@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ I welcome pull requests. But accepting a PR obligates me to maintain that code f
* PRs for simple documentation fixes (e.g., spelling and grammar corrections) are always welcome. For more substantial changes, I don’t necessarily prefer PRs to issues or feature requests. A good description of the problem with a working example is better than a half-baked PR. I can often fix it in less time than it would take to review the PR. (= Principle of Efficiency)
* If you want feedback on a potential PR, I recommend posting to the [Pollen forum](https://forums.matthewbutterick.com/c/typesetting/) rather than here. Because more people will see it. (= Principle of Exposure)
* If you want feedback on a potential PR, I recommend posting to the [Pollen mailing list](http://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/pollenpub) rather than here. Because more people will see it. (= Principle of Exposure)
* Small PRs are easier to accept than large ones. Large PRs should have a benefit worthy of their complexity. PRs that want to amend Pollen’s public interface receive the highest scrutiny. (= Principle of Proportionality)
* I consider every PR, but I can’t promise detailed code reviews or comments. Helpful Racketeers can be found on the [Pollen forum](https://forums.matthewbutterick.com/c/pollen/), the [Racket mailing list](https://lists.racket-lang.org/), and the Racket [Slack channel](https://racket.slack.com/). (= Principle of Specialization)
* I consider every PR, but I can’t promise detailed code reviews or comments. Helpful Racketeers can be found on the [Pollen mailing list](http://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/pollenpub), the [Racket mailing list](https://lists.racket-lang.org/), and the Racket [Slack channel](https://racket.slack.com/). (= Principle of Specialization)
* PRs should be necessary, in the sense that the proposed change can only be accomplished by patching this repo. (Corollary: features that can live in a separate [package](https://pkgs.racket-lang.org/) probably should.) (= Principle of Necessity)
## Pollen: the book is a program [](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)
## Pollen: the book is a program [](https://travis-ci.org/mbutterick/pollen)
A book-publishing system written in [Racket](http://racket-lang.org). This is the software I use to publish & maintain my web-based books [Beautiful Racket](http://beautifulracket.com), [Practical Typography](http://practicaltypography.com), and [Typography for Lawyers](http://typographyforlawyers.com).
@ -23,12 +23,8 @@ And update like so:
raco pkg update --update-deps pollen
Official forum: https://forums.matthewbutterick.com/c/typesetting/
Official discussion area: https://github.com/mbutterick/pollen-users
## License
MIT
## Project status
Actively developed, though the pace has slowed now that Pollen is arguably feature complete and stable. I use it almost every day so it's not going anywhere. But I have no plans to substantially enlarge or extend it.
@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ This is the core design principle of Pollen. Consistent with this principle, Pol
@item{@bold{A Pollen project consists of source files + static files.} A @italic{source file} is a file that can be compiled to produce certain output. A @italic{static file} is usable as it stands (e.g., an SVG file or webfont). Generally, the textual content of your book will live in source files, and other elements will be static files.}
@item{@bold{Source control is a good idea.} Because Pollen projects are software projects, they can be easily managed with systems for source control and collaboration. If you're a writer at heart, don't fear these systems —the learning curve is repaid by revision & edit tracking that's much easier than it is with Word or PDF files.}
@item{@bold{Source control is a good idea.} Because Pollen projects are software projects, they can be easily managed with systems for source control and collaboration, like @link["http://github.com"]{GitHub}. If you're a writer at heart, don't fear these systems —the learning curve is repaid by revision & edit tracking that's much easier than it is with Word or PDF files.}
@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ Be warned that this will make your rendering much slower. But you will be guaran
@section{Scope of dependency tracking}
The compile cache tracks the modification date of the source file, the current setting of @secref["The_POLLEN_environment_variable"], and the modification dates of the template and @filepath{pollen.rkt} (if they exist). For @tt{poly} source files, it also tracks the @racket[current-poly-target]. It also tracks files you've listed in the optional setup value @racket[setup:cache-watchlist] and environment variables listed in the optional setup value @racket[setup:envvar-watchlist].
The compile cache tracks the modification date of the source file, the current setting of @secref["The_POLLEN_environment_variable"], and the modification dates of the template and @filepath{pollen.rkt} (if they exist). For @tt{poly} source files, it also tracks the @racket[current-poly-target]. It also tracks any files you've listed in the optional setup value @racket[setup:cache-watchlist].
