From HTML to eBook (Vim with SuperHTML LSP and Pandoc)

In the world of digital publishing, the process of creating an eBook is often seen as a daunting task. While many writers and developers gravitate towards more straightforward formats like Markdown for their simplicity, there's a powerful alternative that deserves attention. With the advent of Language Server Protocols (LSP), crafting an eBook in HTML has become not only feasible but also efficient. In this blog post, we'll explore a streamlined workflow that leverages Vim and the SuperHTML LSP to create eBooks directly from HTML. One of the standout features of this approach is the ability to preview your HTML content in the browser seamlessly, eliminating the need for cumbersome extra steps.

HTML LSP

SuperHtml is an HTML Language Server Protocol (LSP) that enhances your development experience by providing advanced features. To get started with SuperHtml, you can easily download a prebuilt version from the releases section of the project repository.

Once you have downloaded the software, the next step is to ensure that SuperHtml is accessible from your PowerShell environment. This involves adding SuperHtml to your PowerShell PATH, which allows you to run it from any directory without needing to specify its full path each time.

After setting up the PATH, you will need to configure Vim Lsp by defining the variable lspServers in the .vimrc file, as follows:

    let lspServers = [#{
                    \    name: 'superhtml',
                    \    filetype: ['html'],
                    \    path: 'C:\\Path\\to\\superhtml.exe',
                    \    args: ['lsp'],
                    \ }],

    autocmd filetype html setlocal formatprg=superhtml\ fmt\ --stdin

In Vim, you can use the formatprg option to specify an external program for formatting HTML text, such as superhtml. When you set formatprg to superhtml, you can format selected lines of HTML code using the gq command.

HTML to EBOOK

As demonstrated in the video below issues with the HTML structure for the current buffer can be listed in a new location list and easily fixed. The HTML file can be previewed directly in the browser, and to create an eBook, the Pandoc command line (as shown below) can be used. Finally, the eBook can be enjoyed on an eBook reader, providing a convenient and portable reading experience.

   pandoc.exe ebook.html -o ebook.epub --metadata title="My Sample eBook" --metadata author="Your Name" --metadata publisher="Your Publisher"