BlueGriffon^TM

I just released BlueGriffon 1.7 for Windows (XP, 7, 8), OS X (10.6 to 10.8) and Ubuntu (12.04 and 13.04, 32 and 64 bits). You can find it here.

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.

Thanks to Jean-Pierre Reyt's heads up (and patience), I have identified a well hidden bug in the One-Click Templates add-on. It's related to the permissions of the temporary directory in which the add-on downloads and unzips a template. Weirdly, that bug did not happen in the past. I am currently working on a fix, stay tuned.

Update:fixed, email sent to all purchasers, bluegriffon.com updated

We just released BlueGriffon 1.6. The most important changes in the changelog below are the ones in bold:

• fixed too many LFs in stylesheet serialization
• fixed error in commandline handler
• CSS Properties panel was horked by switch to dockable panels
• page setup and print menus: b=500
• remove floating panel; b=498
• better inline editing (core patch)
• fixes in Find/Replace in source view
• font and color assignments in floating toolbar don't use css; b=482
• TOC update horked; b=440
• Save in source view should update iframe's oldSource; b=479
• dockable panels; b=478
• new pref for default file extensions on save; b=309
• TypeInState not shown in UI; b=471
• save from source view horked; b=473
• blockquote button; b=472
• xhtml 1.1; b=404
• aria role dropdown always looking for block; b=430
• 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
• switch to final CSS gradient syntax; b=463
• languages dialog horked on cancel; b=439
• add toggle view command; b=426, patch by Yu Tang
• IDs appear twice in link insertion dialog; b=422

/* Enjoy! */

• dockable panels; b=478
• new pref for default file extensions on save; b=309
• TypeInState not shown in UI; b=471
• save from source view horked; b=473
• blockquote button; b=472
• xhtml 1.1; b=404
• aria role dropdown always looking for block; b=430

I have finished last night working on bug 469 implementing new resizing rules for table rows and columns. In short, it's now possible in BlueGriffon to click on the spaces between table rows and between table cells to resize the table rows and columns, just like in any other editor (finally.....). Bonus feature, if you resize columns pressing the shift key, the resulting widths will be in percents and not in pixels.

Click to enlarge

Hi BlueGriffon Team,

I would like to inform you that your company is chosen as to receive the “Best Web Tool 2012” award. We applaud your great products/services that truly make websites better.

Stay tuned for more information soon:-)

I have a free add-on for you BlueGriffon users : it's an automated accessibility checklist built by the wonderful Opquast people. I took their checklist, wrote the corresponding JS-based tests and turned the whole thing into an add-on. The add-on adds a new menu entry to the Tools menu. It works for the last focused document and it works for both Wysiswyg and Source views. Localized in english and french.

The add-on is available here. Please save it onto your hard disk and follow the installation instructions starting at step 3.

I am really glad to report that thanks to the hard work done by Enrique Estévez, Galician is now enabled by default in BlueGriffon builds. 1.5.2 users can download and use the gl langpack following these steps:

1. download the langpack and save it onto your hard disk
2. launch BlueGriffon 1.5.2
3. open Tools > Add-ons
4. click on the Languages tab
5. click on the wheel button and select Install Add-on Fom File
6. select the langpack you saved above
7. click the Restart link, let BlueGriffon restart
8. open Preferences, switch to Advanced tab
9. check "Use installed locale", select Galician in the list
10. hit the "Use Language" button
11. let BlueGriffon restart and enjoy 1.5.2 in Galego!

BlueGriffon 1.5 went live a few hours ago. If you purchased BlueGriffon's User's Manual, watch your inbox, a download link for the revised version is waiting for you there. Purchasers of our CSS Pro Editor, our Silver Offer and our Platinum subscribers also received a download link to the new version of the CSS Pro Editor.