MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Confused about making changes to my CSS in Sigil

mtrahan · 06-14-2011, 03:54 PM

I'm not sure I understand the situation. You are making changes in the ePub file (exported from InDesign) and are hoping to see those changes also made in the original indd file? It doesn't work that way. Changes made in the ePub file stays in the ePub file. And why would you want to go back in InDesign?

Personnally, once I manage to get the text out of InDesign, I just stick to Sigil to tweak the resulting file. And to answer one of your question, no, there is nothing special to do after you save the file in Sigil.

First thing I do after exporting ePub from InDesign is cleaning the CSS. But when I do many similar books, I clean the CSS once, and I make a copy of the CSS file that I take as a model when I do similar books with InDesign. It speed up the process for the next book. You could do that if you have changes that needs to be done in the indd file (but what can't be done directly in the ePub?). When you re-export, use your previous CSS (if class/styles names are the same, etc., of course).

I could be wrong (I'm not an expert), but once you export ePub from InDesign, I wouldn't suggest working on the indd file if you want to make changes to the text or whatever. Just make the changes in Sigil directly.

Good luck.

And by the way, this video series on Lynda.com helped me a lot on the "InDesign to ePub" topic: http://www.lynda.com/InDesign-CS5-tu...d/75445-2.html — note that there is also a version made for CS4.

06-14-2011, 03:54 PM	#2
mtrahan Colonel Mustard Posts: 90 Karma: 1426 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Montreal Device: iPhone 6, Kindle Paperwhite 2, iPad 2	I'm not sure I understand the situation. You are making changes in the ePub file (exported from InDesign) and are hoping to see those changes also made in the original indd file? It doesn't work that way. Changes made in the ePub file stays in the ePub file. And why would you want to go back in InDesign? Personnally, once I manage to get the text out of InDesign, I just stick to Sigil to tweak the resulting file. And to answer one of your question, no, there is nothing special to do after you save the file in Sigil. First thing I do after exporting ePub from InDesign is cleaning the CSS. But when I do many similar books, I clean the CSS once, and I make a copy of the CSS file that I take as a model when I do similar books with InDesign. It speed up the process for the next book. You could do that if you have changes that needs to be done in the indd file (but what can't be done directly in the ePub?). When you re-export, use your previous CSS (if class/styles names are the same, etc., of course). I could be wrong (I'm not an expert), but once you export ePub from InDesign, I wouldn't suggest working on the indd file if you want to make changes to the text or whatever. Just make the changes in Sigil directly. Good luck. And by the way, this video series on Lynda.com helped me a lot on the "InDesign to ePub" topic: http://www.lynda.com/InDesign-CS5-tu...d/75445-2.html — note that there is also a version made for CS4.