keep header with following text

[PilcrowandStanza]

Hi all,

There has to be a simple fix for this, right?
Titles/headers at the bottom of the page with the text starting on the next.

How to keep them together! I use CSS "page break: avoid" to little luck.
Is there extra code that needs to be added?

Or do we simply accept that ebooks are wonky?

Thanks

[KevinH]

In epubs, you typically start each chapter in its own new file. Each file automatically starts on a new page so chapter title and headings all work. That still leaves subheadings. For sub headings, can wrap them in a div and set css widows and orphans properties for that block. You can also try setting css pagebreak options before. For graphics you can try figure and figcaption to keep them together or float text around them.

[RbnJrg]

Originally Posted by PilcrowandStanza

Hi all,

There has to be a simple fix for this, right?
Titles/headers at the bottom of the page with the text starting on the next.

How to keep them together! I use CSS "page break: avoid" to little luck.
Is there extra code that needs to be added?

Or do we simply accept that ebooks are wonky?

Thanks

Employ the following style:

1. In your .css stylesheet:

.noBreakAfter {
    -webkit-column-break-after: avoid; /* This is for epub3, epub2 ebooks will ignore it */
    page-break-after: avoid; /* This is for epub2; epub3 ebooks will ignore it */
    break-after: avoid; /* Also for epub3 */
}

2. In your .xhtml:

<h2 class="noBreakAfter">Your title here</h2>

<p>Your following text here ... </p>

Of course, if you don't want to create a style, you also can write the following in your .css:

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
    -webkit-column-break-after: avoid;
    page-break-after: avoid;
    break-after: avoid;
}

EDIT: Which e-reader are you going to use this feature on?

[Quoth]

Only starting a new file at a header works on everything.

Yes, real reflowable ebook formats are more limited than paper or PDF due to the combination of unknown screen size/resolution, user selected font size, user selected margins and line spacing and pagination rather than stupid endless scroll of web pages.

[RbnJrg]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Only starting a new file at a header works on everything.

Yes, of course. But there may be subheadings within a single chapter that, if they start on a new page, could disrupt the flow of the story. In these cases, it's helpful to have a way to avoid a page break immediately after those subheadings. ADE 2.x honors "page-break-after: avoid" since always and now ereaders based on webkit/readium finally gave support to "-webkit-column-break-after: avoid", so virtually any halfway decent e-reader can avoid a page break after a heading.

But there are still some "tricks" that allow you to avoid page breaks even without appealing to those properties, with simple CSS 2.0 declarations (that is 1998, the prehistory of CSS) that work on any e-reader that supports the margin and padding properties (and I find it hard to imagine that there is an e-reader that doesn't support them).

[Quoth]

As ever ebook formats were initially only designed with novels in mind. Really most of the need for headings not starting on a new page is non-fiction, and even reflowable epub3 is still poor for scholarly works or textbooks, which is why those often use PDF.

I know about what you mention @RbnJrg, but fortunately it's only in notes / appendix of stuff I create that it would be needed and one option is to ignore it as long as the main content is OK

[rjwse@aol.com]

I use break-after:avoid and it has never failed me. It works well both in epub and after the epub has been converted via calibre to pdf for printing. I use it on centered, bold one-liners of <div style="break-after:avoid">…</div>. This also works well if you want to keep top-caption always together with image below it. (I must admit top-captioned images are less common than images followed by bottom captions.) For the most part I find it more useful to have an image with a bottom AND top caption. I use break-after:avoid as a class and pop it into place with a calibre snippet.

[RbnJrg]

Originally Posted by Quoth

As ever ebook formats were initially only designed with novels in mind.

That's right.

Really most of the need for headings not starting on a new page is non-fiction, and even reflowable epub3 is still poor for scholarly works or textbooks, which is why those often use PDF.

The ePub format has improved significantly and now also allows for use in technical and non-fiction books. Consider the following images from Aristotle's Rhetoric:



The interesting thing about this is that those screenshots are from an epub2 opened in KOReader! When the book doesn't have images and its design isn't too complicated (I mean, it doesn't have a dynamic layout that needs to change depending on the e-reader's screen size and the font size used by the user), the epub2 protocol can still compete with epub3, even for technical and non-fiction books.

I know about what you mention @RbnJrg, but fortunately it's only in notes / appendix of stuff I create that it would be needed and one option is to ignore it as long as the main content is OK

Okay, it's your choice, and I respect that. But since it's cheap now and works well to avoid unwanted page breaks, it doesn't hurt to consider using it.

[Quoth]

Or page breaks that are too annoying.

I think we are on the same page