[DLSieving]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Sorry--I don't think I understand why "numbered headings" are involved here. Do you mean, when you say that, "Chapter ONE," for example, or is your document using Outline numbering, perchance?

I'm avoiding the use of numbered sections and chapters so that no conversion algorithm for any publishing platform going forward will be able to easily figure out what I'm trying to do and impose its own structuring.

Also, what do you mean when you say that you know how "intrusive" some conversions can be? What are you talking about? Which conversions, and the like? I find that generally, even the worst automatic converters out there recognize headings set in a source document, even if they don't recognize anything else. As you said, initially, that you were learning ePUB, what other methods have you used, to which you are referring?

If my strategy seems unclear, it's because it's forward-looking. As much as possible to minimize platform-specific workload, I want to do all of my formatting in the source document and avoid the need for platform-specific work-arounds. In this case, that means removing section and chapter numbers from the body of the book for the reasons given above.

Okay...

OK--so, really, discussing this at all on the eBook Software--Sigil==> forums is a bit of a misnomer. If you're only going to work in Word, I'd guess that this thread should move over to the Workshop, as Diap suggested. However, when it comes to embedding fonts, normally, Word can't do that for you. You cannot embed fonts into an HTML document using Word. I am inferring that Calibre, what, pulls the referenced font files into your ePUB, is that right? When you convert the Word file using Calibre, to ePUB?

That is correct.

With regard to the cycles and the polishing phases...didn't you say that this was a learning exercise? As opposed to a commercial book? You downloaded a txt from Gutenberg, and all that? Or have I misunderstood?

To conserve energy, I'd like to avoid getting into project specifics that don't bear on the technical issues at hand.

Well, I expect we're about to get to this.

Firstly, any font that you actively put in an eBook will most likely need licensing. Most fonts are simply licensed for "desktop publishing" purposes, which is very different than "embedding" or "redistribution." Don't get confused by font licenses saying "commercial;" that is unrelated, usually, to redistribution/embedding. Be aware that licensing a font for redistribution/embedding usually increases the desktop publishing price by a factor of 10 or more. I just today looked at a font that was $79.50 for both Desktop Publishing and Webfonts (websites, essentially) licensing, and it was $795.00 for a single eBook license. That's not unusual if dealing with foundry fonts. ( As someone who messes with this commercially, I have a boatload of alerts set up for sales and deals on fonts licensed for these uses, just so I can scoop them up at a good price.)

• This is useful information. I gather that I'll be faced with the higher prices when licensing fonts for use in an eBook which I plan to market on the various digital publishing platforms.
• Or do those prices only apply to redistribution of the fonts?
• I plan to avoid redistribution using font obfuscation on top of the publisher's encryption

Second--Remember that in the normal course of things, you'd have to add the font file, the entire font file, either to Calibre in the ePUB Editor or in Sigil, to make it work. Simply putting CSS into a stylesheet, calling for (e.g., "Monotype Corsiva") won't make the font display. It might display on your computer because you have Monotype Corsiva on your system. But if you send that file to someone who doesn't, they won't see Monotype Corsiva. They'll see whatever the device substitutes for it. I'm not familiar with Cailbre for conversion, which is what you must have used, but my comprehension is that it "pulls" the fonts from the system's fonts folder, that are used in the eBook file? That's the deal?

• That is the deal as I understand it. I'll find out when I have time to resume the project and start uploading to the digital publishing platforms.
• If they end up stripping my fonts, I'll be interested in finding out more about your work-around for this.

Great, thanks.

Honestly, you're doing this the hard way. You seem to have started with Calibre and Sigil first, rather than cleaning and styling your Word file first.

I'm afraid you've got the wrong end of the stick on this point. I learned from Guy Kawasaki (APE author) to polish my use of styles in the source document before proceeding to the publishing tools, which is what I did.

I really don't understand where you're coming from with the "outmaneuver automated structuring" part, or even why you want it. You can make ANY bit of text, any heading, any paragraph, etc., look how you want it to, in both Word and in HTML. You're making things hard on yourself for no reason.

Wrong again, I'm afraid. I'm finding the best long-term solution to each problem as I encounter it. Covering my tracks where automated conversion tools might otherwise intrude is an example of this. I like the results and it will save me a lot of work down the road.

@Diap: as the poster doesn't really want any HTML/XHTML/CSS information, but only wants to work in Word, I guess this should move to the Workshop forum. I'm sure that more folks who do the lifting in Word will be there, instead of here at the Sigil forums...that's my guess.

Taking the advice. Moving this section to workshop

Hitch

Sounds good to me! Either way, this has all been very helpful. Thanks to all for your comments and insights.