Quote:
Originally Posted by derangedhermit
I know that for many books they have computer-generated ePubs. I find them unsatisfactory.
I would like people who put effort into convert Project Gutenberg books to high quailtiy ePub to describe their methods, tools, etc.
- What format do you start with? Text (with the PG-unique markup)? HTML? ePub?
- Do you have a standard CSS file that you use? Mind sharing it?
- What tools do you use? Notepad++? Sigil?
- How hard do you work on collecting, editing, enhancing images?
- Do you use images of an original to work from?
What are the problems you run into, how do you deal with them, and how long does it take you to convert a book into a decent quality ePub with clean modern markup - a book you are satisfied with?
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For what it is worth most of the ePubs I have done for the MobileRead library were originally from Project Gutenberg HTML files. I could not agree more with your dislike of their ePub files.
MobileRead won't let me upload ebook.css; if you send me a private message with your email address I'll email it to you.
I use the Coffee Cup HTML editor, mainly because I've dabbled in web design in the past.
How does one measure 'How hard' one works with images? I certainly spend some time searching for images, and sometimes use the images in the PG ePub file. If the images are poor quality I spend some time trying to improve them, but I'm certainly not an expert. The images in the last ebook I did (
The Story of Francis Cludde by Stanley J. Weyman) I think were too dark and had poor contrast, and I think I've improved them.
I have found original images and used them - cf
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I certainly spend time searching for cover images. Or do you mean do I produce original images? Only if I have to, and can't find an image to use as a cover - but even then I can usually find an image to put text on for a cover - cf
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays by Henry David Thoreau.
I hope this helps.
PS zipped ebook.css attached. Thank you Harry.