Option Latex ( Christopher and Thomas)
Advantages:
- Can successfully handle footnoes, references and Indexes
- Provides pre-publishing Layout options
Disadvantages:
- Learning Curve
I really think people make too much of this. If you use the basic templates in TextMate you off to a flying start. You only learn something when you need it and if a project is taking time as a proportion of your effort it is not very great.
- Markup can become complex and bulk up
I do not see this as an issue.
- How about cross platform compatability ? ( Is it possible to get
stripped down textversions and such ?)
It is easy to export Latex to text. There are excellent converters to HTML but is not an ideal route - I would always prefer PDF. Cross platform no problem as latex works on Windows/Mac/Linux - hard to see a problem here.
Further Questions:
- How about Project handling ? ( My reference stuff is about 700 Mib.
Keep in seperate Project ?)
Latex is perfect for very large projects, books, even multivolume works.
- How about Images and Charts ( I also have some charts that are done
with Omnigraffle Pro that I wanna update occasionally without loosing reference track to the original Omnigraffle files)
There is no better environment to handle images (Apple's Pages does pretty well I have to say). I did all my graphics for my PhD in Omnigraffle, export to jpg or png and I could revise them whenever.
Finally if you ever need maths formulas, again latex cannot be beaten.
Finaly, finally latex is very beautiful. If you care for the aesthetics of a book or document, nothing can compare with using a well designed style. This is something you would leave to an expert and there are dozens if not hundreds of designs out there for books, PhDs, articles, newsletters, etc. I chose for my PhD a design by Andre Mede (www.mede.de) which was beautiful and much complemented in the end.
What markdown is better at is keeping text/html/pdf in sync if that is important. But you will not get the same aesthetics (as far as I can make out).
Christopher
2) Option Markdown ( Kevin)
Advantages:
- For Simplicity
- Easy conversion to HTML TXT and PDF
- For Layout PDF Versions Prince can be used
Disadvantages:
- Indexes , Footnotes and References can be used, however:
- Brett Terpstra's HTML Index Bundle can be used.
- If chapters are kept in single files, then this obviously makes a
conversion into other formats more complicated, need of Shell script commands, etc. Questions:
Option Scrivener in combination with Multimarkdown (Fletcher)
Advantages:
- Allows nonlinear organization and writing
- Supports multimarkdown LATEX txt and PDF Export
- Both Import and Export with footnotes and Anotations are supported,
provided, certain requirements in Document structure are met quote: You want flexibility in your document - you don’t want to be tied into a single document type. With MultiMarkdown you can convert your document to XHTML, RTF, LaTeX, or Word .doc, to name a few. With the proper knowledge, many other formats are possible. end quote
- A Implementation Guide is available at the Scrivener formums here: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=497
- Template Support and multiple Layout options
- Footnotes , Labels and refs conversion into markdown supported
further Info: http://fletcherpenney.net/Using_MultiMarkdown_with_Scrivener Disadvantages:
- Project maintenance might get a little out of scope
NOTE: So this basically makes it possible to maintain your Book Project Folder under one Roof as project siblings Also: Multimarkdown export option provides XHTML which makes parallel Web publishing procedures and maintenance of certain Book-chapters for promotion easier 4) Further Markdown option (Markdown2Book Bundle by John Gruber based on initial Scripts by Allan)
http://lists.macromates.com/pipermail/textmate/2006-February/008160.html
- Designed basically for documentations:
quote: This bundle is for compiling a Documentation project made of several Markdown files to HTML. It generates a TOC, a print version with all chapters on one page and HTML files for each chapter. You can use references to easily link between your pages.
end quote ( Haven't checked this out yet in detail) If you have any additional suggestions, Ideas and also recommendations how a Project should be structured in each of those cases, then please let me know. I will then update my list and publish that in short on my Blog.
regards, marios
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