EPUB on Google Play Books shows black bars

[herrmartell]

Hi. I got the Manga Guide to Calculus on ePub format. I read all my ebooks on the Google Play Books app for Android.

For what I've seen, the manga guide to calculus is all images. I've looked in to the css, and found a single code with a property of

bgcolor: #000000

But when I modify that, or anything else of the eBook with Calibre, and I upload it to Play Books, it says the book cannot be processed.

Can anyone help me solve this?

TL;DR: Book made of images shows black bars at the sides on Google Play Books.

[jackie_w]

What happens if you remove that line completely?

[herrmartell]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

What happens if you remove that line completely?

I tried it just now. I get the same "this file cannot be processed" error.

[jackie_w]

I must admit I thought the up-to-date correct CSS to use for a black background would be something like

body {background-color: #000000}

in the CSS file rather than bgcolor. But if Google Play Books is not rejecting your original it doesn't sound like this is the problem.

When you opened the epub in the calibre Editor did you run 'Check Book' to make sure there were no errors? Does the edited epub open OK in the calibre Viewer?

I don't use GPB often enough to know its quirks. Have you tried any other Android reading apps to see if your book is valid there?

[FizzyWater]

Actually, jackie_w makes a good point. Are you using calibre's editor, or Sigil, or are you just opening the epub zip file and viewing the internal docs?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I must admit I thought the up-to-date correct CSS to use for a black background would be something like

body {background-color: #000000}

in the CSS file rather than bgcolor. But if Google Play Books is not rejecting your original it doesn't sound like this is the problem.

When you opened the epub in the calibre Editor did you run 'Check Book' to make sure there were no errors? Does the edited epub open OK in the calibre Viewer?

I don't use GPB often enough to know its quirks. Have you tried any other Android reading apps to see if your book is valid there?

If you set body Background to Black, you would also need to set text to: color: white

or
assign a separate body.class to those pages without text

Calibre tweak-book (the editor) has a very good validator

[herrmartell]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I must admit I thought the up-to-date correct CSS to use for a black background would be something like

body {background-color: #000000}

in the CSS file rather than bgcolor. But if Google Play Books is not rejecting your original it doesn't sound like this is the problem.

That is correct. My mistake. It is correctly written on the CSS file.

When you opened the epub in the calibre Editor did you run 'Check Book' to make sure there were no errors? Does the edited epub open OK in the calibre Viewer?

There are no errors, just a few warnings about some -webkit specific attributes.

I don't use GPB often enough to know its quirks. Have you tried any other Android reading apps to see if your book is valid there?

Mmm no, I haven't tried other apps. But I do not wish to change from reading app, my tablet is very old and from previous attemps at reading other books, this is the one which works the best on my device.

I'm not even sure changing the black CSS to white is changing anything, since those bars do not appear on the Calibre viewer.

Perhaps there's another solution?

Actually, jackie_w makes a good point. Are you using calibre's editor, or Sigil, or are you just opening the epub zip file and viewing the internal docs?

I'm using calibre's editor.

If you set body Background to Black, you would also need to set text to: color: white

This ebook has no text, just images of text.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by herrmartell

That is correct. My mistake. It is correctly written on the CSS file.

There are no errors, just a few warnings about some -webkit specific attributes.

Mmm no, I haven't tried other apps. But I do not wish to change from reading app, my tablet is very old and from previous attemps at reading other books, this is the one which works the best on my device.

I'm not even sure changing the black CSS to white is changing anything, since those bars do not appear on the Calibre viewer.

Perhaps there's another solution?

I'm using calibre's editor.

This ebook has no text, just images of text.

Not to interrupt all this fun trouble-shooting, but is it possible that the "black bars" are simply the background displaying due to the aspect ratio of the manga pages/images NOT being the same as your eReader? I mean, if the aspect ratio is different--so that the image page is narrower, in width, than the device--then making the pages fit the screen exactly would distort the page.

OR, is your preference that the background color be something other than black?

Which is the desired result? That the image fills the width of the screen, regardless of other issues, or that you want to change the color of the background (that's called margin).

If the only goal is to change the background color, then you should be able to do that by changing the color in the CSS. Do you know if this Manga book is in ePUB3 or ePUB2?

Hitch

[herrmartell]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Not to interrupt all this fun trouble-shooting, but is it possible that the "black bars" are simply the background displaying due to the aspect ratio of the manga pages/images NOT being the same as your eReader? I mean, if the aspect ratio is different--so that the image page is narrower, in width, than the device--then making the pages fit the screen exactly would distort the page.

OR, is your preference that the background color be something other than black?

Which is the desired result? That the image fills the width of the screen, regardless of other issues, or that you want to change the color of the background (that's called margin).

If the only goal is to change the background color, then you should be able to do that by changing the color in the CSS. Do you know if this Manga book is in ePUB3 or ePUB2?

Hitch

The images are in fact, stretched to fill most of the screen. What is not filled by the image, indeed appears black. I want it white. Or at least, a color that could change between white and orange-yellow-ish (if I use night mode) together with the image.

My problem is, I only see those black bars on GPBs, and if I change the book's CSS (no matter if just a blank space), GPBs says the book can't be processed.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by herrmartell

The images are in fact, stretched to fill most of the screen. What is not filled by the image, indeed appears black. I want it white. Or at least, a color that could change between white and orange-yellow-ish (if I use night mode) together with the image.

My problem is, I only see those black bars on GPBs, and if I change the book's CSS (no matter if just a blank space), GPBs says the book can't be processed.

Well, I wondered if perhaps the book was ePUB3, because perhaps when Calibre editor saves it, it alters some of the ePUB3 coding. (Disclosure: I know NOTHING about the Calibre editor, really, and less than that about Google Play Books. You've been warned.)

Just as Sigil used to be not usable, for ePUB3 (or fixed-layout--another idea), because when it saved the file, it would override/overwrite the existing coding, to make an ePUB2-compatible book, is it possible that the Calibre editor is changing something in the metadata, or {insert list of possible stuff here, too long to list}, that is incompatible with the book? Like my example of trying to edit an ePUB3 file, with an ePUB2 editor?

Hitch