It does not, however, track every possible dependency. So in a complex project, it's possible to create deep dependencies that aren't noticed by the cache. In particular, Pollen does not track pagetree files as dependencies of other source files. Thus, if you change a pagetree, you'll ordinarily need to use @exec{raco pollen reset} to clear the caches.
(require "path/to/your-pollen-source") ; doc and metas and everything else
(require (submod "path/to/your-pollen-source" metas)) ; just metas
(require "pollen-source.rkt") ; doc and metas and everything else
(require (submod "pollen-source.rkt" metas)) ; just metas
}
The @id{metas} submodule gives you access to the @id{metas} hashtable @italic{without} compiling the rest of the file. So if you need to harvest metas from a set of source files —for instance, page titles (for a table of contents) or categories — using @racket[require] with the submodule will be faster.
@bold{Pro tip #3}: Within a tag function, you can access the metas of the source currently being evaluated with @racket[current-metas].
@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ You can retrieve a meta value —even in the same document where you define it
@section{Splicing}
@defform[(\@ arg ...)]
The splicing tag signals that a list should be merged into its containing expression. The splicing tag is @racket['\@].
Splicing tag: signals that a list should be merged into its containing expression. The splicing tag is @racket[setup:splicing-tag].
@examples[#:eval my-eval
(module splicer pollen/markup
@ -40,24 +40,6 @@ The splicing tag signals that a list should be merged into its containing expres
doc
]
The splicing tag is useful when you want to return a list of X-expressions in a situation where you can only return one. For instance, @secref["Tag_functions"] can only return one X-expression. But if we wrap the list of X-expressions in a splicing tag, they behave like a single X-expression. Later, Pollen will merge the list elements into the surrounding expression (as shown above).
@examples[#:eval my-eval
(require pollen/tag)
(code:comment @#,t{wrong: function returns a list of X-expressions})
(define-tag-function (multi attrs elems)
'("foo" "bar"))
(code:comment @#,t{right: function returns a list of X-expressions})
(code:comment @#,t{as elements inside a splicing tag})
(define-tag-function (multi2 attrs elems)
'(\@ "foo" "bar"))
]
Though the splicing tag is cosmetically identical to the abbreviated notation of @litchar{@"@"} for @racket[unquote-splicing], and has a similar purpose, it's not the same thing. The splicing tag isn't a variable —it's just a symbol that Pollen treats specially when generating output.
@defform[(when/splice condition pollen-args)]
If @racket[_condition] is true, put the @racket[_pollen-args] into the document. Within a template file, usually invoked like so:
@ -44,7 +44,18 @@ This function doesn't do much on its own. Rather, it provides the hooks upon whi
Recall that in Pollen, all @secref["tags-are-functions"]. By default, the @racket[_tagged-xexpr] from a source file is tagged with @racket[root]. So the typical way to use @racket[decode] is to attach your decoding functions to it, and then define @racket[root] to invoke your @racket[decode] function. Then it will be automatically applied to every @racket[doc] during compile.
@margin-note{@link["https://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen-tfl/_pollen_rkt_.html#%28def._%28%28lib._pollen-tfl%2Fpollen..rkt%29._root%29%29"]{Here's an example} of invoking @racket[decode] via the @racket[root] tag. That example is part of the @racket[pollen-tfl] sample project, which you can install & study separately.}
For instance, here's how @racket[decode] is attached to @racket[root] in @link["http://practicaltypography.com"]{@italic{Butterick's Practical Typography}}. There's not much to it —
@margin-note{The @racket[hyphenate] function is not part of Pollen, but rather the @link["http://github.com/mbutterick/hyphenate"]{@racket[hyphenate] package}, which you can install separately.}
This illustrates another important point: even though @racket[decode] presents an imposing list of arguments, you're unlikely to use all of them at once. These represent possibilities, not requirements. For instance, let's see what happens when @racket[decode] is invoked without any of its optional arguments.
@ -98,58 +98,5 @@ In general, I subscribe to the view that software should let you do what you wan
I've been using Pollen daily for several years (and will continue to do so, because my main work is writing). I've made Pollen available because a) I'm certain that others have had the same frustrations that I have, and b) feature suggestions and bug reports make it more useful for everyone.
I hope you enjoy using it.
