ox-slimhtml

ox-slimhtml

[Laszlo Elo]

Hello,

Amin was kind enough to poke me to submit and post about my package, ox-slimhtml.
In a nutshell, it is an org-export backend - transcodes Org elements to HTML/text output.

My primary use for it, is to create derived export backends. (picture a/b testing, for example) 
By default, it outputs HTML5, essentially (as it tries to not ignore current output preferences).

Within each transcoder, I tried to pick out the relevant core elements being passed through - what I skipped from the original ox-html exporter is the domain logic surrounding templating and navigation.

A sample of the output can be seen here http://bald.cat/ox-slimhtml/

From a more detailed perspective, I use it to template the output of some Org documents (common sources of truth); these include some minimal Org markup, and as such, they provide convenient element-by-element programmatic access. This all depends on where you’d like to organize the logic behind each elements’ transcoding process, of course - so, for now, I’ll say that it works really nice for me. YMMV

:) Laszlo

Re: ox-slimhtml

[tomas]

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On Mon, Dec 14, 2020 at 12:48:27AM -0500, Laszlo Elo wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Amin was kind enough to poke me to submit and post about my package, ox-slimhtml.
> In a nutshell, it is an org-export backend - transcodes Org elements to HTML/text output.

Thank you (both :)

Cheers
 - t

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Re: ox-slimhtml

[Bastien]

Hi Laszlo,

thanks for ox-slimhtml.el and for announcing it on the list.

> Amin was kind enough to poke me to submit and post about my package, ox-slimhtml.
> In a nutshell, it is an org-export backend - transcodes Org elements to HTML/text output.
>
> My primary use for it, is to create derived export backends. (picture a/b testing, for example) 
> By default, it outputs HTML5, essentially (as it tries to not ignore current output preferences).
>
> Within each transcoder, I tried to pick out the relevant core elements
> being passed through - what I skipped from the original ox-html
> exporter is the domain logic surrounding templating and navigation.
>
> A sample of the output can be seen here http://bald.cat/ox-slimhtml/
>
> From a more detailed perspective, I use it to template the output of
> some Org documents (common sources of truth); these include some
> minimal Org markup, and as such, they provide convenient
> element-by-element programmatic access. This all depends on where
> you’d like to organize the logic behind each elements’ transcoding
> process, of course - so, for now, I’ll say that it works really nice
> for me. YMMV

I encourage everyone to try exporting Org documents to HTML using your
library and see how it compares with ox-html.el for a daily usage.

Thanks!

-- 
 Bastien

Re: ox-slimhtml

[Bastien Guerry]

Hi Laszlo,

Bastien <bzg@gnu.org> writes:

> I encourage everyone to try exporting Org documents to HTML using your
> library and see how it compares with ox-html.el for a daily usage.

nobody seemed to be that interested in helping :/

I hope you were able to continue working on this, don't hesitate to
send an update.

In the meantime, I'm dismissing this thread from the "calls for help"
on https://updates.orgmode.org

Re: ox-slimhtml

[Amin Bandali]

Hi Bastien, Laszlo, Nicolas,

Bastien Guerry writes:

> Hi Laszlo,
>
> Bastien <bzg@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> I encourage everyone to try exporting Org documents to HTML using your
>> library and see how it compares with ox-html.el for a daily usage.
>
> nobody seemed to be that interested in helping :/

Apologies for completely dropping the ball on this.  It's been beyond
hectic around me the past few months, and I essentially had zero time
to work on this and several other projects I've been interested in.

Bastien, would you and Nicolas be open to adding ox-slimhtml more or
less in its current form to Org core, if Laszlo, myself, and/or others
look after it and help maintain it?  I still believe that ox-slimhtml
can stand on its own -- compared to other export backends, it's quite
small in size, and has no external dependencies -- coexisting with
ox-html and a useful alternative to ox-html for exporting Org files
into more lightweight html files, as well as for when finer control
over the exported html is desired.

What do you (other folks also) think?

> I hope you were able to continue working on this, don't hesitate to
> send an update.
>
> In the meantime, I'm dismissing this thread from the "calls for help"
> on https://updates.orgmode.org
>
>

Would you mind if I (or yourself) restore that status on Woof?

thanks,
amin

-- 
https://bndl.org

Re: ox-slimhtml

[Timothy]

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Hi Amin,

> What do you (other folks also) think?

A while ago Nicolas forwarded me an email between him and Laszlo on this. Here
are my thoughts at the time addresses to Laszlo (which haven’t changed much since):

Nicolas <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr> writes:
> IIUC, merge is only viable if “ox-slimhtml” is a drop-in replacement for
> “ox-html”. Otherwise, users will miss out many features. Of course, we
> could ship two competing HTML export back-ends, but I don’t think that’s
> a good idea either.
>
> So, it is meant for inclusion in Org proper, or as a GNU ELPA package?
> I don’t know. Maybe Timothy has a clearer view about it.

I believe I see your motivation in creating ox-slimhtml, as the current
ox-html includes much more than could be considered strictly necessary.

However, like Nicolas I am hesitant to put this straight into Org along
side ox-html. My personal view is that ideally ox-html would be equipped
with the relevant knobs and levers (metaphorically speaking) such that
one could obtain the same result as ox-slimhtml, the current result, or
something in-between. I’ve felt for some time that ox-html could benefit
from a bit more in-built flexibility without going down the path of
hooks, filters, and advice. This would certainly be more effort, so I
completely understand if this isn’t something you’d like to undertake.
In that case, I feel that this may be best suited as an ELPA package —
closely in reach for those who are looking for a slimmer ox-html.

All the best,
Timothy

Re: ox-slimhtml

[Bastien]

Hi Amin,

Amin Bandali <bandali@gnu.org> writes:

> Bastien, would you and Nicolas be open to adding ox-slimhtml more or
> less in its current form to Org core, if Laszlo, myself, and/or others
> look after it and help maintain it?

No, because it would be confusing to have two HTML export backends in
Org's core.

BTW, https://github.com/balddotcat/ox-slimhtml says "slimhtml is now
part of Org, included in GNU Emacs, future bug reports or
contributions should be sent to Org directly" ... which is wrong, and
I can't fill a bug report because the repo is archived.

Elo, are you still working on it?

From what I've read in previous discussions, I believe I'm in line
with Nicolas and Tim on this: we can probably enhance ox-html.el by
following some design goals that ox-slimhtml.el have set, and leave
other decisions aside, because ox-html has to stay as generic as
possible.

In any case, I'd rather have Elo work with Tim on enhancing ox-html
than to allow another package in Org's core.

If ox-slimhtml is still maintained, it can for sure live in GNU or
NonGNU ELPA.

WDYT?

-- 
 Bastien