Calligra 2.6 office suite gains e-book tool

The distraction-free mode of Calligra Author
Source: Calligra

The Calligra developers have released version 2.6 of their office suite for the KDE desktop and its mobile-focused Calligra Active version, which is QML-based. Calligra 2.6 is the first production version of the modular office package that includes Calligra Author, a writing and editing tool specifically for e-book creation. With Calligra Author, the developers hope to meet the needs of groups like novel authors who want to write long texts but do not need complicated formatting. The tool is also supposed to take into account the unique aspects of e-books.

The option to export as EPUB2 format from Calligra was specially developed for Author, with export to MOBI coming in version 2.6.1. Improved text statistics, such as word count and character count, are also available. So far, Author is very similar to Words, the suite's word processor, but the differences will most likely become greater in later versions.

In version 2.6, Calligra Words features a number of small improvements to dialogs and tools like the spelling checker. Sheets, the spreadsheet application, has a new function optimiser. Users creating presentations with Stage can take advantage of a new animation framework. Connections have been improved in Flow, the diagram application, while scheduling for project management has been refined in Calligra Plan, and reports are easier to generate. Kexi, the visual database manager, benefits from improved CSV import and export.

The drawing application Krita, one of the suite's most fully developed programs, now supports OpenColorIO, a colour management solution used in the movie industry. The program is now also easier to integrate into an existing GFX workflow and creating HDR images has also been improved.For further information specifically about Krita, consult the lavishly illustrated About Kitra 2.6 pamphlet.

Calligra Active, the version of the suite for tablets and smartphones, also benefits from the improvements made to the libraries and plugins and features updates like a new slideshow mode for presentations and a new preview for text documents. The release announcement has more information on all the updates and new features.

The source code for Calligra 2.6 is already available for download on the project's web site, with Project Neon providing updated packages for Ubuntu and Kubuntu. Other distributions have their own sources for updated packages, and a Windows version should be available for download soon. Calligra is licensed under a combination of the GPL and LGPL.

(fab)