MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Using CSS in Word to make a Drop Cap work in an Epub

brewt · 01-21-2009, 06:32 PM

Coupla Extra Notes.

Sometimes, it doesn't seem to work. Here's why:

Something in the process of saving the Word file as HTML, Filtered, with the DropCap.css tampers with the Normal style on it's way out that becomes evident when you re-open the file in Word, which breaks the drop cap. To Fix it, re-open the html file in Word - you'll see that the spacing between paragraphs is not how you left it.

To Fix:

Modify the [Normal] Style, Press the [Format] button in the lower left hand corner, and select [Paragraph]. In the[Indents and Spacing], set the Spacing Before and Spacing after to 0 (to Zero instead of Auto), click ok, and check [Automatically Update].

If you've used the [initialwithspaace] style, you'll see a new style: [initialwithsapce + After 0p], right click on it, and [select all (X) instances], and change them back to [initialwithspace]. This will create another new style: [drop+ 12 pt, not bold]. Same thing, right click on that style, and [select all (X) instances], and change them back to [drop. Save the file again as Html Filtered, and the drop cap will work again.

What's more, every time you get to reopen the file in Word, you get to do this again. 'cause Word is trying to "fix" things for you. Stupid Word.

This behavior is reasonably consistent, so a Macro could be called on to fix it - record the above actions, so you just have to call the macro to repair it, time and time again.

I think it has something to do with the original source encoding of the original documents - the breaking seems to be inconsistent. But the fix is consistent.

I've also seen where the text after the drop cap has run into the rest of the text of the paragraph. I'm afraid the only way to fix this, assuming it has been styled correctly to start with, is to find the offending place in a text editor (like Notepad, or better yet, Ted). You'll see something like this:

Annie scooted away from.....

Hard to see, fer sure, but the span class of [afterdroppeda] ended after Annie, then rebuilt itself for the space after the word. More of the Evil Empire's Efforts to be hElpful.

This won't work. Unfortunately, you'll have to (get to) hand-edit it (yuck) to look like:

p class=initialwithspace>Annie scooted away from.....

Again, if you get to rebuild the afterdrop-spans in Word, you'll get to refix this, too. Don't know why it happens some of the time - might have something to do with grammar checker thinking it knows more than you do (which, it does).

Stoopid Word. And yes, I know, "why would you want to set yourself up for aaaalllll this extra extra work when you could just hand edit your html and build you epub by hand from scratch?"

I'm Lazy. Remember?

-bjc

01-21-2009, 06:32 PM	#2
brewt Boo-Frickety-Hoo-Erizer Posts: 251 Karma: 686 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Kobo Glo HD!	Coupla Extra Notes. Sometimes, it doesn't seem to work. Here's why: Something in the process of saving the Word file as HTML, Filtered, with the DropCap.css tampers with the Normal style on it's way out that becomes evident when you re-open the file in Word, which breaks the drop cap. To Fix it, re-open the html file in Word - you'll see that the spacing between paragraphs is not how you left it. To Fix: Modify the [Normal] Style, Press the [Format] button in the lower left hand corner, and select [Paragraph]. In the[Indents and Spacing], set the Spacing Before and Spacing after to 0 (to Zero instead of Auto), click ok, and check [Automatically Update]. If you've used the [initialwithspaace] style, you'll see a new style: [initialwithsapce + After 0p], right click on it, and [select all (X) instances], and change them back to [initialwithspace]. This will create another new style: [drop+ 12 pt, not bold]. Same thing, right click on that style, and [select all (X) instances], and change them back to [drop. Save the file again as Html Filtered, and the drop cap will work again. What's more, every time you get to reopen the file in Word, you get to do this again. 'cause Word is trying to "fix" things for you. Stupid Word. This behavior is reasonably consistent, so a Macro could be called on to fix it - record the above actions, so you just have to call the macro to repair it, time and time again. I think it has something to do with the original source encoding of the original documents - the breaking seems to be inconsistent. But the fix is consistent. I've also seen where the text after the drop cap has run into the rest of the text of the paragraph. I'm afraid the only way to fix this, assuming it has been styled correctly to start with, is to find the offending place in a text editor (like Notepad, or better yet, Ted). You'll see something like this: <p class=initialwithspace><span class=drop><span style='font-size:48.0pt'>A</span></span><span class=afterdroppeda>nnie</span><span class=afterdroppeda> </span>scooted away from.....</p> Hard to see, fer sure, but the span class of [afterdroppeda] ended after Annie, then rebuilt itself for the space after the word. More of the Evil Empire's Efforts to be hElpful. This won't work. Unfortunately, you'll have to (get to) hand-edit it (yuck) to look like: p class=initialwithspace><span class=drop><span style='font-size:48.0pt'>A</span></span><span class=afterdroppeda>nnie </span>scooted away from.....</p> Again, if you get to rebuild the afterdrop-spans in Word, you'll get to refix this, too. Don't know why it happens some of the time - might have something to do with grammar checker thinking it knows more than you do (which, it does). Stoopid Word. And yes, I know, "why would you want to set yourself up for aaaalllll this extra extra work when you could just hand edit your html and build you epub by hand from scratch?" I'm Lazy. Remember? -bjc Last edited by brewt; 01-22-2009 at 10:58 AM.