[scribus] epub from sla? or Scribus versus Lyx

[John Culleton]

On Thursday, June 23, 2011 04:39:18 am a.l.e wrote:
> hi lila
> 
> > I guess this is a topic very well known by everybody in 
this list, but
> > I was searching at list's archives and with Google, and 
I can't find
> > real answers, and that's probably I'm doing the wrong 
question: Is it
> > possible to get a acceptable version in epub format, 
from a Scribus
> > design, or its pdf?
> > 
> > I have being designing books with Scribus since several 
years, and
> > many people related to the projects have recommended me 
to use Lyx
> > instead of Scribus, specially regarding to its 
capability to easily
> > export outputs for different devices.
> > 
> > What do you think?
> > Thanks in advance for any help,
> 
> rob has gone through the topic "creating epub with free 
software" and
> should have been presenting it at the LGM 2011...
> 
> ... he could not attend but he promised a blog post about 
it!
> 
> 
> on the other side, claudia is doing some research no how 
to create epub
> files from scribus (on the interaction side) and andreas 
promised a new
> file format which should make much easier creating epub 
from a .sla!
> 
> wonderful times are ahead of us...
> 
> but for now, scribus and epub are two separated worlds...
> 
> ciao
> a.l.e
> 
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A principal strength of Scribus lies in its ability to 
place text and graphic components in a precise way on a 
page. That is why I use it for book covers. Epub and Kindle 
OTOH are stripped down versions of HTML, with the empahsis 
on text that automaticaly adjusts itself on the fly as the 
user wishes.  And the use of tables etc. is not possible. 
The two are at opposite poles.

Lyx is a front end for pdflatex. The TeX family is built 
around a superior algorithm for justifying paragraphs of 
text. When you make the paragraph adjustable on the fly by 
the user, the whole point of TeX including Lyx goes out the 
window.  

There is room in the scheme of things for a free software 
product for creating Epub and/or Kindle documents directly. 
Since both are based on html, including CSS I would think 
an html editor like Bluefish or the late and lamented 
Quanta might be a good starting place. Those who suggest 
Lyx or Scribus don't understand the total difference in 
approach in these products as opposed to the two most 
popular e-book formats.

I push for the wider adoption of pdf as an e-book format. I 
don't use anything else. But you can't sell gadgets based 
on pdf. And you can't control the market a la Kindle and 
Amazon. So my plea will go largely unheard. 
-- 
John Culleton

"Death Wore Black" Police procedural: 
http://www.deathworeblack.com/

"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://booklocker.com/books/4055.html
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