MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Add empty spaces between characters (Calibre)?

GrannyGrump · 04-06-2017, 12:09 AM

Do you mean a space between each character in a word? Like so?
H A P P Y

{oops -- the no-parse tags are not working well. I had to put a space after the ampersand "&" to keep forum software from changing my text into actual whitespace. If you use these in real code, make sure there are no spaces inside the entities.}

You might try using the non-breaking space --- use the html name   or the html number & #160; like so:

Code:

H&nbsp;A&nbsp;P&nbsp;P&nbsp;Y

H& #160;A& #160;P& #160;P& #160;Y

The nbsp *should* keep your word all together without breaking.

The entity for a regular space is & #32;.

Also be aware that rendering will collapse multiple regular spaces into a single space, and you have to fool the engine by using a combination of nbsp and regular space, OR wrap in a tag that defines how you want the whitespace handled. W3schools has information here: https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_...hite-space.asp

If you are producing this book for distribution, it's very good that you decided against the "color" solution. If the user decides to change the background color, your white text would suddenly become visible. You should avoid setting any colors for text --- end-users get upset if your *black* text suddenly disappears when they want to use night-mode.

EDIT TO ADD: While I am thinking of it, if you simply have single spaces between characters, Calibre would not have deleted those. Did you mean MULTIPLE spaces? If so, you will indeed have to use multiple nbsp, or wrap text with a tag defining whitespace. Your example text does not show clearly what you are trying to do. Can you attach a screenshot?

04-06-2017, 12:09 AM	#2
GrannyGrump Obsessively Dedicated... Posts: 3,227 Karma: 35037583 Join Date: May 2011 Location: PA {back in the usa!} Device: Sony PRS-T2, ADE on PC	Do you mean a space between each character in a word? Like so? H A P P Y {oops -- the no-parse tags are not working well. I had to put a space after the ampersand "&" to keep forum software from changing my text into actual whitespace. If you use these in real code, make sure there are no spaces inside the entities.} You might try using the non-breaking space --- use the html name   or the html number & #160; like so: Code: H A P P Y H& #160;A& #160;P& #160;P& #160;Y The nbsp should keep your word all together without breaking. The entity for a regular space is & #32;. Also be aware that rendering will collapse multiple regular spaces into a single space, and you have to fool the engine by using a combination of nbsp and regular space, OR wrap in a tag that defines how you want the whitespace handled. W3schools has information here: https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_...hite-space.asp If you are producing this book for distribution, it's very good that you decided against the "color" solution. If the user decides to change the background color, your white text would suddenly become visible. You should avoid setting any colors for text --- end-users get upset if your black text suddenly disappears when they want to use night-mode. EDIT TO ADD: While I am thinking of it, if you simply have single spaces between characters, Calibre would not have deleted those. Did you mean MULTIPLE spaces? If so, you will indeed have to use multiple nbsp, or wrap text with a tag defining whitespace. Your example text does not show clearly what you are trying to do. Can you attach a screenshot? Last edited by GrannyGrump; 04-06-2017 at 01:26 AM.