Mystery and Crime Ballard, W.T.: Dealing Out Death, 27 May 2008

[Dr. Drib]

ADDED: Version 2 is actually a BookDesigner version, with hot links to the chapters. This version has two different pieces of artwork added.

The other version was uploaded earlier and has been available for about 3 months. That version was assembled using calibre, also a very fine program.

Take your pick.

____________________________________________

This title was released under a Creative Commons License, with additional acknowledgement placed at the end of the book. Book was acquired from Munseys, BUT REFORMATED BY ME TO MY SPECIFICATIONS.
____________________________________________

This is my FIRST BOOK formatted by me using calibre.

There is no TOC - someone needs to HOLD MY HAND and tell me how to do this. When I had only numbers for the chapter headings, there was no new page break in the text. When I added the word "Chapter" before a number, then suddenly I have page breaks. I also changed the font. I have NO IDEA why I now have page breaks, but at least I have page breaks.

I'm not a programmer....so, if someone wants to help me and if this person can communicate to me in fully developled sentences - using the English language - then I'll listen to your helpful suggestions.

I like the way the type and the spacing between words looks in calibre, and I like this look somewhat better than what I can do with BookDesinger. I like the ease of BookDesinger; but then again, I've assembled almost 300 books using that program.

W.T. Ballard was a great pulp writer, writing both mysteries and westerns. If you like the tough school of hardboiled detective fiction, then you should take a look at this.

In the meantime, if I do get the help I need on producing a TOC, and in understanding how to control chapter page breaks (new pages), then I'm going to continue to experiment with calibre.

I hope you enjoy this fun mystery.


Don

[kovidgoyal]

The simplest way to manually create a TOC is just add a section like

<ul>
<li><a href="#chapter1">Chapter One</a></li>
<li><a href="#chapter2">Chapter Two</a></li>
.
.
.
</ul>

Near the top of the HTML file where you want the TOC to appear. You also have to identify the actual chapter titles in the text like this

<h2 id="chapter1">Chapter One</h2>

You can of course use any text not necessarily Chapter One

Note that you can manually force a page break before any HTML element by adding style="page-break-before: always" to the HTML tag

<p style="page-break-before: always">Some paragraph...</p>

So to consolidate, your HTML file should look like this:

<h1>Book Title</h1>
...
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>

<ul>
<li><a href="#chapter1">Chapter One</a></li>
<li><a href="#chapter2">Chapter Two</a></li>
.
.
.
</ul>

<h2 style="page-break-before: always" id="chapter1">Chapter One</h2>
.
.
.

<h2 style="page-break-before: always" id="chapter2">Chapter Two</h2>
.
.
.

There is an example here http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/downloads/html-demo.zip

[Dr. Drib]

Thanks. Much appreciated for the help on calibre. I'm going to study all that you've written. I also downloaded the file you posted.

One thing I forgot to mention is that my assemblage of this title - and subsequent addition of the word "chapter" to the chapter numbers that eventually created my chapter page breaks - all this was done in Word's RTF.

I don't know how that changes the help you've offered.


Don

[kovidgoyal]

You're working on an RTF file as your source?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You're working on an RTF file as your source?

Yes. I just double-checked. I copied the file as an HTML file and then pasted it into Word (2003) to be saved as an RTF file. At that point, I played around with calibre and this RTF file. (Usually, using BookDesinger, I always try to use an HTML file. I can't remember my rationale for using an RTF.)


Don

[kovidgoyal]

You'll have much more control if you use HTML, but if you want to use RTF and still have a TOC the next release of calibre (in a few days) will have the ability to automatically generate the TOC from detected chapters (go to Chapter detection in the conversion dialog and enable "add chapters to table of contents"). So enabling this option should be all you need to do.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You'll have much more control if you use HTML, but if you want to use RTF and still have a TOC the next release of calibre (in a few days) will have the ability to automatically generate the TOC from detected chapters (go to Chapter detection in the conversion dialog and enable "add chapters to table of contents"). So enabling this option should be all you need to do.

Ok, I'll do that.

I just checked what version I'm using of calibre and it's 0.4.56 (with the latest version I see being 0.4.62)

What's in the Chapter Detection at this moment, by default, is this: chapter|book|appendix

Anyway, I'll download that new version you mention, the one available in a few days from now.

Thanks again.

Don

[=X=]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Note that you can manually force a page break before any HTML element by adding style="page-break-before: always" to the HTML tag

<p style="page-break-before: always">Some paragraph...</p>

kovidgoyal, Did you fix this bug? I reported this issue on thread

<P> page break problems
This is where adding the

<p style="page-break-before: always">Some paragraph...</p>

causes a page break on every <P> not just the <p style="page-break-before: always">Some paragraph...</p> tag

=X=

[kovidgoyal]

Can you open a ticket please, I'll lose track otherwise

[Dr. Drib]

Two versions are available for download:

Version 2: A BookDesigner assemblage with two pieces of cover art. Hotlinks are available to the chapters.

The first version: Assembled using calibre, an excellent program and database.


I hope you enjoy them both.


Don