiar enough for both people reading content on the Web and people >>> used >>> to ePub reading apps, while showing off their new TiddlyWiki nature. >>> >>> So I asked *Jeremy* if he'd welcome a sponsoring for such a project >>> through his company *Federatial* and, to my awe, he said yes of course! >>> Parallely, since I wasn't sure of how we should render the typical book >>> elements nor the typical features of an ebook reading app in a TW5 >>> interface, I asked *JD*, one of our gifted community contributors to >>> TW5 user interfaces, for ideas and preliminary tests. >>> >>> >>> Soon enough, the three of us had regular meetings, that eventually led >>> to a *preliminary release* of several great open source products that >>> are now embedded into every non-DRM books and extracts that you'll find at >>> the *7switch* ebookstore: >>> >>> 1. The first one is already included in the current prerelease of >>> TW5: the dynaview plugin >>> >>> <https://tiddlywiki.com/prerelease/#%24%3A%2Fplugins%2Ftiddlywiki%2Fdynaview> >>> >>> allows content to come into view dynamically in response to familiar >>> gestures like scrolling. >>> 2. Next comes the *dynannotate* plugin, which will soon make its way >>> to 5.1.22, and is already included in books and extracts that you can >>> find >>> on *7switch*. With it, you can annotate content in a various number >>> of ways. >>> 3. Then you'll find the *ePub-slicer* plugin, a tool to convert any >>> ePub file into a plugin that essentially contains a list of small >>> content >>> chunks (aka tiddlers!) which can be revealed during the scroll as you >>> read >>> the book in the browser. Thanks to their plugin nature, not only >>> multiple >>> converted books can be hosted in a single TW5 file, but also one can >>> override book content without fear, since the original shadow tiddlers >>> could be retrieved at any time. Note that the HTML parsing is not yet >>> complete, as we'd like to be able to parse any ePub, whether their >>> content >>> has been well semantised or not. So if you see spurious </li> or >>> </blockquote> every once in a while, don't be surprised: *you're >>> looking at a work in progress*. >>> 4. Finally, you'll also find JD's *TW Book Wrapper* plugin, which is >>> responsible for most specific UI elements, from annotations management >>> to >>> the automatic language switching, based on your browser default >>> language. >>> By the way, we started with French and English as built-in interface >>> languages. If you'd like to submit more translations, you're welcome! >>> >>> Please have a try with any non-DRM books (or their extracts) that you'll >>> find on 7switch >>> <https://www.7switch.com/en/list/drmfree/lang-eng/new/page/1/sales>. >>> Also try to drag and drop your own ePubs (in so-called *Author Mode*) >>> to add books in these TW5 containers. And tell us what you think! >>> >>> >>> Cheers, Xavier. >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TiddlyWiki" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to tiddl...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiddlywiki/a53f7a15-0ec3-451b-97ba-7be775af4583o%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiddlywiki/a53f7a15-0ec3-451b-97ba-7be775af4583o%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TiddlyWiki" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tiddlywiki+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiddlywiki/cb935523-5530-4559-9b8a-383a09c72037o%40googlegroups.com.
