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Old 05-07-2011, 02:16 PM   #1
illustrata
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.epub to .mobi after conversion

I converted an epub to mobi sucessfully with Calibre (thank you!), but the output's a little funky (the line-height increases on the last line of every paragraph, for example, and I need to adjust the relative font sizes).

I have scoured the boards for a way to get inside the .mobi files -- saw references to any2oeb and mobi2oeb but can't find out what they are or how to use them; saw a link to Mobiunpacker and downloaded it but can't figure that one out either. Feeling pretty idiotic right about now...

Is there any way to edit/modify mobi files, or will have to recreate them manually? (please say it ain't so...)

(p.s. I'm a Mac user.)
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Old 05-07-2011, 02:22 PM   #2
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Take a look at the ePub and see what's going on there. That's your source. Once you've found the problem, the conversion to mobi will go fine.

Also, if you use an older version of Calibre, you may want to update.
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Old 05-07-2011, 03:37 PM   #3
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Looks great in the epub - that's what's frustrating me. And...just updated to Calibre 0.8.0.

I tried the same thing using Kindlegen -- no line-height problems, but instead an added first-line indent everywhere I don't want, no images (cover's fine), no text centering, and about fifty "Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported" messages (I don't have any. I do have @import which I'm about to can). mrrph.

I am thinking I will eventually need a separate CSS for each for the epub and the mobi; I'd think I'd feel more secure. But it's frustrating not being able to see the actual output...

Last edited by illustrata; 05-07-2011 at 03:40 PM.
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Old 05-07-2011, 10:37 PM   #4
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Quote:
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I am thinking I will eventually need a separate CSS for each for the epub and the mobi; I'd think I'd feel more secure.
IIRC there is no css in mobi.

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Originally Posted by illustrata View Post
But it's frustrating not being able to see the actual output...
You might get more info on looking inside a mobi file in the mobi forum.

Good luck
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Old 05-08-2011, 09:52 AM   #5
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I have done more work with epub to mobi conversion, and in fact Calibre still seems to do a better job (for example, kinglegen refused to believe I wanted the chapter title larger than the subtitle (h3 and h4). Calibre not only understood it, but set the subtitle to normal weight; for Kindlegen, if it was an h tag, it was bold). I seem to have gotten the first-line indent under control too, so what's left I think are just learning to predict CSS conversion results and understanding what mobi can and can't do.

What does show up only as a result of the Calibre conversion is the last line of every paragraph having extra height. I'll be sending the file to a Kindle user to see if it will actually show up there...but is there anything else I could look for?
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Old 05-08-2011, 10:15 AM   #6
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I've had the extra height on last line of para issue happen in epub on my Sony reader.
i.e. has text that looked fine on PC but not on the e-reader.
in my problem case, removing block-quote tags & using a margin setting workaround in CSS fixed it.

any ways you can being to narrow down the issue by viewing with various packages.

epub in calibre view ok ?
mobi on calibre viewer OK or not OK ?
mobi in Kindle for PC ?
mobi in the kindle emulaor software ( that i forget the name of, sorry...)

post the css definition which is being used in your epub version, for the problem paragraphs, maybe we can spot something tweakable...

other things that affect line spacing / line height are subscripts, superscripts, drop caps... try also removing any specific font-size settings from .p CSS
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Old 05-08-2011, 10:18 AM   #7
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...
mobi in the kindle emulaor software ( that i forget the name of, sorry...)...
"Kindle Previewer", currently at v1.5. You can get it here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000234621

It does a very good job of emulating a Kindle device (K2/3, DX/DXG) and Kindle for iOS devices (iPad/iPhone).

Last edited by dwig; 05-08-2011 at 10:20 AM.
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Old 05-08-2011, 11:54 AM   #8
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Have you tried viewing the resulting Mobi file in Mobipocket Desktop for Windows?
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Old 05-10-2011, 04:53 AM   #9
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I have not -- I'm on a Mac. *sigh* I have spend hours that I don't have trying to find a way to peek inside a mobi package, and haven't gotten there yet.

I now have a Kindle device and in fact, the line height is a non-issue. And it disappears on the latest version of the Kindle browser on the mac, too. Hoping this means it's a non-issue.

What's interesting is the difference between the Calibre conversion and Kindlegen, though. For example, Kindlegen recognizes the different font sizes and weights in h1 and h2, Calibre not. Two level indents disappear on the Kindle, and reduced image sizes explode (not to mention I don't have a TOC on the Kindle).

I think all this is addressable though -- but the line height was throwing me.

I am still looking for best practices to create epub version that looks fine on all epub devices, predictably Calibre-convertable to mobi, and acceptably consistent in Kindle. Holy Grail...

This is an amazing forum.
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Old 05-10-2011, 06:09 AM   #10
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I am still looking for best practices to create epub version that looks fine on all epub devices, predictably Calibre-convertable to mobi, and acceptably consistent in Kindle. Holy Grail...

This is an amazing forum.
it's not rocket science, actually.
1. accept that epub can do some things which mobi cannot do , like drop caps, & background shading, & sacrifice them if you want universality
2. use sigil as your epub edit tool and be sure to use <h> tags on anything that you want the kindle 5 way navigation to jump to. sigil will build a toc that's good to go.
3 get rid of any font -family definitions; the e-readers will use their own anyway unless you hack them.
4. using sigil, get rid of any ADE .xpgt stylesheets unless you like your text to float in a sea of unnecessary whitespace.
4. in my experience doing the above, then save in sigil, then convert epub to mobi in calibre works very well.
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