[NTLUG:Discuss] good "book" format for html?

[Kevin Brannen]

Robert Pearson wrote:

>Kevin Brannen wrote:
>  
>
>>I'm looking for a good format to hold books that are in HTML, something
>>that can hold the HTML, including any graphics (or other files) that
>>support it.  If I were in the MS world, the CHM format would probably be
>>what I wanted.  But, I want to use this in Linux, so an "open standard"
>>is really what I'm searching for.
>>
>>...
>>    
>>
>
>I'm replying because I am looking for a tool to use as a framework for
>a person writing books, articles, technical papers and documentation
>in general.
>In one case it would be strictly private and in other cases it might
>be collaborative.
>A Wiki looks like it would be just great for the collaborative process
>but I have run into slow sledding on the private Wiki. By private I
>mean it would run on a desktop machine with no Web server running or
>installed. Perhaps all Wiki's require a Web server. I'm still
>  
>

Yes, all Wiki's I've seen need a webserver; a local one will do.  Apache 
is easy to set up and get going for personal use, and it runs on all the 
major platforms if you need non-Linux ones.

>resolving that. My preference it that the tool be written in Python.
>When I was working with SCCS every day I used my own version of SCCS
>as a document management tool. I had "how-to" procedures and "Help"
>for everything I ever wrote, which was a lot. All this text was stored
>in SCCS. Now I want to write a book. A CVS repository is overkill. A
>lightweight CVS might work.
>
>I did a Google for "linux+chm+viewer" and one of the interesting
>responses I got was at---
>=======================================================
>http://www.skykiller.com/blog/archives/2004_07.html
>=======================================================
>Contests of Interest are---
>July 06, 2004
>CHM Viewer for UNIX
>
>As we know, .chm files are compressed HTML files. Here're two free chm
>viewers on SourceForge:
>
>xCHM - the UNIX .chm viewer
>
>  
>

Yes, I've heard of xchm, it wasn't too advanced last time I checked it 
out.  Maybe they've gotten farther and I need to relook at it.

>arCHMage is another chm viewer which written in python and has an
>embended http server so once the .chm file is extracted to a directory
>we can use a borwser to view the contants.
>  
>

I haven't seen this one, I'll go look.

>I also got a bunch of hits for "php-doc-chm". One in particular at---
>http://us2.php.net/docs-echm.php
>
>I am sure you have already looked at this. I'm still sorting out how
>all this works.
>  
>

No, I haven't seen that one either.   I'll investigate.

I do have HelpExplorer, which will read & display CHM files just 
fine...most of the time.  It occassionally gives up the ghost for no 
reason I can discern.  Still, it usually gets the job done. [Note, it's 
only free for personal use.]  OTOH, while CHM fits the bill for what I 
need in many ways, I'm still not sure how to *create* CHM files.

>My need is different from yours in that my base Information needs to
>be in text but there will be graphics and math formulas to be stored.
>Hmmm! Write in HTML and have a parser format it? I'll have to think
>about that.
>  
>

Possibly, it depends on your final needs.  HTML works great for me 
because all I ever need are the P, B, I, U, FONT, & IMG tags, plus the 
occassional A tag for cross-references.  There's also CSS if I want to 
get really fancy, but I try to avoid that.

I agree with Bryan in that you should investigate LaTeX; a few macros in 
it can take you a long way.  Pick up "A Guide to Latex 2e" by Kopka & 
Daly if you want to go this way; I've found it invaluable.  Lyx is also 
a great program for interactive use.  I really should use it more, but 
so many times, my needs are quite limited and I have to give the docs to 
others (most of whom are using The Evil OS(tm) :-) so HTML is better 
than Latex (in that situation).

Also, I checked out Val's solution of using Konqueror and it works great 
for my needs.  You should check it out to see if it goes far enough for 
you.  Feel free to write me off list if you'd like to discuss this more.

Kevin