[scribus] linked text sources (Was: a new ebook)

[ale rimoldi]

hi peter,

> > personally, i would be much more interested in reading your
> > thoughts on how scribus and other software could share content
> > (clearly, i'm mostly interested in the textual content :-).
> 
> But I wrote that a few days ago already:)

yep, i've read what you wrote a few days ago and that's why i asked you
to go further and create a specification out of it!


> And using a specific Scribus "text" format (XML)
> any adjustments to the formatting can get saved back to an external
> file and can be edited with other software.

this are your wishes, of what scribus should be able to do!
but you don't answer the questions about how it should work, with which
software it should be compatible, which kind of use we would be mainly
targeting, which parts should be editable in an external editor and
which should be kept but not being edited? there are lot of open
questions...

if i can make a stupid comparison, you're stating that you want you're
car to be able to fly to the moon.
you've been told that it's a good idea, but now we are asking you to
explain us, how you think this should work...
just saying: well, turn on the engines and set your navigator to "the
moon" is probably not enough to help the project to become real!
we don't ask you to write the plans for the engines, but at least to
specify how the "roads" leading to the moon should be defined or built,
if and where do you want to have traffic lights, where you will be
parking your car... and what happens when there is a traffic jam or an
accident?


three further remarks:

- getting scribus to manage linked text sources is much easier (and
  likely to happen in a near future) than being able to park your car on
  the moon, but it's still a hard task. i think we could try to target
  the GSOC 2013, if we find a student willing to work on this!

- if you need help in formulating a specification, just ask. i'm sure
  that many people on this list have the skills needed to help you
  writing this kind of documents.

- there are other people interested in getting this done and they also
  have brilliant ideas: you may want to team together.


> Oh, and right, I really think the story editor should take on the good
> parts from LyX. LyX works the way any typesetting editor should work,
> forget all about word processing and text editor when you can write
> multiple spaces or newlines after eachother. Text is glyphs forming
> words forming paragraphs, you only need one space between each word
> and one paragraph break between paragraphs.

please, one topic at a time :-)
if you want to have a sane discussion, please try to stick to one (big)
topic in each thread, otherwise the chances that we may have a nice
entertaining discussion are still high, but it gets rather unlike that
any action will be taken upon your suggestions...


have a nice day
a.l.e