Texy2 is a huge leap forward. More perfect, cleverer, highly customizable. And above all – even more sexy! Web application developers can chuckle in contentment.
Initially, Texy2 wasn’t even supposed to be released. But let's not get ahead of ourselves…
How Software Is Designed
The best analysis of a program is done by programming it. Only then do you realize what you really need from it. And only then can you write it perfectly.
I was aware of this while writing Texy 1. I didn’t want to write API documentation, I didn’t translate the website into other languages. I knew that was just a rehearsal for the real Texy.
The first version was a labor because I had to crack a ton of nuts. Figure
out how to even do it. It’s not a joke. For instance, you might say:
“Texy will insert non-breaking spaces between a preposition and a word.” And
one might think a regular expression that finds v lese and replaces
it with v lese would suffice.
But, can it handle this too:
v <strong>lese</strong>? Yes, a non-breaking space
belongs there too. Why wouldn’t it? Should we filter strings in angle
brackets? Okay, but what about this input:
v <span title="3 > 2">lese</span>You'd suggest more cunning HTML tag filtering? Wait, but if there’s a
<br> tag, then the non-breaking space shouldn’t be there.
So no filtering, but analysis instead.
Or… or just consider this! 🙂
v <span title="les > obora">  
<!-- hehe --></span>   leseIt’s still about the letter v followed by a space and the
word lese. Now, just try to design that regular expression in rough
outline ;)
Texy2 of course can do it. And that's just one of thousands of features.
However, the precision of conversion is not the main attraction of Texy2. Nope, that’s just a manifestation of maturing older ideas. The real bombshell is the maximum customizability.
Texy is Flexible and Billable
Now you can easily change the behavior of any document element. Need to build a wiki over Texy2? I.e., control all the links on the page? It took me just a few lines of code.
Need to generate content based on headings? Want to insert flash animations
using [* movie.swf *]? Want to automatically add a CSS class to all
phrases "hello .(description)"? You can! And extremely easily.
Some solutions are found directly in the distribution, but mostly in the documentation, which is not yet available 🙂 At least there’s a brief changelog. I’m sorry, I have such important tasks now that there’s no time to write the manual. However, the Texy website is now designed so that creating documentation does not have to depend only on me.
Texy2 is Here
Texy2 wasn’t meant to be released. I realized that I had no motivation to release my software as open source. It comes with many limitations, in the comfort zone you won’t find (i.e., in the Czech Republic), everyone bothers with support, you encounter idiots. If it weren’t for the Giraffe & co. at the last HBWBH, I would’ve probably kept it to myself.
The revision released today with the beautiful number 111 is the first official beta version of Texy2. Download it, play around, test it.