[slammerkin]

I apologize for how wordy this post is, but I wanted to make sure I included any pertinent info, even if I didn't know it was pertinent.

I am having trouble with final ebook copies retaining the text color and font of metadata I added, on the actual device- they show in Sigil properly though.
Please bear with me, I am not tech-savvy. And input would be hugely appreciated.

I am frequently off-grid. To compensate for the lack of internet, I've always used Calibre for ebooks, b/c it allows me to upload a large amount of info into the “comments” section, in their “edit metadata” tool. For example, in a single ebook, I might add the normal metadata- synopsis, reviews, etc., + other relevant info for quick reference, like Wiki Page content relative the ebook topic, and news articles/etc.

Unfortunately, Calibre doesn't allow you to add images to this metadata, so I looked into Sigil.

I am not tech-savvy, and I know NOTHING about CSS/style sheets. I did read a lot of content about how to go about things, but it's generally like reading Sanskrit for me.

Here's my issue:

Initially, I would load my ebook into Calibre, put in the metadata, and then open the finished ebook in Sigil, to insert pictures between the text. The photo's showed up, but I would lose all formatting of my text in the process- and b/c there's often multiple articles and notes, formatting is essential for making the information accessible. When I say formatting, I mean things like the alignment of the text (centered, for example), the color of the text, the font, & bold/italic/underline, etc.

The formatting would be reflected in the Sigil file, but when I saved it, and uploaded it to my ebook, it disappeared.

So then I tried uploading the book first to Sigil. I wrote out all the content I wanted to add in an open office doc., and then copied/pasted the entire thing into the ebook in Sigil, (while looking at the metadta, which was in a folder called “Jacket.xhtml” ). Then, I used Sigil to insert the images where they belonged between the text. I saved it, then uploaded it to my device- but while the photo's stayed, & the formatting stayed, the text was all black, and the font was a generic one.

I then tried uploading the saved sigil file into Calibre- in the Calibre ebook viewer, the formatting and text colors and images all showed up, but when I used Calibre to add the ebook to my device, I again lost the text color and font.

I tried opening the ebook in Calibre, to re-format the text color in the metadata editor, but b/c I added the info in Sigil, it's no longer part of the metadata in Calibre, it's part of the book.

I tried adding the ebook through Adobe DE instead, same thing. No text color, generic font.

Now, I have googled this and read about the issues of color and font- and understand they have to be added by style sheets, but again.. Sanskrit. I can't find a “style sheets for idiots” or step-by-step CSS for morons thread. Yet.

That said, when I switched from Book view to Code view in Sigil, the Sanskrit does appear to have code with things like “font color- #11111” (not really 1111, but you know what I mean)- and “font- Vani”, etc. So to my un-tech-savvy eyes, it appears to be in there.

Please help.

I can live with generic fonts, but the text color is important- it separates the articles and notes.
What am IO doing wrong? Bearing n mind, I don't speak Sanskrit, is there a generic copy & paste stylee sheet, or tutorial I can refer to?

Two other things that may be important:

-I'm not trying to change the entire ebook's text color; just the metadata and notes I add.

-One tutorial showed all the buttons on Sigil, including a “text color” one with a bucket. I don't have that. I had all the other buttons BUT text color. This is why I copied and pasted my content from an Open Office document- b/c Sigil didn't have the text color option, anywhere.
Am I missing something? I just downloaded Sigil this week, so I'm positive it's the most recent edition.


Any help would be tremendously appreciated; I'm so frustrated at this point.
TIA

*I'm adding two screenshots of the same book, in code view & book view. I don't know if they help or not, but figured they might.


As you can see, the paint bucket/text color button is missing; and the CSS seems to reflect font family and colors for text- I think.



And in the book view, you can see the same book, but it's showing things properly formatted, in text colors and font.