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by leephillips 2253 days ago
I’m always interested in reading articles like this, as I like to see the setups that people come up with to produce books and documents. I didn’t know about set virtualedit=all in vim!

If you learn how to extend Pandoc with your own filters, which you can write in several languages, there is no limit to what you can do. Here’s the description, published in the sadly defunct Linux Journal, of the system I created to help me write a book about gnuplot:

https://lee-phillips.org/panflute-gnuplot/
1 comments
ddrt 2253 days ago
Everything in that link can be done with inDesign and having data. Finding a way to complete using console or alternative applications would take hacking the inDes app or finding some sort of IFTTT sort of automation when needed, then saving as a high res image, and referencing as a link in your console layout doc. At the end it would have to compile as an image into something (might as well be inDesign) and at that point why not just layout the book with inDesign from the start? Writing the book in a text doc with some tagged markdown for rules, linking text to connected and flowed into styled text boxes that have rules assigned to them, and generating all the charts and sheets necessary to complete. Visual communication isn’t a strongpoint in code interfaces.
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leephillips 2253 days ago
I’m not sure I understand your comment, but I believe inDesign is a proprietary, closed-source product, probably driven mainly through a GUI. My goal was to write my book in vim. All I need to do is type, and the book comes out, including a visual index of all the plots in the book. Every link in the chain, and every tool I used, is open source (and free). The result is exactly what I want. To each his own, but the project, described in my article, is to create an interface for me as an author. That interface is typing in vim, using a set of tags I created for the purpose.
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benbenolson 2253 days ago
What does inDesign have to do with anything? This article isn't talking about using Windows or Mac software, and especially not proprietary Adobe software.

Also, if he's writing a book, why would he want to save anything as a "high res image" (implying raster graphics)?

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