In relation to formatting, I cannot tell what could be the issue but this does not correspond to mine and others' experiences.
Typically you would typeset the book with the generally intended text areas with LaTeX, and then generate the preprint with previously not included graphical elements and fine-tuned text layouts with Adobe InDesign. This is what publishers typically do, again, from mine and others' experiences.
[1] http://mirrors.ctan.org/info/luatex/lualatex-doc/lualatex-do...
We will open source in March, probably with a permissive license, but that's not yet definitively decided.
> Will it be able to reference page numbers from a different book dynamically? (so if book-a and book-b are in the same directory, one can reference another's sections)
This is not currently implemented, but also shouldn't be fundamentally impossible.
> Will there be support for intelligent floating images?
There will be floating containers (also with text flowing around). We will probably keep the amount of "intelligence" low for more predicatability. So you would specify top or bottom and it would be placed on the next page with free space.
> Will it accept 'every-page' commands, so I can use that #rect command to show a chapter's name on side-tabs?
Yes, every-page headers, footers, foregrounds, and backgrounds are already available and a way to query for the current chapter name is coming in a future update.
> Will error messages tell me hbox underfull badness 10000 at least 3000 times per compile?
No!
> There will be floating containers (also with text flowing around). We will probably keep the amount of "intelligence" low for more predicatability. So you would specify top or bottom and it would be placed on the next page with free space.
If it's not too 'intelligent', I hope there is - at a minimum - a floating image command that basically says 'place this floating image so it stays on the same page as this current line'. Currently I'm placing every float about 30 lines before where I want it and hoping for the best. It'd be a lot easier to just say 'place this float 50 lines back, typeset the page, and if the image is not in the right place, then start again 20 lines back', then loop until it's at no lines back or until it's with the right text.
That's ugly coding, but less ugly than the current hacks I do with LaTeX.
I hope the project goes well, and hope to see it in the standard repos before long.
Random example:
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F...
Calculating stat-blocks by hand is a nighmtare for one author, so I need a typesetting language so I can type `\elf`, and have a random elf, then generate all its derived stats correctly (like Attack, Defence, et c.).
My example: https://i.redd.it/ng82unzqxru41.png
Each book has different versions (minimal/ full) so getting reliable output has been a bit of a chore.
LaTeX is the only tool I know which can do the job, but it's still a bit of a nightmare at time. Ugly formatting means my code looks whacky, images can't float cleanly around a multicolumn environment, packages conflict, words overlap and it needs constant hand-holding.
Typst looks like just what I've been after - something like rmarkdown, with more power. Tables and layouts, and best of all - no packages.
What licence is typst under?
Will it be able to reference page numbers from a different book dynamically? (so if book-a and book-b are in the same directory, one can reference another's sections)
Will there be support for intelligent floating images?
Will it accept 'every-page' commands, so I can use that #rect command to show a chapter's name on side-tabs?
Will error messages tell me hbox underfull badness 10000 at least 3000 times per compile?