problem with mobi creator

[bobcdy]

I'm using mobi creator to make an ebook from an MS Word Doc. It works fine for really simple text but I don't know how to set off a paragraph or two that is a letter within the book. I need to isolate the letter with 2-3 lines of blank text above/below, and to have much wider margins on left/right from the normal text. I can't seem to get creator to accept this. First I tried simply setting the margins and adding extra blank lines in Word - Creator did not add the extra lines and only slightly increased the margins of the letter. Then I tried a text box, but Creator didn't even notice the text box was there; it left out all the text that was in the text box.

I know it's possible because I observed the set off in some of the .prc ebooks on mobileread. Would someone clue me into how to take care of this problem?

Bob

[slayda]

Originally Posted by bobcdy

I'm using mobi creator to make an ebook from an MS Word Doc. It works fine for really simple text but I don't know how to set off a paragraph or two that is a letter within the book. I need to isolate the letter with 2-3 lines of blank text above/below, and to have much wider margins on left/right from the normal text. I can't seem to get creator to accept this. First I tried simply setting the margins and adding extra blank lines in Word - Creator did not add the extra lines and only slightly increased the margins of the letter. Then I tried a text box, but Creator didn't even notice the text box was there; it left out all the text that was in the text box.

I know it's possible because I observed the set off in some of the .prc ebooks on mobileread. Would someone clue me into how to take care of this problem?

Bob

May have to save it as HTML and use the [PRE] marker for that portion. MS Word doesn't seem to do well with Creator on many things.

[wallcraft]

Editing the HTML that Creator exported from the Word document may be your best bet. The easiest approach is a blockquote, here is an example from Kindle Formatting: The Complete Guide:

<p>The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper
 handed him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but
 it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was
 rather short.</p> 
<blockquote>Bob: I was at the appointed place on time.
 When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it
 was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. 
Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and
 got a plain clothes man to do the job.</blockquote> 
<p class="right">JIMMY</p

The blockquote typically indents the text. Note that you can't have paragraph tags in the blockquote (turn each paragraph into its own blockquote). This isn't offset from the right edge, you can probably do that with CSS styles but I don't know how. You can add vertical spaces using MOBI-specific <br/> tags, or with margin-top and margin-bottom CSS formatting.

[bobcdy]

Thanks, Slayda and Wallcraft! I'll try the blockquote and the <br/>. Also, I'm looking for a guide to formatting prc input - I don't have a Kindle but rather a bebook. I wonder if the formating guide listed 'Kindle Formatting' , mobi (DRM) edition, as listed on the linked site above will equally well apply to bebook prc?
Bob

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by bobcdy

I wonder if the formating guide listed 'Kindle Formatting' , mobi (DRM) edition, as listed on the linked site above will equally well apply to bebook prc?

There is some Kindle specific stuff in the book, but most of it is equally applicable to MOBI on other devices and it is usually clear about what is Kindle specific. For an earlier thread on the ebook, see Kindle Formatting: The Complete Guide .

If you do start using HTML as your source format, it is likely that Calibre will do a better job of making a (DRM-free) MOBI than MobiPocket Creator. It does not import MS Word documents though.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by slayda

May have to save it as HTML and use the [PRE] marker for that portion. MS Word doesn't seem to do well with Creator on many things.

Mobi does not support <pre> tags. I agree with previous posters that you absolutely do need to edit your book at the HTML level. My favourite tool is Book Designer, which has a nice tool allowing you to do this.

[bobcdy]

Thanks for the info; I purchased KindleFormatting and found it helpful with html editing. With the help of these reply posts and the book, I finally found how to solve my problem.
Thanks.
Bob

[Leep]

A very simplistic way to resolve the issue is to create a picture of the inserted letter and place that into your word text. The picture will not flow, of course, but it will remain "inplace with all the margins, etc."

cheers

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

<p class="right">JIMMY</p[/CODE] The blockquote typically indents the text... This isn't offset from the right edge, you can probably do that with CSS styles but I don't know how. You can add vertical spaces using MOBI-specific <br/> tags, or with margin-top and margin-bottom CSS formatting.

I think you'll find that it depends on whether text is justified. It's not hard to use CSS to indent both margins, but the right margin is only indented if full text justification is turned off.

Regards, Alex