The Xmas 2019 release
Dear EVT users,
after a long wait, EVT version 1.3 is finally available! Besides new features and bug fixes, we moved the repository to GitHub to make it more accessible: this is going to be the last version of the 1.* series, so enjoy the goodies, but also have a look at EVT 2 because that’s where all future development is going to have place!
You can quickly download the archive here (and the manual here), but you can also browse the sample editions directly on the project home page:
New and improved features
These are the main features for this release, those added since the previous release are preceded by a [NEW] label:
- [NEW] verse visualization: poetic texts written as prose in diplomatic editions are now viewable as verses in the same edition frame, numbering of verses is now present in the standard prose-like text;
- [NEW] translations: support has been added for translations of the edited text in multiple languages;
Old English text and Italian translation
- [NEW] VisColl support: EVT has integrated the VisColl XSLT style sheets so that it is now possible to prepare a description of manuscript structure and have EVT automatically create SVG diagrams in a dedicated frame;
- [NEW] chronological index: editions which are based on multiple s can now be indexed chronologically using ;
- [NEW] navigation bar: a new navigation bar has been added, which will be particularly useful for big manuscripts counting many folios;
VisColl quire structure and the new navigation bar
- [NEW] comment and critical notes: now EVT distingueshes critical notes from general, comment notes thanks to different exponents (different background color, alphabetic vs. numerical exponents); this will make it easier to create critical editions of codex unicus texts, or even of works with a very small number of witnesses;
Verse numbering and critical / comment notes
- [NEW] A Web interface for easy configuration is available at this URL: http://evt.labcd.unipi.it/evt1-config/;
- [IMPROVED] named entities support: now there’s a simple and powerful method to handle named entities, also it is now possible to define custom interesting elements which are going to be highlighted in the text;
- [IMPROVED] support for : now and its sub-elements are supported;
- many bug fixes and minor enhancements.
Sample documents
In this release the default example document is the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood, one of the texts encoded for the Digital Vercelli Book project which has been adapted to show all the new features available in this release. To better understand how the named entities work, however, you are advised to look into the Codice Pelavicino Digitale sample document (ed. by Enrica Salvatori). Finally, besides the usual TEI-based examples, we added a new document which is a play from Gherardi’s work, Le Théâtre Italien collection of plays (ed. by Barbara Sommovigo).
End of development cycle for EVT 1
As mentioned above, please note that this is the final release for EVT 1.*: after a short period to gather feedback and fix possible bugs in this version, the source code – which has been moved to a public repository on GitHub – is now fully shared with the user community to be modified and/or enhanced as other developers may see fit. From now on, all development efforts will focus on EVT 2 to reach feature parity with EVT 1 (with regard to diplomatic editions) and to improve / develop new features, starting from support for critical editions.
In any case, EVT 1.3 is a mature, featureful product which can be used “as is” for diplomatic / single witness editions, or can be further customized by anyone who has good knowledge of XSLT 2 and HTML/CSS.
Important note about testing a local installation
In the past, we always suggested that you use Firefox to test an EVT-based edition on your computer, but during 2019 things have changed: starting from version 67 Firefox developers adopted the same security-conscious policy chosen by developers of Chrome and other Web browsers, that is forbidding loading local files (= documents available on the user’s computer drive) in the browser as a result of the execution of Javascript programs. The goal is to improve global security when browsing the Web, but the unpleasant collateral effect is that of preventing the loading of digital editions based on EVT, or similar software, from local folders. Fortunately there are several workarounds that can be used to test EVT editions that are located on your hard drive:
- option no. 1: launch Chrome from the command line with the –allow-file-access-from-files parameter, after that you can press CTRL+O to open the index.html file, or you can just drag and drop it on Chrome’s window; this is probably the most simple way to do it;
- option no. 2: download and install Firefox ESR v. 60: this version predates the new security policy adopted in FF v. 67 and, furthermore, it can be installed in parallel with any other version of Firefox;
- option no. 3: install an extension providing a local web server on Firefox or Chrome, f.i. there is this one available for Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-server-for-chrome/ofhbbkphhbklhfoeikjpcbhemlocgigb
This problem, however, only affects local testing, after the edition has been uploaded on a server there are no problems in accessing it with any of the major browsers.
Contact
As usual, user feedback is very much appreciated: please send all comments, suggestions, bug reports, etc. to evt.developers@gmail.com. Also, if you use EVT 1/2 for your work we would love to know about it!
Acknowledgements
The features in this release have been implemented by:
- Chiara Di Pietro (general development lead, tireless bug fixing and improving of implemented features, new features such as named entities support)
- Rocco Russo (verse numbering, visualization of poetic text as verses)
- Greta Musso (VisColl support, navigation bar)
- Chiara De Martin (chronological index)
- Federica Spinelli (support for translation, new exponents for critical/comment notes)
- Giulia Cacioli (refinement of search engine, miscellaneous improvements, bug fixes)
- Karel Pacovský (czech localization)
- Roberto Rosselli Del Turco (general coordination, encoding of sample documents, documentation, testing, developer nagging)
Many thanks to all previous contributors (in particular: Raffaele Masotti, Julia Kenny and Jacopo Pugliese) and to all those who submitted bug reports and feature requests. Alberto Campagnolo helped us understand how VisColl works and helped Greta Musso while working on the EVT implementation and on her dissertation, thank you!
