spacing problem epub to mobi

[gpc127]

This is probaby a common problem but when I transfer an epub created in Sigil to mobi there are irregular spacing problems occasionally.

That is a line will break and start a new paragraph in mid sentance.

If I am using the Calibre viewer I can enlarge the screen and the problem disappears. If I am using my Kindle the problem stays even if I change font size.

Editing in Sigil in html everything looks good but clearly I am making a mistake somewhere or somehow.

I have tried to use Calibre html view but I am unclear where in that splendid confusion I need to edit.

Thank you for your patience with a beginner.

cheers

grant

[DiapDealer]

The Kindle does not hyphenate words, so what you are experiencing may be the "normal" behavior for justified text on a kindle device. If it cannot efficiently space all of the words with its justification algorithm, it will just jump to a new line rather than creating enormous gaps between words to keep everything justified. This can result in a slightly ragged right edge that tends to get increasingly worse as the font-size is increased. There's nothing that can be done about that.

If it's truly "starting a new paragraph" in mid-sentence, then that's something else entirely—that can't easily be debugged without seeing at least a sample of the original epub and knowing exactly how you're converting it to MOBI.

[gpc127]

Thank you DiapDealer.

Good suggestion but the problem was elsewhere. I went into Sigil and looked at the html and found seperations the code between the words where they split into new paragraphs. I just deleted them and will now check to see if they are the problem. I suspect they are but how they got there is a mystery. I stripped the text back to Times New Roman but I guess I had some formatting left that cause the problem. I assume that the problem is in my epub html and not in its translation to mobi.

[nymormon]

I am having a similar problem with an EPUB file that I converted to MOBI. I set up chapters, and it works great, except for one. It should say :

Part One
Prologue

as one chapter. But, for some reason, it puts "Part One" on one page, and "Prologue" on another page. I've checked the code, and there is no difference from all the other chapter headings. In the EPUB file, it works perfectly. In the Calibre viewer, it's perfect. But, on my Kindle, and Kindle for PC, it's not.

I even merged this with the next chapter, and it still does it. I've spent 2 days trying to figure this out. I've posted to other forums, but have gotten no responses.

Any ideas?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by nymormon

I am having a similar problem with an EPUB file that I converted to MOBI. I set up chapters, and it works great, except for one. It should say :

Part One
Prologue

as one chapter. But, for some reason, it puts "Part One" on one page, and "Prologue" on another page. I've checked the code, and there is no difference from all the other chapter headings. In the EPUB file, it works perfectly. In the Calibre viewer, it's perfect. But, on my Kindle, and Kindle for PC, it's not.

I even merged this with the next chapter, and it still does it. I've spent 2 days trying to figure this out. I've posted to other forums, but have gotten no responses.

Any ideas?

If you're using calibre to convert to mobi, then it's the one inserting the page break when it converts the epub.

The default chapter detection in a calibre conversion will insert a page-break when it encounters H1 or H2 tags that contain the words "chapter, book, section, part, prologue, epilogue" as well as any element that has a class of "chapter."

You'll have to modify the settings in the "Structure detection" section of calibre's conversion dialog (or change the underlying html in your ePub so it doesn't match the default expression). The first two settings in that "Structure Detection" section in calibre is what you're looking for.

The same thing has driven me nearly batsh!t crazy myself.

[nymormon]

Originally, I had it written as:

<h2>Part One</h2>
<center>Prologue</center>

and it separated the 2 lines onto separate pages, despite my having put a chapter break a line after the 2nd line. So, I changed it to <h2> on both lines, and it continues to do it.

Where do I find the Structure Detection section? I have been learning how to do this since January, so I am still new to this.

[nymormon]

Thank you so much, DiapDealer, that did the trick!! It now looks like I want it to!! I found the Structure Detection and took out the term "prologue"! I had no idea!! I am learning, slowly.

Thanks again.

[DiapDealer]

No problem. I know how frustrating it can be. Especially when it seems like you've tried everything.