Calibre loses all forms of Emphasis

spa · 10-02-2010, 08:43 AM

I have successfully used Calibre to convert many epubs but have recently found that when converting html to epub it will often lose italics, bolding or underlining which apply to individual words in a sentence.

Code:

<P>
<SPAN style="font-size:13pt; color:#000000"
>Application </SPAN
></P>
<P style="text-align:justify; margin-bottom:-2px; line-height:23px">
<IMG width=32 height=35 style="display:block; float:left" src="images/Test Pages_img_0.jpg">
<SPAN style="font-family:'serif', 'Garamond'; font-size:12pt; font-weight:normal; font-stretch:normal; color:#000000"
>here is an old story of a Zen master who continues to pour hot tea into the student’s cup; even as it overflows and spills onto the table, he continues to pour. The student is shocked. “Master!” he shouts. “Please, the cup is full already!” The master then looks the student sternly in the eye and calmly replies, “Then, it appears you DO understand. I too cannot add to </SPAN
><SPAN style="font-family:'serif', 'Garamond'; font-size:12pt; font-style:italic; font-stretch:normal; color:#000000"
>your </SPAN
><SPAN style="font-family:'serif', 'Garamond'; font-size:12pt; font-weight:normal; font-stretch:normal; color:#000000"
>cup if it is already full.” </SPAN
></P>
<P style="text-align:justify; margin-bottom:0px; text-indent:24px; line-height:23px">
<SPAN style="font-family:'serif', 'Garamond'; font-size:12pt; font-weight:normal; font-stretch:normal; color:#000000"
>In your quest for success, it will make great sense to clear the way for new thoughts, ideas and ways to do things—to literally </SPAN
><SPAN style="font-family:'serif', 'Garamond'; font-size:12pt; font-weight:bold; font-stretch:normal; color:#000000"
>empty</SPAN
><SPAN style="font-family:'serif', 'Garamond'; font-size:12pt; font-weight:normal; font-stretch:normal; color:#000000"
> your mind. I recommend you revisit and reconsider </SPAN
><SPAN style="font-family:'serif', 'Garamond'; font-size:12pt; font-weight:normal; font-stretch:normal; color:#000000; text-decoration:underline;"
>everything</SPAN
><SPAN style="font-family:'serif', 'Garamond'; font-size:12pt; font-weight:normal; font-stretch:normal; color:#000000"
> (words, thoughts, beliefs, books, songs, relationships, etc.). Take nothing for granted. Approach and observe everything with a beginner’s mind. Eliminate every assumption.  </SPAN
></P>

There are three pieces of emphasis here which all show up fine when viewing the html in a browser the word "your" is italicised, "empty" is bold and "everything" is underlined.

I bring the html into Calibre, convert to epub and the epub now has none of the emphasis. Viewing the resultant code in Sigil shows that the spans for these words have gone completely.

Surely this is not intended? I notice that if I exchange <span style="font-style:italic"> for an <i> tag the italics come through fine.

I am running Calibre 0.7.19.

Any help solving this problem would be much appreciated.

ldolse · 10-02-2010, 09:05 AM

That sounds like a bug, you shouldn't lose formatting when converting. I've never seen that happen with html content. There is a lot of formatting being set with those spans, it may be that one of the other formatting rules is triggering a problem when the styles get converted to css.

Try out the latest release, and if it's still a problem then open a bug with the an example file at bugs.calibre-ebook.com

spa · 10-02-2010, 11:33 AM

I have just installed 0.7.21 and this appears to have been fixed even though I can see no mention of it in the change log. I tried it again on the same test files and all the emphasis (italics, bold and underlining) is in the epub.

phenomshel · 10-02-2010, 01:58 PM

I routinely lose quotation marks and apostrophes when converting from html to anything else, but that's an encoding problem. *Usually* changing the encoding setting in the HTML to Zip plugin will fix it, though I've found a few instances where NOTHING works and I have to copy/paste the whole thing into Word and save as RTF. However, this is a new one on me, I haven't had any problems with calibre conversions ever losing bold or italics.

GreenMonkey · 11-01-2010, 01:52 AM

bump

I've seen this occur on some LIT files also. I blame it on the files themselves rather than Calibre, because Calibre gets it right 90%+ of the time.

ldolse · 11-01-2010, 04:26 AM

You should open a bug with the file - bumping the thread isn't going to help you...
bugs.calibre-ebook.com

bigpallooka · 11-01-2010, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ldolse

You should open a bug with the file - bumping the thread isn't going to help you...
bugs.calibre-ebook.com

You really should read more than the first word of a post before writing a comment.