@section{Getting more help}
@subsection{Bugs and feature requests}
Can be submitted as @link["https://git.matthewbutterick.com/mbutterick/pollen/issues"]{issues} at the main Pollen source repository.
@subsection{Questions & discussion}
For general tips and how-to questions, use the @link["https://forums.matthewbutterick.com/c/typesetting/"]{Pollen discussion forum}. I'll also use that list to post major changes and new features. You need an account to post (free and easy to set up with an email address).
(BTW, the former ``pollenpub'' Google Group and the ``pollen-users'' GitHub repo are now deprecated.)
@subsection{Can I see the source for @italic{Practical Typography} or @italic{Typography for Lawyers}?}
Yes, a tutorial project based on the previous version of @link["http://typographyforlawyers.com/"]{@italic{Typography for Lawyers}} is available by installing the @link["https://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen-tfl/"]{pollen-tfl} package the same way you installed Pollen.
The current versions of @italic{Practical Typography} & @italic{Typography for Lawyers} are generated from a single set of Pollen source files, which is a complication that makes them less suitable for an introductory tutorial. Still, even though this tutorial project is based on an earlier version, the coding techniques are very close to what I still use. Learn with confidence.
@subsection{Utilities & libraries}
@link["https://github.com/malcolmstill/pollen-count"]{pollen-count}: enumeration and cross-referencing library by Malcolm Still
@link["https://github.com/lijunsong/pollen-mode"]{pollen-mode}: Emacs mode for Pollen by Junsong Li
@link["https://github.com/basus/pollen-mode"]{Pollen mode}: Emacs mode for Pollen by Shrutarshi Basu
@link["https://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen-component/"]{Pollen Component}: Component-based development for Pollen by Leandro Facchinetti
@link["https://docs.racket-lang.org/css-expr/"]{CSS-expressions}: S-expression-based CSS by Leandro Facchinetti
@link["https://github.com/lijunsong/pollen-rock"]{Pollen Rock}: rendering server and an in-browser editor for Pollen
@link["https://github.com/appliedsciencestudio/talks/tree/master/mxnet"]{Polllen as a front end for Reveal.js} by Dave Liepmann. Reveal.js is a library that allows you to create slide presentations in pure HTML/CSS that run in the browser.
@subsection{More projects & guides}
@link["https://digitalwords.net"]{Digital Words} by Júda Ronén [@link["https://gitlab.com/rwmpelstilzchen/digitalwords.net"]{source}]
@link["https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/secretary"]{Secretary of Foreign Relations} by Joel Dueck [@link["https://github.com/otherjoel/try-pollen"]{source}]
@link["https://github.com/fasiha/pollen-guide"]{A Poor Guide to Pollen} by Ahmed Fasih
@link["https://youtu.be/20GGVNBykaw"]{The World's Most Dangerous Racket Programmer} and @link["https://youtu.be/IMz09jYOgoc"]{Like a Blind Squirrel in a Ferrari}: short talks about Pollen that I gave at RacketCons 2013 and 2014, respectively.
@link["http://mstill.io"]{mstill.io blog} by Malcolm Still [@link["https://github.com/malcolmstill/mstill.io"]{source}]
I hope you enjoy using it. If you get stuck on something not covered here, see @secref["Getting_more_help" #:doc '(lib "pollen/scribblings/pollen.scrbl")].
Can be submitted as @link["https://github.com/mbutterick/pollen/issues"]{GitHub issues} at the main Pollen source repository.
@section{Questions & discussion}
For general tips and how-to questions, use the @link["https://github.com/mbutterick/pollen-users/issues"]{pollen-users discussion group} (on GitHub). I'll also use that list to post major changes and new features.
You need a GitHub account to post. If you don't have one, don't panic —they're free and easy to set up with an email address. @link["https://github.com/mbutterick/pollen-users"]{Instructions here}.
(BTW, the former ``pollenpub'' Google Group is now deprecated.)
