Output as multiple html

[aloboa]

Description

In the case of html otput, eg:

---
title: "Test"
format: 
  html:
    code-fold: true
    toc: true
    toc-location: left
    toc-expand: 2
---

how may I get independent HTML files for each main section?

[mcanouil]

You can't using Quarto or Pandoc.
You would need to create a workflow possibly involving Quarto/Pandoc and Lua filter to split your document.

Note that you are going to lose cross-reference between section.

May I ask why you want to split the document without actually splitting it?

[aloboa]

Perhaps I did not explain myself clearly enough.
I just want to avoid having 1 single heavy HTML file.
How would I need to define the YAML header for that?

[mcanouil]

See my previous answer as it is still the same. You cannot.

[aloboa]

If I select a Quarto book project, then each chapter would be a different *.qmd file, right?
In that case, would each *.qmd render a different .HTML or would still all qmd files be merged to
render one single HTML?

[mcanouil]

No they would be merged.

That's also why I asked:

May I ask why you want to split the document without actually splitting it?

Note even if you were able to split, you would not get really lighter HTML, since you would have all the dependencies in each.

I still really not understand, why not creating several Quarto documents directly as splitting the output would mean the files are independent.

[aloboa]

I still really not understand, why not creating several Quarto documents directly as splitting the output would mean the files are independent.

Well, I am just developing from what I have learned, which is single HTML pages through markdown. Up to recently, what I needed to do was of moderate size and worked very nicely. I am now facing more complex reports, which start to take very long to load and there is no real advantage on rendering them in 1 single HTML file.
So, yes, I am probably not going in the correct direction, could you tell me the most efficient approach? Creating .qmd files by chapters would be totally fine with me, but how do I link them?

[mcanouil]

It depends on what's your "reports".

For instance, for a big project, we are using a Quarto Website project, in which we have a listing for all analyses.

Book project are basically Website project with an opinionated layout/design.

If your sections are really independent, I would personally go with independent Quarto documents as standalone documents or as part of a Book/Website project.

[aloboa]

In both cases (website and Book), is it possible to set code folding? This is not possible with bookdown, which is the reason I discarded using it.

[mcanouil]

See the documentation: https://quarto.org/docs/output-formats/html-code.html#folding-code

But you already show you knew this option from your first example.
I don't understand what you are actually asking here.

Side note: this new question seems unrelated to your original question.

[cderv]

To sum up part of the discussion

• Quarto projects are a way to organize content in multiple files and have acces to projects features.
• Websites and Books are a way to organize all the results in a single output. For website or HTML books, this will mean several HTML pages with cross linked feature. HTML books will make it possible to cross reference sections for example.

If I select a Quarto book project, then each chapter would be a different *.qmd file, right?
In that case, would each *.qmd render a different .HTML ?

So for this question, yes it will be one .qmd file to render to one single .html file, with some feature to organize navigation between each files.

You should try out and see if everything is working for your usage.

[aloboa]

I have tried with Website and the only way I have found to process several .qmd files is using include, eg:
{{< include 02_AreaofStudy.qmd >}}

Is this the appropriate way to deal with multiple .qmd files (eg, for each section) in Quarto websites?

This is the output I have now:

I find that a lot of space is wasted on the left. I suspect this is because I am not taking full advantage of Quarto features.

[mcanouil]

Yes for the first part.

Regarding the layout, it's unrelated. See the documentation:

• https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/article-layout.html
• https://quarto.org/docs/output-formats/page-layout.html#grid-customization

[aloboa]

From the doc you kindly indicate

my "Sidebar" is empty. What do I have to do to get sections in my "sidebar"? I just get the index for one single page.
In other words, sections in the sidebar of https://quarto.org/docs/guide/ link to independent HTML files. How can I do that? I cannot find it in the documentation.

[mcanouil]

See https://quarto.org/docs/websites/website-navigation.html.

I would suggest to have a Quick Look at the various guide to get a better sense of what's possible.
Then, you'll be able to deepen your knowledge.

[aloboa]

Yes, I can achieve what I need with a Quarto website including a _quarto.yml based on https://quarto.org/docs/websites/website-navigation.html#side-navigation
It seems I have to process each individual .qmd to .HTML, but this is probably better as normally changes are done in one single .qmd, so no need to process those that have not been modified.

[mcanouil]

It seems I have to process each individual .qmd to .HTML, but this is probably better as normally changes are done in one single .qmd, so no need to process those that have not been modified.

The purpose of projects is that you can render everything all at once by running quarto render at the root.
Check out the freeze option.