Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
So if soft hyphens are out, because they interfere with searching, I guess that means that the OP is out of luck? Just have to rely on what each device gives you in the way of hyphenation?
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Honestly, this is a CLIENT EDUCATION issue, not a technical issue.
In either ePUB or MOBI, you can turn hyphenation off, or on. We typically turn it off, in ePUB, because of the nightmare of clients viewing the ePUBs in ADE, and seeing hyphen ladders willy-nilly. then we turn it back ON, when we give them the finals, so that when they upload it, the resulting final book doesn't suffer from rivers.
Regardless, though--the client requires education. When we get the client that insists on hyphenation (just like they insist on "moving that line up, from an otherwise blank page" or widows or orphans or, or, or...), we EDUCATE them. That's an investment in time, that has little return, unfortunately, but if you don't, you either have an unhappy client, or, as discussed above with epubs that aren't searchable, you've made a sh*t book. Take your pick.
The correct answer is, educate the client as to the realities of hyphenation. If you inadvertently turned it off, in the CSS, then turn it back on, and explain the "
why." WHY you turned it off, assuming you did, WHY you didn't, if you didn't, and so on.
If, however,
you are trying to humor a client by inserting SPECIFIC hyphens, to address a SPECIFIC line, then
stop doing that. You end up giving the client a crap book, which wreaks havoc everywhere it's read. Explain WHY ebooks don't work that way. Don't give an ill-educated client an even worse education.
Hitch