Note: Admin rights are needed to edit the parts described below. The admin area is located at /admin/ after your installation top level domain. Ask support for access if you cannot access this area.
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Description |
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Fidus Writer |
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Document (Fidus Document) |
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Template (Document Template) |
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Element types (Template parts) |
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Document Style (CSS Styling) |
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Citation Styles |
These use Citation Style Language (CSL) to configure citations. |
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Export Filters |
These are filters for each format export. Only DOCX and ODT are exposed to admins. Other exporters are core application parts and have to be custom-made. |
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Book (Fidus Book) |
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Book Style (CSS Styling) |
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Plugins |
These add functionality - like the Book or Open Journals System plugins. |
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Output (Formats) |
Website; Paginated Web; PDF; Print-on-Demand (PDF); e-Book |
Note: Other file formats are available for outputting. |
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GitHub and GitLab |
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Repo template |
This is a template for the repository. It contains Docsify resources, and JSON configuration to link other formats. |
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Vivliostyle |
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Paginated Media CSS |
Vivliostyle is run from inside Fidus Writer, as a stand-alone app, and locally. |
Fidus Writer
Fidus Writer Document
Fidus Document - These can be considered to be similar to DOCX word processing document. Fidus Documents are JSON files and can be exported and imported between versions of Fidus Writer only.
Templates (Document Templates)
Templates (Document Templates) - These are the parts of a document. Generally templates do not need to be created as the default template 'Standard Article' works for most publication.
The templates have three main functions:
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Adding custom document parts 'Element types': headers, rich text, separators, etc.
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Assigning CSS Classes to the 'Element types' for styling purposes
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Document settings: citation style, language, owner, etc
Template document parts 'Element types' are as follows. These parts have setting such as editable / not editable - so that fixed text can be added to documents.
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Heading
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Namelist (persons)
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Richtext
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Table
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Table of Contents (headers from the document)
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Separator
Creating and editing templates: Templates can be made in the Templates section or Duplicated in the Admin area (Template creation in the Admin area does not work at present Oct '22).
A list of templates can be found in the Admin area.
Important: It is usually better to create a template by duplicating a template in the admin area as then all the associated 'styles' and 'export' filters are automatically created. If you use the Template area to create a new template these will all have to be manually created and added.
Note: Template IDs must be unique. If you find your templates not working check for mistaken duplicate IDs as this will stop templates working. Template ID should have no spaces in the name and only be letters and numbers. The same applies for all IDs.
Note when creating or editing templates - drag 'Element types' to the right dark area to delete them.
Ownership of templates and access rights, for groups as an example: If a template is assigned to a user it is private and only accessible to documents the user makes and shares. If not assigned a user it is available to all users in the Template area.
Changing a Fidus Document template after document creation: This can only be done by admins in the admin area. Note: if field are removed and no longer exist - users will be give a red notice on their document asking if they want to copy existing content as a field ''Element type' has been removed.
To change a document template - navigate to the Admin area > Documents > edit document > then at the bottom the document template can be changed.
Styles
Styles allow for automated outputting with no manual intervention needed for as many publications as needed.
Document styles and book styles are made the same way, just stored in different places.
The main CSS Styles do not cover all output formats. Below is a list of which output formats are controlled by which style - there are three style types: CSS Styles, Docsify CSS Style, and ODT/DOCX Styles.
In the documentation we mainly cover the CSS Styling used in Fidus Writer:
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CSS Styles: Output formats - PDF, Paginated Web, e-book outputs - made with Fidus styles for document and book. Note, book styles override document styles on outputting.
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Docsify CSS Style: Output formats - Website output - this is a combination of the Fidus Book Style and Docsify style found in the GitHub Template Repo.
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ODT/DOCX Styles: Output formats - DOCX and ODT - styles need to be made using the DOCX and ODT markup languages - the existing export templates can be downloaded for reference.
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LaTeX and JATS are not covered here.
How to make a style
Styles are loaded into Fidus Writer in the /admin/ area:
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Documents - /admin/style/documentstyle/
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Books - /admin/book/bookstyle/
Styles are made of the following:
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CSS - pasted into the style editing area
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Fonts - these need to be uploaded and named
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Assets - images that will be used in the style as branding or static content. Do not upload edited content images here.
