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gmw · 08-09-2017, 10:34 AM

It occurred to me that perhaps I should clarify "inconsistent use of styles" (save you having to delve into that other thread I linked). The biggest surprise that most people hit when they export to HTML is that their spacing or layout has gone awry. To avoid that the rule is pretty simple:

All document whitespace and layout should be managed using styles - not with the spacebar, return or tab keys.

Use your spacebar only to put a single space between words. Use your return key only to start a new paragraph or heading. Do not use your tab key.

Any time you think you want to hit the spacebar or return key more than once (or a tab key even once) to insert extra space then know that you are not using styles properly (are are likely to run into problems with HTML export*).

Use explicitly named styles for your part and chapter headings - typically these would be level 1 and level 2 headings, respectively. Front matter should not use heading level styles, just explicitly named paragraph styles (to avoid having them accidentally show up in the TOC).

That is the objective. The only interesting part after that is learning how to get the styles to do what you want.**

Note: It's only difficult when you first start. Once you get a collection of named styles that work as you want, you just use that as a template for your new documents and keep writing.

There is a second rule: keep your formatting as simple as possible. The more complex your format requirements the more difficulties you will experience when you migrate between formats.

* Certain export tools can try to use various tricks to simulate your intentions in HTML, or you can do lots of post processing on your HTML files to clean up. I suggest it is better to learn to use styles correctly in the first place - it's good practice for what you need to understand to work with HTML, because what I explain above is how HTML/CSS works - and therefore - epub too.

** Disclaimer: There are some things your *Office styles will do that are not easy/obvious in HTML, and vice versa. However, by using named styles (and assuming your export tool uses those names - some don't) adjusting things inside the epub is much easier because you only edit the CSS file (HTML's version of the styles) and everything will adjust to match.

08-09-2017, 10:34 AM	#53
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	It occurred to me that perhaps I should clarify "inconsistent use of styles" (save you having to delve into that other thread I linked). The biggest surprise that most people hit when they export to HTML is that their spacing or layout has gone awry. To avoid that the rule is pretty simple: All document whitespace and layout should be managed using styles - not with the spacebar, return or tab keys. Use your spacebar only to put a single space between words. Use your return key only to start a new paragraph or heading. Do not use your tab key. Any time you think you want to hit the spacebar or return key more than once (or a tab key even once) to insert extra space then know that you are not using styles properly (are are likely to run into problems with HTML export). Use explicitly named styles for your part and chapter headings - typically these would be level 1 and level 2 headings, respectively. Front matter should not use heading level styles, just explicitly named paragraph styles (to avoid having them accidentally show up in the TOC). That is the objective. The only interesting part after that is learning how to get the styles to do what you want.* Note: It's only difficult when you first start. Once you get a collection of named styles that work as you want, you just use that as a template for your new documents and keep writing. There is a second rule: keep your formatting as simple as possible. The more complex your format requirements the more difficulties you will experience when you migrate between formats. * Certain export tools can try to use various tricks to simulate your intentions in HTML, or you can do lots of post processing on your HTML files to clean up. I suggest it is better to learn to use styles correctly in the first place - it's good practice for what you need to understand to work with HTML, because what I explain above is how HTML/CSS works - and therefore - epub too. ** Disclaimer: There are some things your *Office styles will do that are not easy/obvious in HTML, and vice versa. However, by using named styles (and assuming your export tool uses those names - some don't) adjusting things inside the epub is much easier because you only edit the CSS file (HTML's version of the styles) and everything will adjust to match.