[mhikl]

Plan & Purpose
Template 001: Pure Sigil (centred)
Purpose: To create in Sigil an epub book under the following guidelines:
1. Begin & complete the document in Sigil. (no xhtml or word processing app used)
2. A Title Page, a Purpose Page, Contents and 3 Chapters
3. The Title, Plan & Purpose pages and 3 Chapters to include
i) Titles using Heading 1
ii) an Image, centred
iii) a simple text descriptor of the image
iv) end Chapter 3 with "The End" centred and italicized
4. The Content Page to follow Plan & Purpose Page using Heading 2
5. Formatting using the alignment and text highlights
i) all text left-aligned except for "Template 001: Pure Sigil", "The End"; each to be centred
ii) All centred text to be italicized and have "centred" written at end
iii) all Headings in plain text and left aligned (will be bold via Headings)
iv) all images to be centred
v) all image descriptors bracketed
vi) examples of bold, italics, and bold-italics used in the Purpose Page and centred italics in"The End"
6. The same Image will be used
i) the images will each be of a different size, modified by width size
ii) information will be as follows: (W)idth, (H)eight, in pixels; size will be in kb; increments will be by 25 pixels (150~225) applied to width
iii) all images will have a Resolution 28.35 pixels/cm (72 pixels/inch)
8. Each change to the template to be saved separately.
9. the epub must be viewable in Stanza on an iPod touch, second generation: I use Verdana font; about 40 characters per line and 29 lines per screen (bold text and Headings will affect number of lines) (about 1160 characters per screen page)
10. Titles will vary in length spanning 1 to 2 lines on the iPt as indicated in point 9.
11. All spell checking will be done by copying Sigil text to Pages (Macintosh) and then corrections will be made manually in Sigil.
Problems Observed
1. The alignment formats when composing in Sigil do not work. Left and centre alignments do not work in text when all scripting is done in Sigil. (This may be different when imported from xhmtl or TextEdit, neither of which was the point of this template exercise.)
2. Centring is mandatory in all headings and cannot be overridden using formats when composing in Sigil.
3. Pictures alignment cannot be changed via the Format.
4. Composing in Sigil without pasting text from another application was made difficult for spell checking as text from Sigil had to be copied and pasted into another document to be spell checked and then any errors found had to be changed manually in Sigil.
5. On one occasion a new page (Problems Observed) with page breaks could be made but the title could not be made a header. Returning to a previous save was necessary. From that version a new page with appropriate header was possible.

Further note
It took me 36 different versions to get this straight; three times I elected to start from scratch.
First attempt: 11 versions
Second attempt: 17 versions
Third attempt: 8 versions
(many versions had very simple improvements such as spelling checks or formatting)
This is not to be taken as a fault with Sigil, only that I am persistent in my desire to have the results accurate with no corruptions. As well, this is a learning exercise for me and I wanted to make sure I was able to duplicate the pages that appeared in good order more quickly and accurately. I will, after a break, attempt to do this exact template again, in one version. (Which would mean I can do this without making errors.)

In time I should also like to try two new templates using xhtml and TextEdit+Pages.

What I have learn (please correct me if I am wrong on this or any other point) is that I must start my original draft in Sigil. When I made my work in TextEdit and saved it in xhmtl and then opened it in Sigil, I had to add a starting blank page or my title page would not show up. Then in iPt Stanza, my ebook would open up with a blank page. Ugh.

Anyway, a lot to learn here. I know my limitations and understanding “code” is one of them. But I need a rest before I attempt another Template.

However, in this thread, I hope others will take the time to comment and make suggestions and corrections to my effort.
I would also like to see others willing to add their own Templates that show how Sigil can be used. I, for one, will never be able to find the time to learn “code” but from a template I should be able to copy and paste. Learning from the experience of others sure would save a lot of time.

Namaste,
mhikl