Pandoc book template

Description

This repository contains a simple template for building Pandoc documents; Pandoc is a suite of tools to compile markdown files into readable files (PDF, EPUB, HTML...).

Usage

Installing

Please, check this page for more information. On ubuntu, it can be installed as the pandoc package:

sudo apt-get install pandoc

This template uses make to build the output files, so don't forget to install it too:

sudo apt-get install make

To export to PDF files, make sure to install the following packages:

sudo apt-get install texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-xetex

Folder structure

Here's a folder structure for a Pandoc book:

my-book/         # Root directory.
|- build/        # Folder used to store builded (output) files.
|- chapters/     # Markdowns files; one for each chapter.
|- images/       # Images folder.
|  |- cover.png  # Cover page for epub.
|- metadata.yml  # Metadata content (title, author...).
|- Makefile      # Makefile used for building our books.

Setup generic data

Edit the metadata.yml file to set configuration data (note that it must start and end with ---):

---
title: My book title
author: Alessandro Cucci
rights:  MIT License
language: it-IT
tags: [book, my-book, etc]
abstract: |
  Your summary text.
mainfont: DejaVu Sans
---

You can find the list of all available keys on this page.

Creating chapters

Creating a new chapter is as simple as creating a new markdown file in the chapters/ folder; you'll end up with something like this:

chapters/01-introduction.md
chapters/02-installation.md
chapters/03-usage.md
chapters/04-references.md

Pandoc and Make will join them automatically ordered by name; that's why the numeric prefixes are being used.

All you need to specify for each chapter at least one title:

# Introduction

This is the first paragraph of the introduction chapter.

## First

This is the first subsection.

## Second

This is the second subsection.

Each title (#) will represent a chapter, while each subtitle (##) will represent a chapter's section. You can use as many levels of sections as markdown supports.

Manual control over page ordering

You may prefer to have manual control over page ordering instead of using numeric prefixes.

To do so, replace CHAPTERS = chapters/*.md in the Makefile with your own order. For example:

CHAPTERS += $(addprefix ./chapters/,\
 01-introduction.md\
 02-installation.md\
 03-usage.md\
 04-references.md\
)

Links between chapters

Anchor links can be used to link chapters within the book:

// chapters/01-introduction.md
# Introduction

For more information, check the [Usage] chapter.

// chapters/02-installation.md
# Usage

...

If you want to rename the reference, use this syntax:

For more information, check [this](#usage) chapter.

Anchor names should be downcased, and spaces, colons, semicolons... should be replaced with hyphens. Instead of Chapter title: A new era, you have: #chapter-title-a-new-era.

Links between sections

It's the same as anchor links:

# Introduction

## First

For more information, check the [Second] section.

## Second

...

Or, with al alternative name:

For more information, check [this](#second) section.

Inserting objects

Text. That's cool. What about images and tables?

Insert an image

Use Markdown syntax to insert an image with a caption:

![A cool seagull.](images/seagull.png)

Pandoc will automatically convert the image into a figure (image + caption).

If you want to resize the image, you may use this syntax, available in Pandoc 1.16:

![A cool seagull.](images/seagull.png){ width=50% height=50% }

Also, to reference an image, use LaTeX labels:

Please, admire the gloriousnes of Figure \ref{seagull_image}.

![A cool seagull.\label{seagull_image}](images/seagull.png)

Insert a table

Use markdown table, and use the Table: <Your table description> syntax to add a caption:

| Index | Name |
| ----- | ---- |
| 0     | AAA  |
| 1     | BBB  |
| ...   | ...  |

Table: This is an example table.

If you want to reference a table, use LaTeX labels:

Please, check Table /ref{example_table}.

| Index | Name |
| ----- | ---- |
| 0     | AAA  |
| 1     | BBB  |
| ...   | ...  |

Table: This is an example table.\label{example_table}

Insert an equation

Wrap a LaTeX math equation between $ delimiters for inline (tiny) formulas:

This, $\mu = \sum_{i=0}^{N} \frac{x_i}{N}$, the mean equation, ...

Pandoc will transform them automatically into images using online services.

If you want to center the equation instead of inlining it, use double $$ delimiters:

$$\mu = \sum_{i=0}^{N} \frac{x_i}{N}$$

Here's an online equation editor.

Output

This template uses Makefile to automatize the building process. Instead of using the pandoc cli util, we're going to use some make commands.

Export to PDF

Use this command:

make pdf

The generated file will be placed in build/pdf.

Please, note that PDF file generation requires some extra dependencies (~ 800 MB):

sudo apt-get install texlive-xetex ttf-dejavu

Export to EPUB

Use this command:

make epub

The generated file will be placed in build/epub.

Export to HTML

Use this command:

make html

The generated file(s) will be placed in build/html.

Extra configuration

If you want to configure the output, you'll probably have to look the Pandoc Manual for further information about pdf (LaTeX) generation, custom styles, etc.

References

• Pandoc
• Pandoc Manual
• Wikipedia: Markdown

Contributors

This project has been developed by:

Avatar	Name	Nickname	Email
	Daniel Herzog	Wikiti	info@danielherzog.es
	Alessandro Cucci	alessandrocucci	alessandro.cucci@gmail.com