Serverless eBook Using Gitbook, GitHub Pages, GitHub Actions, and Calibre
devops.novalagung.com
devops.novalagung.com
This post seems specifically to be about rendering your documentation both as html and also as an ebook, which is something I can definitely get behind. The experience of having a structured ebook instead of HTML is really valuable especially when doing things like learning programming languages, where precise formatting tends to really be important for legibility. I recently encountered this when perusing Rust's online books, some of which did not seem to have ebook equivalents.
One of the main things I like about static site generators is that they are so simple to host.
-Brian
You can write markdown with added benefits of React components and this Gatsby starter will render a GitBook theme documentation site. Self host using Docker or build the static bundle and deploy to Netlify :)
Disclaimer: I maintain this starter.
The open source repo still exists but it’s abandoned.
I wish they could have found a path to money without destroying their open source offering.
Docsify needs maintainers btw. It's a worthwhile project! https://github.com/docsifyjs/docsify
When gitbook moved (rather poorly - there was a lot of confusion on what would happen to the old codebase) to a service, mdbook is what I switched over to, and I'm glad I had been forced to look for an alternative to gitbook.
Haven't really done anything with Rust, but having been bitten once, my research suggested they'd be unlikely to drop mdbook anytime soon.
Edit: example GitLab-hosted book: https://gitlab.com/strivinglife/book-git-commands
Though Office Max (or was it Office Depot) may sue.
- https://github.com/wjdp/gotdict - https://gotdict.wjdp.uk/
Turn the book into HTML, serve the HTML on demand and BAM, Book as a Service!
exactly. there used to be physical scrolls too before the romans invented the paginated codex. all of those older tech died later because it was hard to beat direct access, referential accessibility and format-ability of the modern physical codex book. our current tech emulates the physical scroll too and is therefore not able to compete with dead tree books.
book noun
\ ˈbu̇k \
Definition of book (Entry 1 of 3)
1a: a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory
b: a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together between a front and back cover
an address book
c: a long written or printed literary composition
reading a good book
reference books
hardcover and paperback books
d: a major division of a treatise or literary work
the books of the Bible
eaccounting : a record of a business's financial transactions or financial condition —often used in plural
the books show a profit
f: MAGAZINE sense 1a
g: E-BOOK
[...]
book
noun
UK /bʊk/ US /bʊk/
A1 [ C ]
a written text that can be published in printed or electronic form:
[...]
‘Because people are saying so...’
Proper definition is the only definition that there is. Improper definitions may be valid uses in colloquial speak, but that doesn’t work for accurate description of products at hand. Success of physical books, as in the data, is a proof of proper usage. I rest my case. Time to go back to work.
Edit: Response to the child comment below:
You're going in the wrong direction.
That 'books are not files' is a plain fact. It has nothing to do with popular opinion or liberal usage of words. Although, if you were to look at it liberally through the lens of popular usage alone then also the usage and growth of dead tree books over the shallow market of files masquerading as ebooks will reveal the same plain fact.
No. Again you reason by false equivalence. The shape of the earth is not determined by popular opinion. The meaning of words is determined by popular usage.
‘A book is a set of printed sheets of paper held together between two covers.’
I’d say going by definitions on Merriam Webster and others shared by you + real data it is safe to err on the side of proper definition. And HN complaining about browbeating? I mean come on. :)
>Book medium for a collection of words and/or pictures to represent knowledge or a fictional story, often manifested in bound paper and ink, or in e-books
Books are edited.
There's a great book in the archives of Joel on Software (maybe he's even had it done); possibly two or N -- but that requires filtering. And then combing and rewriting/patching not to depend on links anymore (so it makes sense like five years from now, dig?), nor on an ongoing blog narrative. Then understanding the major themes to consolidate multiple blog posts in chapters.
I don't know that this has been done with a blog, but yes from lecture notes and slides, etc. Usually the writer has to come up with text (or hire a ghost writer); most of the time, he edits his work to some extent. But manuscripts never arrive ready for print.
You can see this in Lulu "books". I own Nobel Prize-winner Vernon Smith's autobiography published by a vanity press and holy hell what a mess.