tag:support.multimarkdown.com,2013-02-12:/discussions/problems/1760-suggestions-for-pro-featuresMultiMarkdown Software, LLC: Discussion 2018-10-19T08:27:35Ztag:support.multimarkdown.com,2013-02-12:Comment/388101622015-12-31T19:22:07Z2015-12-31T19:23:40ZSuggestions for Pro Features<div><p>Hi there,</p>
<p>We have been using MultiMarkdown for the past couple years to
produce user documentation for the software produced by The Omni
Group. Our primary authoring tool has been BBEdit, and we use the
mmd command-line utility to convert to HTML and then produce in-app
documentation and EPUB for distribution on the iBooks Store.</p>
<p>We started using the MultiMarkdown Composer v3.0 beta a few
weeks ago, and can already see the promise it holds, but there are
some features I wouldn't mind seeing added, potentially as
Pro-level features. Here's my list:</p>
<p><strong>Native EPUB3 Export</strong> In the current MMDC3 beta,
when you export to ePub, the OPF file specifies EPUB Version 2 and
refers to an NCX file for generating the TOC. While this provides
backwards compatibility for older readers, there are lots of things
that publishers (big and small) can benefit from with the EPUB3
format. For example, EPUB3 lets you specify a date/time string for
creation of and modifications to an EPUB. You can also specify
version numbers in the OPF header. I guess what might be helpful
when exporting to ePub, would be the ability to choose between
EPUB2/3 (i.e., OPF + NCX) or just straight up EPUB3 (OPF + nav file
for TOC). In addition to that, it would be great to have an OPF
metadata editor that appears when you first create a new document
and is also available as a HUD. This would allow the user to enter
basic information about their document/book at the start, and then
go back and further tweak that later as the project evolves.</p>
<p><strong>Multi-File Projects</strong> I have been using BBEdit to
author MMD. In BBEdit, you can create a Project (File > New >
Project), which creates a .bbprojectd folder/directory in which you
can have multiple text files. This is great for working on a book,
where you have separate MMD files for each chapter. When you open a
Project file in BBEdit, the files for that project show up in a
sidebar, and you can switch between the different files and add
other resources such as images and CSS, to keep everything in one
place. Would love to see this level of support brought to MMDCv3 as
a Pro feature.</p>
<p><strong>Bundled CSS Support</strong> In the MMD header, I can
specify a custom style sheet, which is great, but when I export to
EPUB, that CSS doesn't get bundled with the book. This forces me to
crack open the bundle, edit the OPF file, and then add the CSS
manually. Why? Images referenced in the MMD file are included; why
not the CSS? It would be great if, when exporting to EPUB, that
MMDC3 could include the user-specified CSS, just as it does with
image files.</p>
<p><strong>Speaking of Image Files...</strong> Would it be possible
to, when exporting to EPUB, run the images through a compression
algorithm, such as TinyPNG (tinypng.com)?</p>
<p><strong>Process MMD within HTML When Exporting</strong> I use
TextExpander to drop in HTML bits for things not covered by MMD.
This is just the basic HTML tagging structure (say, for example, a
<div> item such as a note or sidebar that gets styled and
presented differently), but then I fill in the content as regular
MMD. In the latest beta (3.0b41), all of that is just ignored.</p>
<p>Thanks for listening; please keep up the great work. Happy to
discuss further if you'd like.</p>
<p>Chuck Toporek<br>
Documentation Wrangler, The Omni Group • Seattle<br>
<a href="mailto:chuck@omnigroup.com">chuck@omnigroup.com</a></p></div>chucktag:support.multimarkdown.com,2013-02-12:Comment/388101622016-01-02T13:48:21Z2016-01-02T13:48:21ZSuggestions for Pro Features<div><p>Chuck,</p>
<p>Thanks for writing in (and it's great to hear that my software
is used<br>
at Omni!!!! I use at least one of your products almost every
day!)</p>
<p>EPUB3 -- When I last messed around with EPUB, v3 was not out, or
at<br>
least not well supported. I do need to look back at it,
especially<br>
since MathML is (at least sometimes) supported in v3. Not sure
about<br>
the EPUB-specific HUD -- the way to do that might be a template for
your<br>
source document that prefills metadata at the top (e.g.
TextExpander).<br>
We'll see.</p>
<p>Multi-File Projects -- I've got something for this on the back
burner<br>
that I want to get back to for the Pro version.</p>
<p>EPUB/CSS -- this can be done.</p>
<p>Image compression -- this is probably outside the scope of what
I'll be<br>
doing.</p>
<p>MMD within HTML -- can you send me an example of what doesn't
work? MMD<br>
works within HTML elements with the 'markdown="1"' attribute.</p>
<p>Fletcher</p></div>Fletchertag:support.multimarkdown.com,2013-02-12:Comment/388101622016-01-25T18:49:52Z2016-01-25T18:49:52ZSuggestions for Pro Features<div><p>Hi Fletcher,</p>
<p>Apologies for the delayed response; we've been rolling updates
and I was on vacation for a bit after the New Year.</p>
<p>Happy to have a separate conversation with you about EPUB3, if
you'd like. We've been relying heavily on that for our docs,
particularly the bits needed to deliver our books through the
iBooks Store. There are a few additional things you need to do to
the OPF file for iBooks, and we rely on the bookid (in lieu of an
ISBN) paired with metadata timestamps to deliver updates.</p>
<p>Here's the blob of mixed MMD/HTML that I mentioned earlier:</p>
<div class="tip">
<p><strong>Tip</strong><br>
If you press **Control-Command-0** (that's a zero, not a capital
O), OmniGraffle resizes the Canvas view so that the entire diagram
fits in the window. This comes in handy for trying out the Layout
Types in the popup menu, because OmniGraffle redraws and rescales
the objects on the canvas for you. You can just select a Layout
Type, adjust the object spreads, and then kick back and watch the
drawing engine do its thing.</p>
<p>If you did not have **Auto layout** turned on in the Diagram
Layout inspector, you would need to click **Lay Out Now** in the
inspector to see the changes you've made.</p>
</div>
<p>I've attached a screenshot of what this looks like in MMDC
(b42), and how it appears in an Exported EPUB. It looks like the
MMD tool sees the HTML block and skips past any MMD within the
block.</p>
<p>Thanks,<br>
Chuck</p></div>chuck