Tags introducing extra spaces to text? - Page 3

Hitch · 02-22-2016, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toxaris

Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner. This specifies that all tags have a margin left and right. That includes empty spans, italics, bold, the works. What are you trying to accomplish with this? I guess you only want this for the paragraph tag. If so, replace the asterisk with p.

Winner winner chicken dinner. ;-)

(Thank God. I thought I was losing my mind. I was starting to contemplate font-based issues...)

Hitch

DrewBoyd · 02-22-2016, 04:25 PM

Thank you all SO MUCH for all the help!! I mean I knew it must be something stupid that I was doing but obviously had no idea what it could be.

Now I can go on and get them finished -- I've got 23 books to recreate in Sigil and this was just stopping me in my tracks.

Again, thanks so much to all of you -- I'm an incredibly happy woman right now!

Hitch · 02-22-2016, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrewBoyd

Thank you all SO MUCH for all the help!! I mean I knew it must be something stupid that I was doing but obviously had no idea what it could be.

Now I can go on and get them finished -- I've got 23 books to recreate in Sigil and this was just stopping me in my tracks.

Again, thanks so much to all of you -- I'm an incredibly happy woman right now!

Drew:

You are most welcome. MR is always happy to help those who are genuinely trying. Just remember: until you are more experienced,

* =bad.
Specificity=good.

And I'm not mean. You have NO IDEA of the wreckage I've surveyed, after my dalliances with a wildcard in Regex. The only thing that kept me from throat-slitting was that at LEAST, I'd had the sense to always, always, keep a back-up of any file with which I mess. But had I not? Zoiks and oish.

There will come the time when you can deploy those with ease..but probably, not yet.

(I am refraining from telling the horror story about the time I helpfully regexed a client's file [no...no backup. Last time THAT ever happened--read on for the "why"] in, I think, 2009, and wiped out ALL of her italics. Every last bit. On a book that was rolling in them, as she used italics for all inner thought. I'd completedthe book, mind you--this was the very. last. thing. THAT was my lesson. Don't even breathe without backups now.)

Hitch

Tex2002ans · 02-22-2016, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hitch

(Thank God. I thought I was losing my mind. I was starting to contemplate font-based issues...)

I love it when we instantly jump into the deep end when trying to deduce what could cause a given issue, and then it turns out to be as simple as "is it plugged in"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrewBoyd

Now I can go on and get them finished -- I've got 23 books to recreate in Sigil and this was just stopping me in my tracks.

23 books you say? What are they about? Seems like a decently sized project.

Hitch · 02-22-2016, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

I love it when we instantly jump into the deep end when trying to deduce what could cause a given issue, and then it turns out to be as simple as "is it plugged in"?

Aw. c'mon! We are all seekers of "interesting stuff," right? Who'dathunk that it wasn't plugged in? :-)

Quote:

23 books you say? What are they about? Seems like a decently sized project.

Indeed.

Hitch

doubleshuffle · 02-22-2016, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hitch

Aw. c'mon! We are all seekers of "interesting stuff," right? Who'dathunk that it wasn't plugged in? :-)

It really helped that it took Drew so long to figure out how to post the stylesheet, didn't it? It was great fun watching the experts speculate.

Hitch · 02-22-2016, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

It really helped that it took Drew so long to figure out how to post the stylesheet, didn't it? It was great fun watching the experts speculate.

Proof positive that we're all grossly overpaid, and don't work nearly enough hours in the day. (Hitch now ducks and seeks cover...) <snort>

I agree that it's somewhat interesting--when we are grinding through this kind of thing in our own shops, we're sneering at the markup to bow, bow in submission! And then what do we do? We come HERE to hang out and relax and...troubleshoot code for other folks. Christ, it's like we all go to Cop Bars when we get off shift. :-)

Hitch

doubleshuffle · 02-23-2016, 12:09 AM

Well, the great thing about this kind of thread is their high educational value for non-experts like me. I knew of course that the asterisk serves as a wildcard in searches, but I had no idea you could (but shouldn't!) use it in CSS the same way.

Hitch · 02-23-2016, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Well, the great thing about this kind of thread is their high educational value for non-experts like me. I knew of course that the asterisk serves as a wildcard in searches, but I had no idea you could (but shouldn't!) use it in CSS the same way.

Well...abalooley, not when you're learning. :-) After all, that's why they are called WILD. <snicker>

Hitch

DrewBoyd · 02-23-2016, 06:10 AM

Heck I didn't really even click to the fact that I was using a wild card -- I mean I knew what it was but I didn't contemplate how powerful it would be.

I borrowed the stylesheet from a gentleman and then set about trying to learn the basics from there. I have to say that this has all be really fun to work with and learn. I imagine I'll be here at some point in the future trying once again to figure out what I've done wrong.

At least then I'll know how to post the stylesheet right away. That way you guys can spend your time hitting real coder's bars and downing a few instead of handholding me and reminding me to plug the dang thing in.

The 23 books I've got to format are all my partner's books. Now that Amazon has changed the way they calculate KENPC for KindleUnlimited, it's well worth the time to figure out how to take control of formatting our books properly.

And it's great fun besides. Thanks again for all your help!

Toxaris · 02-23-2016, 11:19 AM

No problem, happy to help!

BetterRed · 02-23-2016, 02:55 PM

@DrewBoyd - if you don't already have it may I suggest keeping Pablo's EPUB tutorial at your elbow.

And there's a lot of relevant material in the MR Wiki MobileRead Wiki - ePub

Added - what did your partner use to create the books?

