Stanza formating issues on iPad

JBNY · 10-18-2010, 11:39 AM

Does everyone else have problems with formatting using the Stanza app? I am converting mobi files to epub and I can not get Stanza to center and space text correctly. All my Titles and headings always are left justified and spacing between paragraphs and titles is always ignored. Is there something I am doing wrong or is the Stanza app just awful for epub. The epubs end up looking fine in iBooks and every other epub viewer I use just not Stanza on the iPad.

itimpi · 10-18-2010, 11:43 AM

Have you checked the Stanza settings to see if Settings->Layout->Display Styles is set to ON?

JBNY · 10-18-2010, 12:00 PM

Yes, it checked that setting, I still have issues...

Attached is an example (first 5 chapters) epub taken from from calibre.

PatNY · 10-18-2010, 01:09 PM

JBNY, Stanza is purposely programmed to ignore a lot of the formatting instructions in stylesheets. Specifically centering and margin-top and margin-bottom instructions.

The best way to get around it is to add !important next to the instruction. For example ...

text-align: center !important;

margin-bottom: 1em !important;

Using Calibre's built-in tweak epub feature, it's really fast to adjust the centering. It takes about a minute. Just open up the epub, select the stylesheet, open it up with a good text editor like the free Notepad++, then do a search and replace:

Find ... center
Replace with ... center !important

Use "whole word" in your search criteria. Then do a quick visual check to make sure that there was not a style called "center" to begin with. If there is, just delete "!important" that was added to it by the S&R. But most stylesheets I found have no style called simply "center."

The one caveat to this is if you do a subsequent epub-to-epub conversion. Calibre then strips out the !important tag and you have to put them back in. So I do the S&R as a last step.

I have put in a request for Calibre to respect the !important instruction but it is not implemented yet.

JBNY · 10-18-2010, 01:40 PM

PatNY, That worked. I don't understand why they do that that, it makes it so difficult to get the text to look correct.

Again, thank for your help!

10-18-2010, 11:39 AM	#1
JBNY Member Posts: 21 Karma: 12 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindel, iPad	Stanza formating issues on iPad Does everyone else have problems with formatting using the Stanza app? I am converting mobi files to epub and I can not get Stanza to center and space text correctly. All my Titles and headings always are left justified and spacing between paragraphs and titles is always ignored. Is there something I am doing wrong or is the Stanza app just awful for epub. The epubs end up looking fine in iBooks and every other epub viewer I use just not Stanza on the iPad.

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10-18-2010, 11:43 AM	#2
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	Have you checked the Stanza settings to see if Settings->Layout->Display Styles is set to ON?

10-18-2010, 01:09 PM	#4
PatNY Zennist Posts: 1,022 Karma: 47809468 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: iPod Touch, Sony PRS-350, Nook HD+ & HD	JBNY, Stanza is purposely programmed to ignore a lot of the formatting instructions in stylesheets. Specifically centering and margin-top and margin-bottom instructions. The best way to get around it is to add !important next to the instruction. For example ... text-align: center !important; margin-bottom: 1em !important; Using Calibre's built-in tweak epub feature, it's really fast to adjust the centering. It takes about a minute. Just open up the epub, select the stylesheet, open it up with a good text editor like the free Notepad++, then do a search and replace: Find ... center Replace with ... center !important Use "whole word" in your search criteria. Then do a quick visual check to make sure that there was not a style called "center" to begin with. If there is, just delete "!important" that was added to it by the S&R. But most stylesheets I found have no style called simply "center." The one caveat to this is if you do a subsequent epub-to-epub conversion. Calibre then strips out the !important tag and you have to put them back in. So I do the S&R as a last step. I have put in a request for Calibre to respect the !important instruction but it is not implemented yet.

10-18-2010, 01:40 PM	#5
JBNY Member Posts: 21 Karma: 12 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindel, iPad	PatNY, That worked. I don't understand why they do that that, it makes it so difficult to get the text to look correct. Again, thank for your help!

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