@section{Utilities & libraries}
@link["https://github.com/malcolmstill/pollen-count"]{pollen-count}: enumeration and cross-referencing library by Malcolm Still
@link["https://github.com/lijunsong/pollen-mode"]{pollen-mode}: Emacs mode for Pollen by Junsong Li
@link["https://github.com/basus/pollen-mode"]{Pollen mode}: Emacs mode for Pollen by Shrutarshi Basu
@link["https://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen-component/"]{Pollen Component}: Component-based development for Pollen by Leandro Facchinetti
@link["https://docs.racket-lang.org/css-expr/"]{CSS-expressions}: S-expression-based CSS by Leandro Facchinetti
@link["https://github.com/lijunsong/pollen-rock"]{Pollen Rock}: rendering server and an in-browser editor for Pollen
@link["https://github.com/appliedsciencestudio/talks/tree/master/mxnet"]{Polllen as a front end for Reveal.js} by Dave Liepmann. Reveal.js is a library that allows you to create slide presentations in pure HTML/CSS that run in the browser.
@section{Can I see the source for Practical Typography or Typography for Lawyers?}
Yes, the source for @link["http://typographyforlawyers.com/"]{Typography for Lawyers} is available. In terms of content, TFL was originally the basis of Practical Typography. But in terms of code, this new TFL website is essentially a clone of Practical Typography, but rewritten to be clearer and more instructive, with extensive source comments. [@link["https://github.com/mbutterick/pollen-tfl"]{source}]
@section{More projects & guides}
@link["https://digitalwords.net"]{Digital Words} by Júda Ronén [@link["https://gitlab.com/rwmpelstilzchen/digitalwords.net"]{source}]
@link["https://thelocalyarn.com/excursus/secretary"]{Secretary of Foreign Relations} by Joel Dueck [@link["https://github.com/otherjoel/try-pollen"]{source}]
@link["https://github.com/fasiha/pollen-guide"]{A Poor Guide to Pollen} by Ahmed Fasih
@link["https://youtu.be/20GGVNBykaw"]{The World's Most Dangerous Racket Programmer} and @link["https://youtu.be/IMz09jYOgoc"]{Like a Blind Squirrel in a Ferrari}: short talks about Pollen that I gave at RacketCons 2013 and 2014, respectively.
@link["http://mstill.io"]{mstill.io blog} by Malcolm Still [@link["https://github.com/malcolmstill/mstill.io"]{source}]
@ -102,9 +102,7 @@ Paths can also be specified as output rather than input paths, and the correspon
> raco pollen render foo.html
> raco pollen render foo.html bar.html zam.css}
If a pagetree file is included in @racket[_source], all the files it lists will be rendered using the above rules.
The optional @exec{--target} or @exec{-t} switch specifies the render target to use for multi-output source files. (Files of other types encountered in @racket[_source] will still be rendered as usual.) If the target is omitted, the renderer will use whatever target appears first in @racket[(setup:poly-targets)].
The optional @exec{--target} or @exec{-t} switch specifies the render target for multi-output source files. If the target is omitted, the renderer will use whatever target appears first in @racket[(setup:poly-targets)].
@terminal{
> raco pollen render -t pdf foo.poly.pm}
@ -132,7 +130,9 @@ As a rule of thumb, parallel rendering works best if you do @exec{raco setup} fi
@italic{Warning}: In all cases, the newly rendered output file will overwrite any previous output file.
@bold{Directory mode}: @racket[raco pollen render _directory] renders all preprocessor source files and then all pagetree files found in the specified directory. If none of these files are found, a pagetree will be generated for the directory (which will include all source files, but also everything else that exists there; see @secref["The_automatic_pagetree"]) and then rendered. If the @racket[_directory] argument is omitted, the command defaults to the current directory.
@margin-note{As of mid-2020, Pollen's parallel-processing performance under the CS (= Chez Scheme) variant of Racket is worse than ordinary Racket. If you use Racket CS, you may get better results using @exec{-j 4} (which will limit the operation to four cores) than @exec{-p} (which will use all available cores).}
@bold{Directory mode}: @racket[raco pollen render _directory] renders all preprocessor source files and then all pagetree files found in the specified directory. If none of these files are found, a pagetree will be generated for the directory (which will include all source files) and then rendered. If the @racket[_directory] argument is omitted, the command defaults to the current directory.
