Quote:
Originally Posted by blackrock36
Doitsu,
Thanks for the CSS code correction, will do as you advise in the future.
The document started life as a .doc and was saved as an .HTML to import in Sigil. I have tried Calibre before but may have to revisit. I guess the consensus is that the HTML file I am using is polluted by MS code from the Word 'save as' and that is my fundamental issue. I will try the Toxaris link but never thought this conversion process would be so niggly.
Advice much appreciated.
Thanks
Andy
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"Niggly?" That's because this Word file is patently not styled. It looks to my eyes that it's been done with ad hoc styles, with manual settings for each paragraph, etc. That's the only explanation for finding TWO different font settings in the same exported "style" and don't get me started about some of the rest.
Making ebooks, like making print books, is not a "take some text I typed and magically it's a book" process. I blame Amazon for part of this idea, floating around out there that it's insta-magic, no-effort-required, but I also blame Microsoft, for promulgating the idea that a word-processor is a simple one-size-fits-all magic software that can do all things and be all things to all people, from a simple word-processor to layout software to whatever.
I'm not saying that's how you think, but it's
definitely how a lot of first-time author-"converters" think.
eBooks are HTML. Just like webpages. But, unlike webpages, they have a limited set of HTML that makes them "go" successfully. To make that happen, you either need to accept that the outcome will not be exactly as you wish, or you learn some html, and CSS, and how to do the job correctly--or at least, enough to fix what goes wrong.
If you don't think that you can take your Word file, push a button and have a working website, well, that doesn't work for an eBook, either.
IF--repeat, IF-you know and understand and use Word's Styles and headings, you can make a relatively decent book with very little understanding of HTML, because you put in all the work upfront--by using the styles. :-) If you didn't use those, and don't put in that work upfront, then you are doomed to do that work and heavy lifting in HTML.
Hitch