ANN: rest2web, firedrop2, textmacros

[Fuzzyman]

Threee related announcements :

rest2web - latest update adds support for multiple translations
firedrop2 - new documentation and updated reST support
textmacros - the textmacros module is now available separrately, useful
for systems like docutils



First of all my all new `Firedrop2 Section`__ [#]_ is up and running.

__ http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/firedrop2/index.shtml

.. [#] **Firedrop2** being the blogging tool for discerning pythoneers,
written by `Hans Nowak`__.
__ http://zephyrfalcon.org

It includes my own distribution called *The Fuzzy Version*. This is a
temporary fork whilst Hans approves the changes I've made. The main
change is improved reST__ support. This requires docutils 0.3.9.

__ http://docutils.sourceforge.net

The new section has docs on templating, macros, options, plugins, and
more.


Secondly, I've broken out the *textmacros* module from the Firedrop
project. This system is also used by rest2web__ and provides an easy
way of extending docutils (or any other text based system).

__ http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web

It maps markup like ``{name;param;param}`` to function calls and
replaces the text with the output. It can also apply transformations to
whole passages of text using a ``{+name} some text here {-name}``
syntax.

See the `textmacros page`__ for download and use details.

__ http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/firedrop2/textmacros.shtml

It's very simple though - an ``apply_macros.py`` script will process
directories of files. I recommend using it on the *output* of docutils
files [#]_. You can use it for adding {acro;acronyms;Like This},
smilies {sm;:evil:}, or even doing Python source coloring.

.. [#] I've only ever used it with HTML - it may be just as useful with
Laytex.

It comes with an example macro file, and it's very simple to add new
ones. For full docs see :  `The Macro System`__ [#]_

__ http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/firedrop2/macros.shtml

.. [#] Part of the Firedrop docs.


There is a new version of **rest2web** [#]_ available at Voidspace__,
in SVN__, and at Sourceforge__.

.. [#] We're now up to **0.2.2**

__ http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web
__ https://svn.rest2web.python-hosting.com
__ http://sourceforge.net/projects/rest2web

This version adds something called *uservalues* to rest2web. It allows
you to create values that can be used by the templating system, and to
specify another file to be used as the body of the page. If that body
uses your uservalues, it is easy to have several files using the same
body - but inserting different text into it.

One obvious use for this is having multiple translations of the same
site.

See `uservalues`__ for the lowdown and `translation pages`__ for a
trivial example. The source of the example is included in the
distribution - so you can see how it's done.

__ http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/uservalues.html
__ http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/translation/index.html

For those who don't know, **rest2web** is a website templating system
optimised for storing content in `reST format`__. It can autogenerate
navigation links and sidebars for you, as well as sporting a flexible
templating and macro system. See the `online docs`__ for more details
than you could possibly want.

__ http://docutils.sourceforge.net
__ http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web


Best Regards,

Fuzzyman
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python