need help with an error:

[lipstick]

Hi tech gurus,

Sigil crashed when I tried to insert an em dash. When I reopened, I got this message:

An error was found at or above line 116: expected end of tag 'p'.
The Fix Manually option will let you fix the problem by hand.

Line 116 looks like this (which is how all the chapters end). I just copied & pasted:

<p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; Just like her life.</p>
</body>
</html>

I am afraid of losing data so don't want to ask Sigil to fix automatically. How do I fix this error?

Thank you!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by lipstick

Hi tech gurus,

Sigil crashed when I tried to insert an em dash. When I reopened, I got this message:



Line 116 looks like this (which is how all the chapters end). I just copied & pasted:

<p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; Just like her life.</p>
</body>
</html>

I am afraid of losing data so don't want to ask Sigil to fix automatically. How do I fix this error?

Thank you!

Look at 115
Probably your mdash is on the wrong side of the tag

[lipstick]

Thank you for the quick response. The em dash was in the middle of a paragraph nowhere near line 115 so I don't think it's connected. It's just that I was adding the em dash (I did it via the keyboard) when Sigil crashed so thought I should include that info.

Sigil won't let me copy/paste but says: cannot perform html updates since the file is not well formed.

Sigil also gave me a message about the p tag but won't let me copy/paste.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by lipstick

Thank you for the quick response. The em dash was in the middle of a paragraph nowhere near line 115 so I don't think it's connected. It's just that I was adding the em dash (I did it via the keyboard) when Sigil crashed so thought I should include that info.

Sigil won't let me copy/paste but says: cannot perform html updates since the file is not well formed.

Sigil also gave me a message about the p tag but won't let me copy/paste.

Fix the missing/misplaced </p tag (could be at either end) : You have to fix malformed HTML before proceeding

BTW I gave you a slight off steer. 115 is a blank line. your problem is probably on 114

There is a chance you split tag pairs <div> <p>stuff</div></p>

[Turtle91]

On a slightly different note:

Are you using the &nbsp; to create an indent in your paragraph??

<p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; Just ...

If you are, I would recommend using CSS to perform that function...it makes your coding a little cleaner. I would also recommend NOT indenting the first paragraph of each chapter. This is purely artistic preference - you can do it however you wish - it just seems to be the normal way of doing things these days.
eg.
in CSS:
.chapstart {text-indent:0}
p {text-indent:1.2em}

in html:
<p class="chapstart">Just like her life.</p>
<p>yadda yadda yadda</p>

Cheers,

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I would also recommend NOT indenting the first paragraph of each chapter. This is purely artistic preference - you can do it however you wish - it just seems to be the normal way of doing things these days.
eg.
in CSS:
.chapstart {text-indent:0}
p {text-indent:1.2em}

in html:
<p class="chapstart">Just like her life.</p>
<p>yadda yadda yadda</p>

Or even (if you use <h1> for chapter headings) automate it with:

h1 + p {text-indent:0;}

[lipstick]

ducks, turtle & wombat, thank you for taking the time to help the stranded. Love your animal kingdom but I'm lipstick so you can see that even tho I wrote a book about a baby rhino, I'm nowhere in your league. I'm a novelist & when it comes to coding, just call me "clueless" (or even much, much worse + expletives) and you'd be right!

ducks—I don't see a <div> tag so not sure how to follow your direx.

turtle—this is a novel (Decades) which was professionally formatted for me several years ago so don't know why he made the formatting choices he did at that time. I'm revising/updating the text so used Sigil to make the changes. All went well until the crash! Are you saying that I should add the line <p>yadda yadda yadda</p> after the last line of the chapter which is "Just like her life."? Won't that add the words: yadda yadda yadda?

wombat—Wish I could automate the whole d*mn thing! :-)

Here's a copy of the last lines of code starting with line 105. Is there a clue here of what's gone wrong?

 <p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; Then she got up to leave. The meeting was over and she picked up her bag and briefcase and headed toward the door. It was almost quarter to one and Nat Bain stood up. He was leaner than Barbara had thought and slightly shorter.&nbsp;</p>

  <p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; “Lunch?” he said unexpectedly.</p>

  <p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; Barbara hesitated. Was Nat Bain asking her to lunch? Or was he asking her something else? &nbsp;Was he asking if she would have sex with him?</p>

  <p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; The Barbara Roser of the Fifties had been so untried, the thought wouldn’t have occurred to her. The Barbara Roser of the Sixties, testing new liberties, might have taken him up on the implication. But this was the Seventies, and Barbara, more experienced, more disillusioned, had lived and learned.</p>

  <p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; She agreed to have lunch with him but lunch didn’t turn out the way she’d imagined.</p>

  <p class="chapstart">&nbsp; &nbsp; Just like her life.</p>
</body>
</html>

[theducks]

I don't see it (the error) either

div on the wrong side of a p was just an example of a split tag (pair), not what I expected yours to be.

There are tags that MUST close before closing other kinds of tags (H#, P, Div, Blockquote to name a few)

Sometimes the problem is WAY back (which is why I chose DIV ).
You might open a BQ or a Div , the do a whole bunch of P's then you need to close the BQ or Div.
Basically, the error is telling us that you have run out of code without the close(s) being accomplished.

Think NESTED
BODY is the outside wrapper (the stuff before the BODY is the TAPE that holds it together )
If you want: PM me the book and I will look it over.

BTW do follow the advice and lose the entity indents, with a CSS supplied indent, you can change the amount of indent wit ONE single entry.
Wombats solution is the elegant way , but I tend to use the Turtle's method and not worry that I always have the First Para following a /H

[phossler]

Just lurking to learn.

wombat—Wish I could automate the whole d*mn thing! :-)

Roger that

Here's a copy of the last lines of code starting with line 105. Is there a clue here of what's gone wrong?

Where's the em dash piece?

Paul

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by lipstick

Here's a copy of the last lines of code starting with line 105. Is there a clue here of what's gone wrong?

That section of code is fine. The problem must be further up. Post the whole file if you want us to see where.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

That section of code is fine. The problem must be further up. Post the whole file if you want us to see where.

I found (offline) the error : There was a missing </p> on Line 37.

Sigil was lazy and only reported any problem when it hit the </body> and could not go any further in the file.

IMHO this should have reported 'Before Line 39' which was where the next '<p class=' was

[exaltedwombat]

NAUGHTY Sigil!
But naughty you, for taking so long to discover such a simple error :-)

[lipstick]

Paul—Glad to learn I'm not alone! The em dash was in a paragraph much further up in the file & turned out to be irrelevant.

ExaltedW—Thank you for offering to take a look. The problem turned out to be a missing ptag on line 37. Have no idea why Sigil was pointing us toward line 116. The solution was unearthed by the skillful detective work of theducks.

Thank you both for your time, help & interest. I'm deeply appreciative.

[lipstick]

Have no idea why Sigil was pointing us toward line 116.

NAUGHTY Sigil!

So now I know! :-) Sigil, go stand in the corner.

[Turtle91]

The "yadda yadda yadda" is a Seinfeld reference that just means "all the rest that I'm too lazy to say" - very funny - here

It was meant to describe any of your following paragraphs after the first one in the chapter. It was my bad that I didn't notice it was the last line in the chapter.

It is very confusing that ALL of your paragraphs are assigned the class of "chapstart". It should only be applied to the starting paragraph of your chapter, all the rest would just be <p> with no class.
Cheers!