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Release of Open Source XMLmind Ebook Compiler v1.4

November 20, 2019

Submitted by Hussein Shafie, XMLmind Software.

Release of Open Source XMLmind Ebook Compiler v1.4

Can turn a set of HTML pages into a self-contained ebook. Supported output formats are: EPUB, Web Help, PDF, RTF, WML, DOCX (MS-Word) and ODT (OpenOffice/LibreOffice). A simple alternative to DITA and DocBook.

Change history

Enhancements:

  • As of version 1.4, the easiest way to add CSS styles to an ebook specification is to set attribute includebasestylesheet of element book to "true". This very simple setting guarantees to effortlessly create a nicely formatted book. More information about this new attribute in Leveraging base.css, the stock CSS stylesheet.
  • Upgraded XMLmind Web Help Compiler (whc for short) to version 3.0. The Web Help generated by whc v3 gets a fresh new look. Moreover:
    • It is now “responsive” by default, that is, it adapts its layout to the size of the screen (e.g. it can adapt to the screen of a smartphone in portrait mode). This feature is controlled by new parameter wh-responsive-ui.
    • It does not leverage jQuery UI anymore (only jQuery now). However some new parameters (e.g. -p wh---navigation-background-color "#F6F8FA") may be used to override most fonts and colors used in the generated Web Help.
    • New parameter wh-ui-language may be used to specify the language used by the messages of the generated Web Help (tab labels, button tool tips, etc). The default is to use the language of the Web browser.
  • Upgraded Saxon to version 9.9.1.5.

Incompatibilities:

  • Web Help output format: the following parameters, all related to jQuery UI, are not supported anymore: wh-jquery-css, wh-jquery-custom-theme, wh-jquery-theme, wh-jquery-ui.

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