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What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-02-04 04:38:08
by Elbrecht
Hi -

now that everyone is dreaming of the iPad - what about Nisus Writer Pro and iBook, i.e. ePub Format?

HE

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-06 09:52:17
by haver
You can use Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) to do the conversion from RTF to ePub. I did it and it works really well. Calibre is a free ebook content manager.

But in the same vein, I'm curious to know if Nisus have any plans to make a version of their Nisus Writer available for the iPad? Personally, I would love that. When travelling, I would be able to produce content without having to carry my laptop.

So, any official word on this Martin?

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-07 03:37:13
by Elbrecht
Well -

I know about "Calibre, Sigil, iStudio, etc" - but would like to do the job within Nisus Writer, as with Save As/Export to ".pdf/.doc/.odt/etc". That would make Nisus Writer a powerful publisher for iPad generation...

HE

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-07 06:37:31
by haver
By installing Calibre, you also install the command line tools to make those conversion. I guess it would be possible to write a script that could be activated from within NWP to make this conversion.

Just an idea…

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-08 15:19:48
by martin
We currently don't have any plans to release software for the iPad, but we are always evaluating the situation. For those users that are interested in such a thing, what kind of writing would you want to do on the go?

As for the ePub file format, adding some kind of export capability is something I'll file as an enhancement request. How many of you would find that useful? Would you expect import capabilities as well?

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-09 04:54:51
by Groucho
[quote=“martin”]How many of you would find that useful? Would you expect import capabilities as well?[/quote]
Start a poll, Martin.

Henry.

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-09 06:01:33
by Matze
I would find it very usefull.

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-09 15:10:20
by martin
Groucho wrote:Start a poll, Martin.
Sounds like a good idea, here's the poll, thanks Henry!

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-10 01:47:18
by Groucho
Note: Anyone can start a poll, not just a Nisus person.
Many times we forget we can poll questions and go on posting agree’s and disagree’s haphazardly.
Obviously, I just cast my ballot.

Thanks, Martin.

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-10 04:13:03
by Elbrecht
That's why -

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/09/ebooks-o ... app-store/

"eBooks outnumber games in the App Store" -

and remember: with ebooks the author IS the publisher - directly out of the word processor...

HE

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-10 14:22:23
by greenmorpher
The thought horrifies me, Martin, but yes. I currently sell one of my books as a PDF.

Cheers, Geoff

Geoffrey Heard
Publisher, Editor, Business Writer
The Worsley Press

FREE Bonus book offer. Get "How to make great ads for (sm)all business" FREE when you buy "Type & Layout: Are you communicating or just making pretty shapes?" or "How to Start and Produce a Magazine or Newsletter". Amazon or www.worsleypress.com

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-12 04:57:35
by haver
martin wrote:We currently don't have any plans to release software for the iPad, but we are always evaluating the situation. For those users that are interested in such a thing, what kind of writing would you want to do on the go?
A lot of the travelling I do is for attending meetings and training as part of my job. So, I would like a tool that would be geared towards that kind of note taking and writing. Also, I would like to be able to continue working on projects that I already work on in NWP. I'm not sure I would need all the power of NWP while travelling, but being able to continue to work on the projects and being able to sync them back with the originals when coming back home would really be appreciated.

So, to summarize :
1. Note taking while in meeting;
2. General writing situation;
3. Syncing projects between NWP and iPad

That would be my wish list.

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-13 02:10:30
by dshan
Elbrecht wrote:That's why -

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/09/ebooks-o ... app-store/

"eBooks outnumber games in the App Store" -

and remember: with ebooks the author IS the publisher - directly out of the word processor...

HE
No they're not. Most ebooks go through a very similar editing and publication cycle as a normal printed book. Author submits ms to publisher, publisher's editor works on it with author and when it's done it's page set in a page layout app and from there it usually ends up as a PDF file that goes to a printer and/or one or more ebook format files (of which epub is only one). Only self-published ebooks would go straight from the author's wordprocessor to become a "finished" epub ebook. I can't see Nisus making lots of money out of self-published ebooks, the market is simply not there. While having the ability to import and export epub might be useful in some cases I can't see NWP ever being used for producing real finished ebooks anymore than it would (or should) be used to produce printed books. Wordprocessors are not page layout programs (despite the efforts of MS, and more recently Apple, to merge the two application categories) and it's the page layout app that really needs to be able to handle epub.

Interestingly, the ebooks that outnumber games in the app store currently are mostly standalone applications with embedded readers as well as text and pictures, they're far from plain epub files. This may change once iBooks is released and the iPad becomes the biggest thing since Gutenberg, or it may be that the head of Penguin was on the money recently when he said the future of ebooks isn't simple epub at all but interactive applications that combine text with sound and video, etc. Not at all the sort of thing a simple wordprocessor would excel at creating. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but in the meantime rushing into epub might not be a wise investment of Nisus's time and money.

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-03-31 03:46:07
by Elbrecht
Well -

here it goes: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/ ... mpaign=rss

wind of change...

HE

Re: What about: "Export/Save as ePub"

Posted: 2010-04-02 18:22:24
by dude
martin wrote:We currently don't have any plans to release software for the iPad, but we are always evaluating the situation. For those users that are interested in such a thing, what kind of writing would you want to do on the go?
Martin, mainly short one page letters (open standard company letter file, save as new letter file, then type, then email as PDF.

Also to gather thoughts and write a paper. I wouldn't require a great deal of support for all the NWP features. In fact, a very simple text editor would be about it because lets face it, typing on a virtual keyboard isn't the ticket just yet.

Bold font, Italics, stuff like that. Then move to iDisk and copy over into NWP for normal editing.