4 ms·
UBook is a universal language to help authors, publishers and book designers easily markup and format books. Like markdown it uses simple, semantic tags to crea
by ubook 13y ago
UBook is a universal language to help authors, publishers and book designers easily markup and format books. Like markdown it uses simple, semantic tags to create a plain text file that can be transformed into something more complex such as HTML, saving the compiler the job of managing complex code.
It is designed as an intermediary language but it is hoped it can be a publishing language in its own right.
It can handle any type of book, from simple novels to very complex textbooks. Although similar to markdown it has a number of features to cope with the specific demands of book publishing:
1. The table of contents is compiled automatically using a simple, intuitive method;
2. No footnotes or endnotes;
3. Structural components unique to books are included e.g. scene breaks and page breaks;
4. Complex elements are included e.g. tables, links, images and indexes;
5. The final file is just a zip file; the manuscript is a plain text file.
UBook is a not-for-profit, open project designed to solve a problem. It simplifies the production of ebooks, and focuses on a universal method of doing so. It is at a pre-release stage, and I would welcome any insights you have to offer.
If you have an interest in ePublishing, web languages, HTML, markdown etc. please do check it out.
- acangiano 13y agoOne minor nitpick, but I read your logo as UUBook. I would drop the second U and just have Book next to the blue U.
- DougMerritt 13y ago> No footnotes or endnotes; I must be misreading that. How is lack of support for footnotes and endnotes a positive feature, as opposed to a glaringly missing feature? > saving the compiler the job of managing complex code. I re-read this 6 times, trying to figure it out. You mean, the human who creates the book? On technical forums, I suggest you not use "compiler" in that sense, because we are accustomed to its technical meaning, of software that translates computer language. On a positive note, I like markdown, and I dislike creating and reading XML by hand (although it works ok for software to deal with), so this seems like a fine idea to me.
- ubook 13y agoFootnotes are bits of text tagged on at the end, like Wikipedia for instance. UBook semantically tags them so they are available where the note exists in the book. Presumably a popup or panel when you touch or click the note marker in the text. It was a bad use of words. It was meant to convey the idea you didn't jump to the end of the chapter or book to read a note. HTML-based formats just use anchors. Yes, compiler is ambiguous. The idea behind it is a clean interim language a writing tool could export to, and software could then adapt to other formats like Kindle etc.