Although, I will admit GreenMonkey's choice of putting the word bump at the beginning his post was unnecessary and misleading.

GreenMonkey · 11-01-2010, 05:44 AM

Oops, sorry.

I just wanted to report, I've also seen the bug, I stumbled into this thread. But I don't have a lot of faith in the LIT files I saw it with - I believe they'd already been converted a few times.

I can send in a file if needed - but I think it's more of a bad source type problem.

bigpallooka · 11-01-2010, 06:06 AM

Don't be sorry. You pointed out something that I have come across as well. Bad source LIT files that convert into rubbish or won't even convert at all. Apparently this can be a problem with old conversions and let's face it, there are so many conversion programs around (convert to LIT that is) that uniformity must be an issue.

Bumping a thread is considered bad etiquette in most forums. When people bump they usually just write the word bump in a blank post to force the thread to the top of the list. You made a useful contribution so you didn't actually bump. I think Idolse thought you might have been the OP (Original Post/er) and was just (mistakenly) warning you against the behaviour and directing you to the appropriate place to report a bug that doesn't get any attention in the forum.

You did nothing wrong except erroneously putting bump at the beginning of your post.

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10-02-2010, 09:05 AM	#2
ldolse Wizard Posts: 1,337 Karma: 123455 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Malaysia Device: PRS-650, iPhone	That sounds like a bug, you shouldn't lose formatting when converting. I've never seen that happen with html content. There is a lot of formatting being set with those spans, it may be that one of the other formatting rules is triggering a problem when the styles get converted to css. Try out the latest release, and if it's still a problem then open a bug with the an example file at bugs.calibre-ebook.com

10-02-2010, 11:33 AM	#3
spa Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Ipad	I have just installed 0.7.21 and this appears to have been fixed even though I can see no mention of it in the change log. I tried it again on the same test files and all the emphasis (italics, bold and underlining) is in the epub.

10-02-2010, 01:58 PM	#4
phenomshel ZCD BombShel Posts: 4,793 Karma: 8293322 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: The Frozen North (aka Illinois, USA) Device: iPad, STB Kindle Oasis	I routinely lose quotation marks and apostrophes when converting from html to anything else, but that's an encoding problem. Usually changing the encoding setting in the HTML to Zip plugin will fix it, though I've found a few instances where NOTHING works and I have to copy/paste the whole thing into Word and save as RTF. However, this is a new one on me, I haven't had any problems with calibre conversions ever losing bold or italics.

11-01-2010, 01:52 AM	#5
GreenMonkey DRM hater Posts: 945 Karma: 2066176 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Michigan Device: Nook ST glow, Kindle Voyage	bump I've seen this occur on some LIT files also. I blame it on the files themselves rather than Calibre, because Calibre gets it right 90%+ of the time.

11-01-2010, 04:26 AM	#6
ldolse Wizard Posts: 1,337 Karma: 123455 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Malaysia Device: PRS-650, iPhone	You should open a bug with the file - bumping the thread isn't going to help you... bugs.calibre-ebook.com

11-01-2010, 05:44 AM	#8
GreenMonkey DRM hater Posts: 945 Karma: 2066176 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Michigan Device: Nook ST glow, Kindle Voyage	Oops, sorry. I just wanted to report, I've also seen the bug, I stumbled into this thread. But I don't have a lot of faith in the LIT files I saw it with - I believe they'd already been converted a few times. I can send in a file if needed - but I think it's more of a bad source type problem.

11-01-2010, 06:06 AM	#9
bigpallooka Connoisseur Posts: 86 Karma: 24 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Kobo/Tablet PC/Desktop/Laptop	Don't be sorry. You pointed out something that I have come across as well. Bad source LIT files that convert into rubbish or won't even convert at all. Apparently this can be a problem with old conversions and let's face it, there are so many conversion programs around (convert to LIT that is) that uniformity must be an issue. Bumping a thread is considered bad etiquette in most forums. When people bump they usually just write the word bump in a blank post to force the thread to the top of the list. You made a useful contribution so you didn't actually bump. I think Idolse thought you might have been the OP (Original Post/er) and was just (mistakenly) warning you against the behaviour and directing you to the appropriate place to report a bug that doesn't get any attention in the forum. You did nothing wrong except erroneously putting bump at the beginning of your post.

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