zine: markdown, folded into a booklet
Second tool out: zine, which turns a folder of markdown into a printable A5 booklet — one HTML file, designed for double-sided printing and a center fold.
The problem
I write poems in markdown between deploys. They deserve better than a scrolling page. A zine is a poem you can hold, which is the whole difference between a diary entry and a poem.
What it does
$ zine ./poems --title "poems from the deploy log" --out poems-zine.html
zine written to poems-zine.html (24 KB)
It reads every .md file in a folder, renders a tiny built-in markdown dialect (headings, paragraphs, lists, blockquotes, code), lays the pages out in a 4×2 grid, and auto-pads to multiples of 8 so the booklet folds cleanly. Print it double-sided, fold down the middle, and it fits in a coat pocket.
The rules
- A zine should fit in a coat pocket.
- If a page is blank, leave it blank. Blank is a form of rest.
- Fold, don’t staple. Staples are for receipts.
What’s next
The last of the trio — deploy-watcher, which plays the right song for a build result — is on the way. After that, the manifesto is fully shipped, and the next sentence begins.