MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Problems with page breaks/blank pages/line spaces

Tex2002ans · 05-29-2021, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

You are looking at code, and that from the narrow perspective of these e-book devices. I am looking at the meaning of the text and the amount of work it would take to adopt your style.

No. I take a long-term + long-run view across all formats (even ones that don't exist yet).

Clean + human-readable code is just as important as the text itself... and actually makes your life much EASIER in the long-run.

This also allows you to more quickly:

Maintain the works
Fix typos/bugs
- and debug if any crop up.
Convert between different formats

You spend a little bit of extra time up front, and you've saved yourself TONS of hours of headaches in the future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

I do not know how to respond to this without seeming like a cranky stubborn old man ... which I am ... but I will make an effort not to tick you off.

Old dogs can learn new tricks! Stop putting yourself down, you cranky old fart!

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

I am set in my ways after 20+ years of this and as this thread demonstrates, learning new stuff is a real problem.

That's okay, people are here to help.

If anything I've said is confusing for you, or you need more reasoning, I can break it down further.

Hopefully you'll learn to do it the clean/"correct" way, then you'll have 20+ more years of ebook creation!

And from all the time saved by having maintainable books, who knows how many other extra Buddhism texts you'd convert and get out there!

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

These lines are not poetry, they are single paragraphs broken up into sentences given one new line each. In theory at least a person is to stop and think at the full stop, period, end of sentence. These works are more like scripts for a movie. They were written down from an oral tradition and should be read as though they were being spoken: very slowly and disṭinctly, one sentence at a time. In other cases the sentences will be broken up into meaningful phrases.

Okay. Poetry or poetry-like sentences, doesn't matter to me.

Then name your 3 classes:

- "scripts"
- "sentences"
- "phrases"

Similar negative indentation concepts should apply.

It would make these works infinitely more readable. Because right now, I skimmed through the PDFs... and the layout itself made for a very tough read.

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

[...] The text of my files is readable in source because that is how I like it, but virtually nobody in my audience will ever be looking at the code.

Hmm... so this:

Code:

<p class="f4">I H<span class="f2">EAR</span> T<span class="f2">ELL:</span></p>

more readable than:

Code:

<p><span class="smallcaps">I Hear Tell:</span></p>

This is news to me!

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

(Well there are, interestingly enough, a disproportionate number of tech experts in my audience and I admit they will probably look at the code, but the code is not the important thing.)

You're right, the clean code is even more important.

Now you're getting it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

I have converted files from another site that uses code for poems (these works do have poetery) identical to that which you suggest and have found it more burdensome than the coding I use and it clutters the file equally or moreso.

The poetry poem/stanza/line code looks a little more complicated up front, but the support across all reading devices will be infinitely better... as you can tell from your Kobo/Kindle issues!

I'll even make it easier for you. Here's three Find/Replaces:

Note: In Sigil, Press Ctrl+F. You see the "Mode" dropdown? Make sure to put Sigil into Regex mode.

Find: <p class="f4">
Replace: <p class="line">

Find: <p class="ctr c">(.)</p>
Replace: </div></div> <p class="break">\1</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza">

Then you run a:

Find: <br/>
Replace: </p> <p class="line">

Then press the "Prettify" code button in Sigil/Calibre, and bing, bang, boom... 99.9% of the work is done.

All you'd need to fix is the <div>s for the first/last poems.

Now what's so hard about that?

* * *

Side Note: You can even save these three in Sigil as "Saved Searches". Then all you have to do is press a single button!

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

by my count my code for this is less typing than yours.

And? Readability? Maintainability? Getting help?

"Oh shoot, my line-spacing is broken and I'm getting crazy page breaks. Can anyone help me?"

"No problem, stubborn old dog. What's your code?"

Spoiler:

"Ahhh yes. Perfectly readable. I know exactly what lgqt c g r means! I'll just pull a 180 and f2 + hrctr right out of here!"

* * *

Or Scenario #2:

"Hey, my ebook is acting weird. Can anyone help me?"

"Sure, what's your code?"

Spoiler:

"Ahh, yes. No problem, my finely dressed (and non-stubborn) mature dog! Your problem is you accidentally did a page-break before every single one of your poems and lines!"

... now which dog would you rather be?

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

I do not care if these works do not appear on phones. [...] In truth it should not even be on the web. In truth, it should never have been put into writing.

Sadly, it took TOO LONG to digitize/translate all these Buddhist works.

Where certain other religious works were translated and brought around the world for hundreds (thousands) of years... Buddhism only was really translated to English in ~1880s.

Big shame.

And trying to keep this stuff completely off the internet only relegates it to the dustbin of history. How will you even get people interested/excited about topics if they don't even know it exists. (Another reason why you want your code to be as clean/maintainable as possible.)

