nickloewen / tocdoc

Create a webpage with contents on the side, using pandoc and bash

TOCdoc

Make your long documents easy to read by adding a table of contents on the side. A lo-fi Gitbook alternative, using Pandoc and bash.

To use, just create three files, run ./tocdoc.sh, and open up generated/index.html to see your TOCdoc.

Check out the live example based on the default example document in document/.

Alternatives

TOCdoc is based on tools like:

• Gitbook (a fremium service)
• HonKit (a fork of the old gitbook-cli)
• mdBook (runs on Rust)
• Bookdown (R Markdown)
• docsify (client-side markdown rendering)

TOCdoc does less. But it also requires less configuration.

Setup

First, install Pandoc.

Then, git clone https://github.com/nickloewen/tocdoc.

Or, if you want to clone into a folder with a better name:

$ mkdir philosophiae-naturalis-principia-mathematica
$ cd philosophiae-naturalis-principia-mathematica
$ git clone https://github.com/nickloewen/tocdoc .

Creating a webpage

1. Create your document, and save it to document/body.md.
2. Create your table of contents and save it to document/contents.md.
3. In documents/title.txt, write the title you want displayed on the browser tab.
4. Run ./tocdoc.sh.
5. Check out the output at generated/index.html.

Editing body.md

• Use Pandoc markdown
• I recommend using an H1 for the overall page title, and H2s for chapter titles. A horizontal rule (markdown: ***) between chapters is nice, too.
• Add anchor links to your headings like this: ## Chapter 2 {#ch-2}.
• The current stylesheet assumes that your first H1 will be followed by a byline, a horizontal rule, and the first chapter, with no additional content.

Editing contents.md

• You can use an H2 to add a title to your table of contents. (Other markdown will also work, it's just not covered by the stylesheet.).
• Create your table of contents using a regular markdown list (bulleted lists, numbered lists, and automatically numbered lists wll all work).
• Link to your headings like this: [Chapter 2](#ch-2)

Images and other assets

If you want to add other static assets (like images), you can put those straight into generated/.