You can preview styles directly from Fidus for documents and books.
Note: Multilingual publications. CSS can contain content parts when the system cannot deliver content. These parts will usually be thing like branding or labels. Examples are page label 'Page 4/26' as opposed to 'Blatt or Seite - 4/26'. In these exceptions style copies per language will need to be made.
Margins and recto/verso issues - Layouts for targetted at documents or book styles. It is important to consider the difference between the needs of the two layouts. As an example in books there is a need to have different recto and verso left margins because of gutter being bound, also running headers, and chapter starts, as well as designated recto/verso front matter conventions.
CSS styling resources
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Vivliostyle - This is the platform used in the pipeline for PDF and Paginated Web.
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CSS Print Rocks - Community resource comparing Paged Media CSS platforms.
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Docsify styling - Docsify is a static site generator that we use to make the GitHub/Lab Pages websites.
Document styles
Document styles need to be associated to a single document template in the style editing area. If you want to use a style on another document template a copy needs to me made.
Note when you duplicate a Template it duplicates its associated style (it is more efficient to use the duplication process).
Book styles
Book style involve using folios, page numbers, sections etc. - Vivliostyle and CSS Print Rocks should be consulted for details. Also see the existing resources that have been created for reference.
Covers - Covers can be made in several ways in the pipeline as well as multi-format posing the difficulty that each formats cover can be different.
Report001 Style Covers - The cover for this style is made in the book CSS style. The e-book cover is only added later and is specific for the EPUB e-book export as technically it requires an image file.
The Report001 style has a partner style Report002 with branding included, you can switch between the two to see the difference.
The cover design in this style aims to make use of the book information fields and place them over the CSS generated artwork, this way the style can be used for a publication series with no manual intervention.
Report002 - The style contain branding assets, but apart from that is the same as Report001.
See full CSS linked here:
https://github.com/mrchristian/guide-en/blob/main/uhtml/css/report001.css#L118
- this creates the first page and the background
@page :first {
size: 210mm 297mm;
background-image: linear-gradient(#2062af,#20215E 80%, #fff 10%);
background-size: 210mm 297mm;
display: flex;
margin-top: 30mm;
color: #001668 ;
page-break-after: always;
@bottom-left { content: normal; }
@bottom-center { content: normal; }
@bottom-right { content: normal; }
@top-left { content: normal; }
@top-right { content: normal;}
@top-center { content: normal;}
}
Then the following writes the content into the first page:
https://github.com/mrchristian/guide-en/blob/main/uhtml/css/report001.css#L355
div.titlepage {
Note: Images are now added to the style assets and will have local paths /media/image.png etc.
And not external link like:
/*background-image: url("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mrchristian/quick-start/05c5b3dd2bdbdfd785bb158752e3bd3c7b415c66/assets/logo-gfm.png");
The content comes from the UHTML file where the book information has been written out. Normally this would appear in page 2 if the CSS were not controlling the info.
https://github.com/mrchristian/guide-en/blob/main/uhtml/index.html#L94
Book styles - Website
This is where Docsify is used.
Customizations are made on the Git repo at this path /blob/main/assets/css/theme-custom.css
Here is an example:
https://github.com/mrchristian/guide-en/blob/main/assets/css/theme-custom.css
Docsify can be run locally for theme development.
Note: If you are making a multilingual publication for some small parts like 'labels' in the table of contents menu you might need to make a template per language as parts are hardcoded, for example 'Contents'.
GitHub and GitLab
Repo Templates should be made and used. These contain the parts that Fidus does not make and then Fidus writes its content into the template repo, merging the two parts to create your output publication.
See example template:
https://github.com/TIBHannover/ADA-Book-Template
As noted there may be a need to have language specific Repo Templates.
Viviliostyle
Vivliostyle is used for Paginate Web and PDF generation using Paginated CSS to W3C standards.
See all instructions on the Vivliostyle website.
Vivliostyle can be run locally for theme development.