Book Creation Tutorials

[Patricia]

Just in case anyone else is wondering about the line breaks: go to tools/ element browser/empty paragraphs. Delete the unwanted empty paragraphs. (Keep them before chapter titles, otherwise they won't work properly.)

[astra]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Just in case anyone else is wondering about the line breaks: go to tools/ element browser/empty paragraphs. Delete the unwanted empty paragraphs. (Keep them before chapter titles, otherwise they won't work properly.)

It would not help in my case.
1. It would help but then it would take me a full week of 8 hours shifts of deleting all of them one by one, the book was very long.
2. Bizzare, but the empty paragraphs were not recognised as such by BD.
I knew about your solution. That was one of the very first things I have tried.

So, my solution was a bit different(although lengthly process as well).

I was selecting as much as possible of text that I can see on one screen. Then either go to:

Format/more transformations/select elements -> paragraphs

or right click with a mouse on selected text and select

more transformations/select elements -> paragraphs

in a drop down menu.

It would remove all the fake empty paragraphs in select text.
You cannot use "select all" because it would remove all empty paragraphs which would be a bad solution as well.

[crutledge]

Hello All
I have been using BD for a while and though I am by no measure an expert I have been able to produce some nice looking books. One thing still still stumps me.

I can drop a jpeg of the book cover into the book file or into the Palm builder. The book cover shows up in MOBI desktop in full glory. On my PPC, the picture is clipped on all sides.

When I bring up the picture editor, nothing seems to work as the help file describes. I adjust width by percentege and look for the "Apply" selection which eludes me. There is something in the picture editor I am not seeing.

By the way, a jpeg of the author, lower down in the file, shows up fine in both readers.

BD rocks!
Charlie

[HarryT]

I would strongly recommend that you don't use BD to create MobiPocket books - it does a very poor job of it.

As I describe in my tutorial, you'll get MUCH better results if you export the book from BD as HTML, and then use MobiPocket Creator to create the book.

[crutledge]

Harry,
Where can I find your tutorial on using BD file and MOBI Pocket Creator?

Thanks, Charlie

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by crutledge

Harry,
Where can I find your tutorial on using BD file and MOBI Pocket Creator?

Thanks, Charlie

Here.

[crutledge]

Thanks, Harry

[crutledge]

HarryT,
I followed your tutorial and it worked great on your book. I'm running into a problem with my own.

In BD, I have placed th title and author on a seperate page, a jpeg of the author on its own page, and the toc on a seperate page. In the final prc, all of the above are on one long page, but each of the chapters begin on a new page.

In checking the html file, a page break (<mpbagebreak/>) appears after each of the above items. I have searched the tutorial for any mention of pagebreaks other than the replacement of <HR> and can find nothing.

I know that this will be a forehead slapper, but can you point me to a solution?

Thanks,
Charlie

P.S. The tutorial worked great!!

[HarryT]

I'm afraid that I can't think of any reason for this behaviour, Charlie. A page-break has always been "honoured" by the Mobi Reader in my experience.

Sorry!

[crutledge]

Harry,
Where can I find your posting of "Bleak House?"
Charlie

[HarryT]

Click "E-Books" in the blue bar at the top of the screen. Search for it, either by author or title.

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by crutledge

In checking the html file, a page break (<mpbagebreak/>) appears after each of the above items. I have searched the tutorial for any mention of pagebreaks other than the replacement of <HR> and can find nothing.

That is very mysterious. I'm wondering whether a few empty lines before the pagebreaks would help. Perhaps it might be worth adding a few <br> tags into the html just above the pagebreaks?

[crutledge]

Patricia,
I tried the <br> before the page break. Good idea but no good. In checking HarryT's "Bleak House" the same thing thing is true. I posted the problem the the Mobipocket Creator form and their answer is the same. It's supposed the work!! I think that the problem resides in Creator.

I even re-downloaded Creator but no change.
Perhaps the next version???
Charlie

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by crutledge

Patricia,
I tried the <br> before the page break. Good idea but no good. In checking HarryT's "Bleak House" the same thing thing is true. I posted the problem the the Mobipocket Creator form and their answer is the same. It's supposed the work!! I think that the problem resides in Creator.

Sorry, Charlie, what's true in "Bleak House"?

[crutledge]

Harry,
If a chapter ends in the middle of a page, the next chapter should not start until you move to the next page. If a chapter now ends in the middle of a page, the header of the next chapter appears immediately after on the same page. This is not true with BD page breaks. If a chapter ends in the middle of the page, the remainder of the page is empty and the reader must page foward to see the next chapter.

If a page break is after the title page,the reader must page foward the see the graphic of the author. The same is true moving to the toc and from and from the toc to the start reading.

All of this is not happening with Creator except by accidental occurance of text. BD makes it very simple.

Charlie