BlueGriffon^TM

So I started a while ago looking at the OpenOfficeXML specification (5000+ pages...) and, given the very low quality of the HTML export of Microsoft Word, decided to write some code to convert OOXML documents into clean HTML+CSS documents. It's far from ready but the basic architecture for my converter is now done and it already works for trivial documents. When it's ready (this is not for tomorrow, it's going to take some time...), the code will be integrated into BlueGriffon EPUB Edition and sold as an add-on to BlueGriffon.

Here is a little video I just made, you can also watch it on YouTube directly.

• only UTF-8 in xhtml5; b=430
• updates on a daily basis don't work; b=436
• add skip-this-version to updates; b=415
• edit a page directly from a link; b=457
• get rid of align attribute; b=464
• revert shuffles tab order; b=466
• bad serialization for embedded stylesheets; b=467
• selected line in dark source themes unreadable; b=445
• Add an 'Open File' menu; b=470
• Better table row and column resizers; b=469

I just landed a patch adding autocompletion for HTML tags, HTML attributes, values of HTML attributes, CSS properties and CSS values to BlueGriffon's source view. No JavaScript yet, stay tuned.

• Create backup before saving a html file; b=401
• copy/paste made all URLs absolute; b=398
• activeview popup too transparent; b=372
• advanced preferences were horked
• html4 and html5 source views should not be closed without prompt, switch to DOMParser with text/html type; b=392
• Serbian (sr) localization enabled by default
• Link Insertion dialog added a mailto: to mail links even if already present; b=394
• better floating toolbar on linux
• comments, PHP and PI support; b=384
• negative margins were not allowed; b=383
• refine background-repeat UI; b=382
• CloseTab and CloseOtherTabs as context menu on tabs
• Revert as context menu on tabs; b=294

• v1.4.1. released
• BlueGriffon is now able to deal with all charsets, previously only UTF-8; b=102
• new UI for formerly hidden pref bluegriffon.defaults.forceLF
• new UI for formerly hidden pref bluegriffon.inContext.enabled that became bluegriffon.floatingToolbar.enabled
• shorcut changes: new document (cmd-N => cmd-T), new window (cmd-N), new document with options (shift-cmd-N)
• cmd-W shortcut now closes the window if there are no more tabs to close

A preview of forthcoming BlueGriffon 1.4 is now available. We still miss some localization strings for 1.4 and if you think you can help, please take a look at this page.

Here's the changelog for 1.4 from 1.3.1, the important items show a disc instead of an empty circle:

• hidden preference bluegriffon.defaults.forceLF to force saving documents into Unix mode (carriage returns are one LF). To enable that, open the Preferences, select the Advanced panel and open the configuration editor. Right-click in the main area and select New > Boolean. Enter the name of the new preference and set it to true. To revert to the original platform-dependant behaviour, reset the property or turn it to false. UI for this will be added for v1.5.
• switching to MAR files for updates
• Tip of the Day (the tips themselves are not ready yet)
• use standard descriptors for ltr and rtl; b=287
• automatic detection of changes in external files linked into documents edited by BlueGriffon; b=325
• wrong mimetypes switching to source view
• get rid of duplicate anchors in Link Insertion dialog
• force reload stylesheets if they were edited
• no check if ID already given in CSS Properties panel; b=194
• Invalid class or ID in the CSS Properties panel freezes the app; b=167
• Table properties dialog controls can show NaN; b=336
• CSS Colors were always added as rgb() Values; b=97
• Don't remove empty divs switching back from source to wysiwyg view; b=261
• CodeMirror now used for all source views instead of Ace
• Script Editor was always displayed in en-US
• Insert > Stylesheets moved to Panels > Stylesheets.
• Panels > Stylesheets now offers to edit embedded and local stylesheets through CodeMirror
• folding and XML parsing error visibility added to Source View
• folding and JS syntax error added to Script Editor (uses Reflect)
• folding added to Stylesheets Editor
• new table cells should not get vertical-align:top; b=314
• class and aria role does not apply correctly to multiple td/th selection; b=329
• don't use the width attribute on tables in html5; b=313
• Format menu partially horked; b=312
• cannot select/copy/paste select elements; b=331
• Removing last class leaves an empty class attribute; b=320
• impossible to create an attributeless hr element; b=322
• a lot of minor fixes

• new table cells should not get vertical-align:top; b=314
• class and aria role does not apply correctly to multiple td/th selection; b=329
• don't use the width attribute on tables in html5; b=313
• Format menu partially horked; b=312
• cannot select/copy/paste select elements; b=331
• Removing last class leaves an empty class attribute; b=320
• impossible to create an attributeless hr element; b=322

BlueGriffon v1.3 will have a much nicer structure bar, something I have always wanted to do but never had time for in the past. Of course, it also works fine in right-to-left environments like Hebrew, Arabic or Farsi.

Our next BlueGriffon add-on will be a Mobile Previewer... You'll be able to check if your layout (fluid, responsive or whatever) beautifully fits on a small screen, a medium screen or even a gigantic screen. CSS Media Queries and Meta Viewport supported.