I even wrote about this back in 2014: "Delicate text digitalizing + scanning issues":

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

I jumped ship from physical books once I stumbled upon the treasure trove of all PDFs/EPUBs for free. Now I will NEVER touch a physical book again (unless I have to digitize it).

I dedicate all my time now towards getting books into EPUB (VASTLY SUPERIOR to reading some crappy pictures/scanned PDF).

Most of the books that we work on went out of print, got lost in time, etc. etc. Now, ANYONE around the world can have access to them within a minute of searching/downloading.

Having them up in digital form is ALSO fantastic when you yourself are needing to use them for reference. You can quickly look up the PDF version, pull out what you need, and move on with typing your paper.

Stone Ages:
- Go to the library, they don't have it.
- They search around... only one library across the country has it.
- Weeks later, they get some dusty tome shipped to them.
  - Or better yet, it is locked up, and you have to spend a whole day traveling to get it.
- Only one person can use the book at a time.
Now:
- Search in your browser
- Download PDF/EPUB/XYZ format
- Copy/Paste into your paper
- Move on without ever having to leave your desk.
- Everyone can use the book at the same time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

Now that I have had a little expereience with e-pub etc. I feel almost the same way about those devices. Reading in this way is not conducive to deep concentration. This is not yet a place for this stuff.

Bah, don't make excuses. You ran across a few stumbling blocks, then trying to write off an entire format. Preposterous.

You want to make a positive impact in the world?

Digitize your books properly and get them spread as far and wide as possible.

* * *

And you'll just have to get it through your thick head:

People read on these newfangled devices called... Personal Computers... and what's that? I can't hear you through my conch. Ahh yes, Cellular Phones.

And remember when we had to concentrate and take minutes chiselling a single letter into stone tablets? These new kids nowadays just smack a piece of paper down and scrape a stick of graphite over it in seconds... Damn technology! There's just no place for that!

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

Copyright. The law is self-contradictory and in a sane uncorrupted world would be tossed.

We're on the same page, my friend. Copyright needed to be abolished yesterday.

Luckily, there's this thing called The Internet, where most of these antiquated concepts locking books/knowledge away are effectively nullified.

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

I didn't create this work, I am merely translating it. It doesn't belong to me or to anyone.

So you're the original translator? Fantastic.

Definitely update to CC-BY 4.0 then. As I said, it's about as close as you can to Public Domain as currently allowed under this rotten system.

And CC-BY 4.0 will be more open and closer to Public Domain than CC-BY 3.0.

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

Copyrighting that work would be claiming an ownership I do not have.

Yep, sadly, there's no way you can relinquish copyrights.

Stephan Kinsella, "Let's Make Copyright Opt-OUT"

Quote:

If you oppose IP and don’t want a patent–just don’t apply. Unfortunately, someone else might independently invent the same thing, patent it, and shut you down, since your having invented it first, or independently invented it, is no defense.

[...]

But if you don’t want copyright, you’re out of luck. Under the current law, copyright is received automatically. Contrary to popular wisdom, you don’t “copyright” something. It’s not a verb. You don’t need to put a copyright notice on your work. You don’t need to register it. It’s automatic. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

Stephan Kinsella, "Copyright is Very Sticky!"

Quote:

I’ve pointed out to such people innumerable times, to little avail, that copyright is a noun, not a verb–that you don’t “copyright” something–you have a copyright in your original works of authorship as soon as you write them, automatically, courtesy of federal law. No copyright notice is required. No copyright registration is required. You have the right, whether you like it or not.

Well, then, why don’t you just “make it public domain,” some then, a bit unreflectively, retort. The problem is, there is no clear and good way to do this.

[...]

Now, some have tried to find ways to let you abandon your copyright, or “dedicate” it to “the public.” [...]

Creative Commons has a proposed “Public Domain Dedication“, but: [...] there appear to be doubts as to whether it would work–and until it’s clear that it does, it’s worse than a CC license, since publishers would be afraid to rely on it. [...]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbeggaols

If I have offended you by this rant, I apologize, it was not my intent to do so. Best of luck in your career.

We have the same goals here. Freeing up these books and getting them in tip-top shape, enabling them to be read by as many as people as possible.

The entire purpose of books and writing is to change people's minds. This cleanup is helping you achieve that, in the present and the long-term future.

You'll thank me when a new Kindle or future-format XYZ comes out.

You'll say:

"Tex, you were amazing. My Buddhist scripts converted perfectly to futuristic e-scrolls—the papyrus transformed beneath my fingers, and the words were chanted to me slowly and methodically by the e-monks themselves... Just as it was originally intended."