Maintaining scene breaks

[wellington]

I have a simple question which I suspect does not have a simple answer/implementation.

I'm trying to convert ebooks of various formats to epub format. Doing this usually creates an epub with spacing between paragraphs which are unindented. Ok so I choose the "Remove spacing between paragraphs" option which works wonderfully, except that it also removes scene breaks (as they are generally just spaces between paragraphs).

All I want to do is create an epub that has unspaced, indented paragraphs and scene breaks. Is there any simple or automated way to accomplish this?

[Hitch]

Have you tried Sigil? You can use CSS to get the indented paragraphs, and use the Codeview S&R to insert the correct styling, without killing yourself. Write a second style for the scene break paras and use it, to have a greater top margin. Save the epub and you're good to go. Are you familiar with CSS? It's not hard to use...

[wellington]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Are you familiar with CSS?

I'm not familiar but I'm willing to learn a bit if it means I can get properly formatted books. Thanks for the tip about Sigil, I will give it a go.

[Jonimeesermann]

I'm trying to convert ebooks of various formats to epub format. Doing this usually creates an epub with spacing between paragraphs which are unindented. Ok so I choose the "Remove spacing between paragraphs" option which works wonderfully, except that it also removes scene breaks (as they are generally just spaces between paragraphs).

My earlier experience with calibre which is messed up some of my ebook formatting (not that i blame calibre, i'm just noob back then) has taught me a valuable lesson: Always retain your original, non-converted yet copy. That way, I can tinker with formatting, but if i really messed it up, i just replace with original file.

I'm not familiar but I'm willing to learn a bit if it means I can get properly formatted books.

You should learn some css stuff if you really care about how your book will look like according your preferences. I learned css about a couple of weeks ago and I can say that I'm pretty satisfied with my hand-edit ebook. It is pretty worth it.

[wellington]

I just want to post to say that after converting some more books it appears that calibre maintains scene breaks just fine. In cases where scene breaks are lost when using the "remove spacing between paragraphs" option, the problem seems to be poorly formatted sources.

Originally Posted by Jonimeesermann

You should learn some css stuff if you really care about how your book will look like according your preferences.

Definitely want to do this. Can you recommend some resources for learning css with an eye to ebook formatting?

[Jonimeesermann]

Can you recommend some resources for learning css with an eye to ebook formatting?

O'Reilly's CSS Missing Manual is a good source, comprehensive and easy to understand. Although it covers css in general, not focusing in ebook creation and formatting. Here's the link

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by wellington

I just want to post to say that after converting some more books it appears that calibre maintains scene breaks just fine. In cases where scene breaks are lost when using the "remove spacing between paragraphs" option, the problem seems to be poorly formatted sources.




Definitely want to do this. Can you recommend some resources for learning css with an eye to ebook formatting?

Yeah, also, as a freebie, the ubiquitous w3schools.com CSS course. It's not a 'step-by-step,' but it's an invaluable resource and it will help you with the basics. Honestly, I learned more about CSS working with Sigil than almost anything else. ;-)

Hitch