I've been using Sigil to clean up some PDFs I want to view on my Kindle v3. My goal is to get a Mobi file that looks as close to the original PDF as possible, but with flexible flow.
Right now, my workflow is PDF -> ePub using calibre, cleanup in Sigil, then ePub -> Mobi using calibre again. Generally this works great, although I'm open to alternatives if there is an easier way. (Mac-based)
A few formatting choices, however, are lost during the ePub->Mobi conversion. I can't tell if this is a calibre issue, or an intrinsic limitation of the Mobi format.
Some examples:
- I have a book that has footnote/endnotes. In the ePub, the reference is a superscript. This is gone in the Mobi, and the baseline of the endnote number is the same as the regular text. I've tried using <sup> or a css style with {vertical-align: top; } with no change.
- I have a dropcap, created as suggested in the Sigil documentation. Again, it appears as expected in the ePub but is gone in the Mobi format.
- Can I do font choices without embedding? This is a very minor issue, but a number of books use sans-serif for chapter titles and serif for the main text. At least with the books I've created, I can't seem to switch back and forth. My {font-family: serif} style appears to be ignored.
I apologize if there is a reference for these things - and I realize that editing an ePub when what I really want to look at is a Mobi is a bit backwards. But it seems to be the way best supported by available software under OSX.