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mrmikel · 08-09-2014, 07:21 AM

You might try asking some of these calibre questions in the Calibre forum.

When you note your experience with HTML is with webpages, that caught my attention. Epub is a subset of the HTML of webpages. It is more limited and some things don't work, such as name. Instead in epub, id is used. Lists work more or less, but start and type don't work. Working with tables may remind you of the sound of one hand clapping. I believe Pablo has a tutorial in the Wiki.

Also, it can be helpful to have a target device in mind, as not everything works equally well in every device. Early Apple devices aren't compatible with later ones, for instance. It is well to make sure the lion's share of your target audience's devices are covered.

You may find it best to work the Calibre editor rather than in the converter. The editor will generally not alter your html much, but the converter will alter it beyond recognition making it hard to edit afterwards with multiple calibre classes. You can also try Sigil, which has a more or less WYSISWG mode. But direct data entry into that mode will create coding which will offend the finicky, but which is less opaque than a calibre conversion. Don't get me wrong, calibre conversions work and it is a miracle they work so well. They just are hard to touch up afterwards.

A number of people work in Word and use the converter by Toxaris which is available on this forum. Others use Atlantis Word Processor or Jutoh which have word processor features but allow publishing of your document in epub or azw3.

I guess the take away is to not expect it to be terribly easy unless you are trying publish pretty close to plain text. It just takes time and no program to do everything for you.

08-09-2014, 07:21 AM	#2
mrmikel Color me gone Posts: 2,089 Karma: 1445295 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Central Oregon Coast Device: PRS-300	You might try asking some of these calibre questions in the Calibre forum. When you note your experience with HTML is with webpages, that caught my attention. Epub is a subset of the HTML of webpages. It is more limited and some things don't work, such as name. Instead in epub, id is used. Lists work more or less, but start and type don't work. Working with tables may remind you of the sound of one hand clapping. I believe Pablo has a tutorial in the Wiki. Also, it can be helpful to have a target device in mind, as not everything works equally well in every device. Early Apple devices aren't compatible with later ones, for instance. It is well to make sure the lion's share of your target audience's devices are covered. You may find it best to work the Calibre editor rather than in the converter. The editor will generally not alter your html much, but the converter will alter it beyond recognition making it hard to edit afterwards with multiple calibre classes. You can also try Sigil, which has a more or less WYSISWG mode. But direct data entry into that mode will create coding which will offend the finicky, but which is less opaque than a calibre conversion. Don't get me wrong, calibre conversions work and it is a miracle they work so well. They just are hard to touch up afterwards. A number of people work in Word and use the converter by Toxaris which is available on this forum. Others use Atlantis Word Processor or Jutoh which have word processor features but allow publishing of your document in epub or azw3. I guess the take away is to not expect it to be terribly easy unless you are trying publish pretty close to plain text. It just takes time and no program to do everything for you.