Hunting The Muse

Generating PDF

I'm just putting this out there in case someone out there knows more than me about this.

I am interested in starting several projects that have to do with converting text (or html) to pdf, dynamically. The text would be basic, the pdf would be snazzy based off of a pre-existing branding or design.

One project would be taking pure text only - paragraphs separated by blank lines, much like how we write in email, but then processing them to eventually turn them into a pdf.

It appears that one possible path is markdown->xhtml->docbookxml->pdf . I'm not sure how to accomplish the xhtml->docbookxml step.

Another is just markdown->(something)->pdf. Open to suggestions.

Both would lead to the pdf becoming a hardcopy book. The point is that all the editing would just be in the text only format, to allow for easy collaborative editing.

Another project would be to take several snippets of html - perhaps they are each divs, or tables; snippets that aren't complete html pages - and be able to combine them together into a dynamic layout, so they would always fill up a two-sheet pdf document with professional branding.

Both projects are described rather vaguely here, but both are actually quite exciting once you know the details. And there might be good business opportunities with both projects. I am a solid perl and php programmer, so I can handle data-to-pdf conversions. But what I need is someone who is good at actual book design (typography; margins, etc) for the first project, or good print-media graphic design and pdf layout skill (similar to branding a newsletter) for the second. Remember that in both cases, it would just be to design templates; the actual printed output would be generated dynamically with the data that would be supplied from elsewhere.

Inquire within if you have any suggestions or interest!

Posted by Curt at November 30, 2004 12:05 AM