----- 
permalink: glyph
filters_pre: 
- erb
- redcloth
title: "Glyph"
subtitle: "A Rapid Document Authoring Framework"
type: project
github: glyph
links:
- "Repository": http://www.github.com/h3rald/glyph/
- "Download": http://www.rubygems.org/gems/glyph
- "Documentation": /glyph/book/
- "User Group": http://groups.google.com/group/glyph-framework
status: Active
version: 0.5.1
-----

<%= render 'project_data', :tag => 'glyph' %>

<section class="section">
Glyph is a _Rapid Document Authoring Framework_. 

With Glyph, creating and maintaining any kind of document becomes as easy as... _programming_. Glyph enables you to minimize text duplication, focus on content rather than presentation, manage references seamlessly and automate tedious tasks through a simple but effective macro language, specifically geared towards customization and extensibility.

	<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_1">Main Features</h1></header>
<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_2">Command Line Interface</h1></header>
Glyph is 100% command line. Its interface resambles <a href="http://git-scm.com/">Git's</a> for its simplicity and power (thanks to the <a href="http://github.com/davetron5000/gli">gli</a> gem). Here are some example commands: 

* @glyph init@ -- to initialize a new Glyph project in the current (empty) directory.
* @glyph add introduction.textile@ -- to create a new file called _introduction.textile_.
* @glyph compile@ -- to compile the current document into a single HTML file.
* @glyph compile --auto@ -- to keep recompiling the current document every time a file is changed.
* @glyph compile -f pdf@ -- to compile the current document into HTML and then transform it into PDF.
* @glyph compile readme.glyph@ -- to compile a _readme.glyph_ located in the current directory into a single HTML file.
* @glyph outline -l 2@ -- Display the document outline, up to second-level headers.
* @glyph stats@ -- Display project statistics.

</section>

		<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_3">Minimalist Syntax</h1></header>
Glyph syntax rules can be explained using Glyph itself:
			
<div class="code">
<pre>
<code>
section[
  @title[Something about Glyph]
  txt[
You can use Glyph macros in conjunction 
with _Textile_ or _Markdown_ to
produce HTML files effortlessly.
  ]
  p[Alternatively, you can just use em[Glyph itself] to generate HTML tags.]
  section[
    @title[What about PDFs?]
    @id[pdf]
    p[
Once you have a single, well-formatted HTML 
file, converting it to PDF is
extremely easy with a free 3rd-party 
renderer like =>[http://www.princexml.com|Prince] 
or =>[http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/|wkhtmltopdf].
    ]
  ]   
]
</code>
</pre>
</div>
The Glyph code above corresponds to the following HTML code:
				
<div class="code">
<pre>
<code>
<div class="section">
  <h2 id="h_10">Something about Glyph</h2>
  <p>
    You can use Glyph macros in conjunction with 
    <em>Textile</em> or <em>Markdown</em> to
    produce HTML files effortlessly.
  </p>
  <p>
    Alternatively, you can just use <em>Glyph itself</em>
    to generate HTML tags.
  </p>
  <div class="section">
   <h3 id="pdf">What about PDFs?</h3>
   <p>
     Once you have a single, well-formatted HTML 
     file, converting it to PDF is
     extremely easy with a free 3rd-party renderer 
     like <a href="http://www.princexml.com">Prince</a> 
     or <a href="http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/\">wkhtmltopdf</a>.
   </p>
  </div>
</div>
</code>
</pre>
</div>

</section>

		<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_4">Content Reuse</h1></header>
Finding yourself repeating the same sentence over an over? Glyph allows you to create snippets. Within snippets. Within other snippets (and so on, for a long long time...) as long as you don't define a snippet by defining itself, which would be kinda nasty (and Glyph would complain!):
			
<div class="code">
<pre>
<code>
snippet:[entities|snippets and macros]
snippet:[custom_definitions|
	p[Glyph allows you to define your own &[entities].]
]
&[custom_definitions]
</code>
</pre>
</div>
		...which results in:
			
<div class="code">
<pre>
<code>
<p>Glyph allows you to define your own snippets and macros.</p>
</code>
</pre>
</div>
		If yourself dreaming about _parametric_ snippets, just create your own macros (see the <a href="http://github.com/h3rald/glyph/blob/master/book/text/changelog.glyph">source</a> of Glyph's changelog, just to have an idea).

</section>
		<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_5">Automation of Common Tasks</h1></header>
If you're writing a book, you shouldn't have to worry about pagination, headers, footers, table of contents, section numbering or similar. Glyph understands you, and will take care of everything for you (with a little help from CSS3, sometimes).

</section>
		<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_6">Reference Validation</h1></header>
Feel free to add plenty of links, snippets, bookmarks, ... if Glyph doesn't find something, it will definitely complain. Broken references are a thing on the past, and you don't need to worry about it.

</section>
		<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_7">Extreme Extensibility</h1></header>
* You miss a <code>!!!</code> macro to format really, _really_ important things? Create it. In under 3 seconds, in Ruby or Glyph itself. And yes, you can use special characters, too.
* You want your own, very special special @glyph create --everything@ command to create all _you_ need in a Glyph project? You can do it. Using your own Rake tasks, too.
* You want Glyph to output ODF files? You can do it, and you'll be able to run @glyph generate -f odf@. This would probably require a little more time, but it's trivial, from a technical point of view.

</section>
		<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_8">Convention over Configuration</h1></header>
Put your text files in @/text@, your images in @/images@, add custom macros in a @macro@ folder within your @/lib@ folder... you get the picture: Glyph has its special places.

Nonetheless, you also have 1 (_one_) configuration file to customize to your heart's content (with smart defaults).

</section>	
		<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_9">Free and Open Source</h1></header>
Glyph is 100% Open Source Software, developed using the Ruby Programming Language and licensed under the very permissive terms of the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php">MIT License</a>.

If you have Ruby installed, just run @gem install glyph@. That's all it takes.

</section>

</section>
	<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_10">Resources</h1></header>
* Home Page: <a href="http://www.h3rald.com/glyph/">http://www.h3rald.com/glyph/</a>
* Repository: <a href="http://www.github.com/h3rald/glyph/">http://www.github.com/h3rald/glyph/</a>
* Bug Tracking: <a href="http://www.github.com/h3rald/glyph/issues">http://www.github.com/h3rald/glyph/issues</a>
* Development Wiki <a href="http://wiki.github.com/h3rald/glyph">http://wiki.github.com/h3rald/glyph</a>
* RubyGem Download <a href="http://www.rubygems.org/gems/glyph">http://www.rubygems.org/gems/glyph</a>
* Book (PDF): <a href="http://github.com/downloads/h3rald/glyph/glyph.pdf">http://github.com/downloads/h3rald/glyph/glyph.pdf</a>
* Book (Web): <a href="http://www.h3rald.com/glyph/book/">http://www.h3rald.com/glyph/book/</a>
* Reference Documentation: <a href="http://rubydoc.info/gems/glyph/">http://rubydoc.info/gems/glyph/</a>
* User Group: <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/glyph-framework">http://groups.google.com/group/glyph-framework</a>

</section>

</section>

<%= render 'project_updates', :tag => 'glyph' %>