If it was MS Word or similar then there are tools that will do a decent convert from DOCX to EPUB. IMO these three are worth considering:- Calibre Conversion, Calibre ebook-editor import and the e-Book Tools Word add-in. The last one has several useful features unrelated to e-books per-se.

Good luck BR

theducks · 02-23-2016, 03:19 PM

If you are starting with a clean source (not PDF) it may be even easier

(assumes: simple, fiction book styling. Consistent source styling

within a series)

Grouped Saved Searches. That is almost a script of the series of S&R steps you used (and saved).

I have a 'Word Cruft' set made of individual 'removals'

make each search fix only a single cosmetic (code) flaw so no matter the order they appear

Be very careful of the ORDER you perform chained (group) S&R. Order MATTERS in many cases or you mangle a later step.

I have another to scale font sizes from HTML named to em that I run on a CSS

JSWolf · 02-23-2016, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

I love it when we instantly jump into the deep end when trying to deduce what could cause a given issue, and then it turns out to be as simple as "is it plugged in"?

That reminds me. I was doing tech support and someone called in for a computer that wasn't turning on. The person was asked if it was plugged in and it was to a power strip and then was asked if a different socket was tried. The answer was yes. So I went to have a look and it was a defective socket on the power strip.

JSWolf · 02-23-2016, 03:30 PM

If you want consistent looking eBooks, once you get your first one finished and looking good, take the stylesheet from that eBooks and use it for the next eBook. You can then apply the already created styles to keep the same look. If you have to add more styles, do so and then use that stylesheet for the next one and so on. Then all the eBooks you've created will have a consistent look to them. This is especially good for books in a series.

As to the formatting I suggest no line-height (go with default), no font-size for the base font size (again use the default), do not left justify the text. Full justify is what you want. Also, don't use paragraph spaces as they are hard to read and the space distracts. Also, don't use silly space for thing like chapter headings. I've seen eBooks with 14% space for the chapter title and that's just poor form.

02-23-2016, 02:55 PM	#42
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,575 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	@DrewBoyd - if you don't already have it may I suggest keeping Pablo's EPUB tutorial at your elbow. And there's a lot of relevant material in the MR Wiki MobileRead Wiki - ePub Added - what did your partner use to create the books? If it was MS Word or similar then there are tools that will do a decent convert from DOCX to EPUB. IMO these three are worth considering:- Calibre Conversion, Calibre ebook-editor import and the e-Book Tools Word add-in. The last one has several useful features unrelated to e-books per-se. Good luck BR Last edited by BetterRed; 02-23-2016 at 04:04 PM.

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02-22-2016, 04:25 PM	#32
DrewBoyd Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2016 Device: Kindle Fire	Thank you all SO MUCH for all the help!! I mean I knew it must be something stupid that I was doing but obviously had no idea what it could be. Now I can go on and get them finished -- I've got 23 books to recreate in Sigil and this was just stopping me in my tracks. Again, thanks so much to all of you -- I'm an incredibly happy woman right now!

02-23-2016, 12:09 AM	#38
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,924 Karma: 185041098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	Well, the great thing about this kind of thread is their high educational value for non-experts like me. I knew of course that the asterisk serves as a wildcard in searches, but I had no idea you could (but shouldn't!) use it in CSS the same way.

02-23-2016, 06:10 AM	#40
DrewBoyd Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2016 Device: Kindle Fire	Heck I didn't really even click to the fact that I was using a wild card -- I mean I knew what it was but I didn't contemplate how powerful it would be. I borrowed the stylesheet from a gentleman and then set about trying to learn the basics from there. I have to say that this has all be really fun to work with and learn. I imagine I'll be here at some point in the future trying once again to figure out what I've done wrong. At least then I'll know how to post the stylesheet right away. That way you guys can spend your time hitting real coder's bars and downing a few instead of handholding me and reminding me to plug the dang thing in. The 23 books I've got to format are all my partner's books. Now that Amazon has changed the way they calculate KENPC for KindleUnlimited, it's well worth the time to figure out how to take control of formatting our books properly. And it's great fun besides. Thanks again for all your help!

02-23-2016, 11:19 AM	#41
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	No problem, happy to help!

02-23-2016, 03:19 PM	#43
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,809 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	If you are starting with a clean source (not PDF) it may be even easier (assumes: simple, fiction book styling. Consistent source styling within a series) Grouped Saved Searches. That is almost a script of the series of S&R steps you used (and saved). I have a 'Word Cruft' set made of individual 'removals' make each search fix only a single cosmetic (code) flaw so no matter the order they appear Be very careful of the ORDER you perform chained (group) S&R. Order MATTERS in many cases or you mangle a later step. I have another to scale font sizes from HTML named to em that I run on a CSS

02-23-2016, 03:30 PM	#45
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 74,015 Karma: 129333114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	If you want consistent looking eBooks, once you get your first one finished and looking good, take the stylesheet from that eBooks and use it for the next eBook. You can then apply the already created styles to keep the same look. If you have to add more styles, do so and then use that stylesheet for the next one and so on. Then all the eBooks you've created will have a consistent look to them. This is especially good for books in a series. As to the formatting I suggest no line-height (go with default), no font-size for the base font size (again use the default), do not left justify the text. Full justify is what you want. Also, don't use paragraph spaces as they are hard to read and the space distracts. Also, don't use silly space for thing like chapter headings. I've seen eBooks with 14% space for the chapter title and that's just poor form.

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