Another BookDesigner formatting question

[maggotb0y]

Okay, I've got another BookDesigner issue that's been haunting me for a while. I thought I'd see if anyone has a useful work-around.

When I have an image in my book, I typically place an empty line above and below the image. The source HTML0 file looks something like this:
<DIV align=justify>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV align=center><IMG style="WIDTH: 75px; HEIGHT: 14px" src="WordBd_15.jpg" border=0></DIV>
<DIV align=justify>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</DIV>

However, BookDesigner renders the LRF without the empty line below the image. The problem is most noticeable when there is a small image separating two blocks of text. I've tried a few fixes that have worked with other formatting issues, but I can't seem to get that blank like to stay.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
-xopher

[Patricia]

That's odd. I have no trouble at all with empty lines before and after pictures.
Have you checked the 'keep empty lines' option in Configuration/settings?

[JSWolf]

I check that and it comes back unchecked when I look. Also I have the same problem. But what I do to solve the problem is that I have a blank grphics I use to put in place before and/or after as I need to to add in space. Also, this graphic can be resized to make as much space as I need.

[maggotb0y]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have a blank grphics I use to put in place before and/or after as I need to to add in space. Also, this graphic can be resized to make as much space as I need.

I've done that, but I don't like it since it doesn't scale with the text in M or L mode (I'm picky about this stuff).

But with a bit more experimentation, I've got it worked out. Add a space in italics to the line, and it gets rendered properly:
<DIV align=justify>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<I> </I></DIV>

I also use that trick to get the first line of a cite to show up in italics (which it doesn't for me if there's a blank line above). I change the blank line to the line above and the first line is in italics properly.

[HarryT]

Another way to do it is to add a "." on a line (or indeed, any character), centre the line, then delete the ".". That leaves a blank but centred line, which DOESN'T get removed.

[Patricia]

That's interesting, Harry. I was experimenting last night and found that making an empty subtitle did the same thing. But then it is the same thing -- BD treats centred text as subtitles.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Patricia

That's interesting, Harry. I was experimenting last night and found that making an empty subtitle did the same thing. But then it is the same thing -- BD treats centred text as subtitles.

The reason that I had a need to discover how to do this is that on my standard layout of the title page of a book, the author's name is the last thing on the page and, because of the large font size used for the author's name, any "descenders" in the name (ie letters like "y" or "g") get "chopped off" unless you have a blank line beneath. Having "normal" blank lines doesn't work - BD strips them out if they're at the bottom of the page - but centred lines get preserved.

[maggotb0y]

The reason that I had a need to discover how to do this is that on my standard layout of the title page of a book, the author's name is the last thing on the page and, because of the large font size used for the author's name, any "descenders" in the name (ie letters like "y" or "g") get "chopped off" unless you have a blank line beneath. Having "normal" blank lines doesn't work - BD strips them out if they're at the bottom of the page - but centred lines get preserved.

Man, that has been bugging me for a while as well. We should start a BookDesigner formatting quirks WiKi with all of these little tricks.