- Go to: www.w3schools.com and take an html tutorial.
- Go To: www.w3schools.com and take the CSS tutorial (really reference), by testing each of the live examples.
- Buy and READ Liz Castro's "EPUB: Straight to the Point," so that you begin to have a basic understanding of what an ePUB is, how it works, what it's comprised of, and wwhy what you're doing not only isn't working, but is making your effort significantly harder than it has to be.
- Start asking your questions over in the ePUB forum, where they belong. Your issues have nothing whatsoever to do with Sigil; you do not have the fundamental understanding to begin creating an ePUB, I am sorry to tell you.
- If you are exporting OO and creating mutliple files in html, you're doing that incorrectly, as well.
- Seriously consider using a tool more suited for your skillset, like Jutoh or Atlantis Word processor. If you don't understand what STYLES are, what CSS does, and don't even know how to do a simple search and replace (frankly, you don't even need regex) for Chapters, in 1-2 passes, you are using a tool for which you are not ready. Your comprehension of Jutoh or AWP for "commercial" users is flatly mistaken; they are tools for amateur producers, just like you, which is why they cost about $40--you don't need to know regex, you don't need to know CSS, or anything else; you don't even need html. Both work like "Word Processing ePUB makers," which is clearly what you need.
Flailing around here, using an ePUB-editing and creation tool, which is specifically designed for people who already have an understanding of html, xhtml, CSS and regex is just going to frustrate you further. Having seen this post, it explains, (but
does not excuse) a lot of your behavior over on the other thread (although I've yet to see the "disaster thread" you mentioned). You are attempting to run a marathon before you have learned to walk, and, moreover, you fundamentally misunderstand what Sigil does; what an ePUB
is; how it works or what you should be using before you even get to Sigil. You've been asked repeatedly what html editor you're using, or asked why you're not using one, and I don't think you understand that you NEED one.
To put this as simply as I can: Sigil is not a Word Processing ePUB maker. It's not an authorial tool. Nor is it really a tool for amateurs who don't have the patience to learn the fundamentals. I am not trying to be rude--but you are honestly in way over your head, if you don't know what a class style is. I
strenuously recommend that you
reconsider using a tool more suited for your current skill level, to achieve your current goal, rather than trying to force Sigil to adapt to you. It's obvious you are on a budget,
In the alternative, try the Calibre forum. There are a lot of people over there who shortcut by using Calibre to create ePUBs (somehow--I honestly don't know the method) from what are essentially word-processing files, I think from OO or from OO-exported html or rtf--and maybe that will give you a leg up. And, yes, OO can bastardize header styles upon export, BUT, if you were using a proper html editor, you could easily regex (search and replace) all of them in a snap in either an html editor OR, for that matter, Sigil. You might consider an investment in "Regex Buddy," which is actually a SUPER learning tool, OR read the regex wiki sources here at MR.
I hope something there helped you. I'm not trying to be mean, but really--you're driving yourself nuts because you don't yet know what you don't know.
Hitch