In directory mode, this command can be invoked with two other optional arguments (in addition to the @exec{--target}, @exec{--parallel}, and @exec{--jobs} switches mentioned above):
@ -157,11 +157,6 @@ Both the names and the values of environment variables are case-insensitive, so
@history[#:added "2.0"]}
@defoverridable[external-renderer (or/c (list/c module-path? symbol?) #f)]{A module path and identifier (suitable for use with @racket[dynamic-require]) that provide a function for Pollen to call instead of @racket[render] when rendering files needed by the @seclink["Using_the_project_server"]{project server} or when running @secref["raco_pollen_render"]. The function must accept the same arguments as @racket[render-to-file] and should return the final output as a @tech[#:doc '(lib "scribblings/reference/reference.scrbl")]{string} or @tech[#:doc '(lib "scribblings/reference/reference.scrbl")]{byte string}. Pollen will always write this return value out to the output file for you.
Setting this value gives you full control over (and responsibility for) how Pollen converts the compiled @racketidfont{doc} and @racketidfont{metas} from source files into their final output. Your renderer should be able to handle any of Pollen’s @seclink["Source_formats"]{source formats} or @seclink["Utility_formats"]{utility formats}. The operation of Pollen’s @racket[render] function is not affected by setting this value, so your renderer can use it as a fallback.
@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ That's no longer true. The web is now more than 20 years old. During that time,
But one part hasn't improved much: the way we make web pages. Over the years, tools promising to simplify web development have come and mostly gone —from @link["http://www.macobserver.com/reviews/pagemill2.shtml"]{PageMill} to @link["http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver.html"]{Dreamweaver} to @link["http://www.squarespace.com"]{Squarespace}. Meanwhile, serious web jocks have remained loyal to the original HTML power tool: the humble text editor.
In one way, this makes sense. Web pages are made mostly of text-based data —HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and so on — and the simplest way to manipulate this data is with a text editor. While HTML and CSS are not programming languages — you can't even compute 1 + 1 — they lend themselves to semantic and logical structure that's most easily expressed by editing them as text. Furthermore, text-based editing makes debugging and performance improvements easier.
In one way, this makes sense. Web pages are made mostly of text-based data —HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and so on — and the simplest way to mainpulate this data is with a text editor. While HTML and CSS are not programming languages — you can't even compute 1 + 1 — they lend themselves to semantic and logical structure that's most easily expressed by editing them as text. Furthermore, text-based editing makes debugging and performance improvements easier.
But text-based editing is also limited. Though the underlying description of a web page is notionally human-readable, it's optimized to be readable by other software — namely, web browsers. HTML in particular is verbose and easily mistyped. And isn't it fatally dull to manage all the boilerplate, like surrounding every paragraph with @code{<p>...</p>}? Yes,itis.
@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Pygments is a Python library (though you don't need to know any Python to use it
@subsection[#:tag "pygments-with-pollen"]{Using Pygments with Pollen}
I used @link["http://pygments.org/"]{Pygments} for syntax highlighting in @link["https://beautifulracket.com/"]{@italic{Beautiful Racket}}. Links to the source are available at the bottom of the article.
I used @link["http://pygments.org/"]{Pygments} for syntax highlighting in @link["http://unitscale.com/mb/technique/dual-typed-untyped-library.html"]{this article made with Pollen}. Links to the source are available at the bottom of the article.
@ -405,9 +405,6 @@ Beyond that, all we need to do make sure our template has the three key ingredie
In your project directory, create a new file called @filepath{template.html.p}:
@margin-note{If you're using DrRacket on Mac OS to save this file, it may insist on adding a @filepath{rkt} extension to the filename. If so, you can either correct the filename after you save the file, or instead use a different text editor to create @filepath{template.html.p}.}
@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Inconsistent with this system, Pollen's version also appends a build number, whi
@section{Source code}
Pollen's source code is @link["https://git.matthewbutterick.com/mbutterick/pollen/"]{available from this Git repo}. The @tt{MASTER} branch of the repo will always contain the most recent stable version.
Pollen's source code is @link["http://github.com/mbutterick/pollen"]{available from this Git repo}. The @tt{MASTER} branch of the repo will always contain the most recent stable version.
Racket's @link["http://pkg.racket-lang.org"]{package catalog} relies on this branch, so if you get your updates with @tt{raco pkg update pollen}, you'll get the most recent updates from this branch.
@ -24,10 +24,6 @@ Beyond keeping the commit history available, I make no promise to maintain the p
@section{Changelog}
@subsection{Version 3.2}
Added @racket[setup:external-renderer].
@subsection{Version 3.1}
Downgraded the following @racket[pollen/setup] values from configurable to fixed: @racket[here-path-key], @racket[extension-escape-char].
Matthew Butterick