Losing text color and font in final ebook on device

[slammerkin]

I apologize for how wordy this post is, but I wanted to make sure I included any pertinent info, even if I didn't know it was pertinent.

I am having trouble with final ebook copies retaining the text color and font of metadata I added, on the actual device- they show in Sigil properly though.
Please bear with me, I am not tech-savvy. And input would be hugely appreciated.

I am frequently off-grid. To compensate for the lack of internet, I've always used Calibre for ebooks, b/c it allows me to upload a large amount of info into the “comments” section, in their “edit metadata” tool. For example, in a single ebook, I might add the normal metadata- synopsis, reviews, etc., + other relevant info for quick reference, like Wiki Page content relative the ebook topic, and news articles/etc.

Unfortunately, Calibre doesn't allow you to add images to this metadata, so I looked into Sigil.

I am not tech-savvy, and I know NOTHING about CSS/style sheets. I did read a lot of content about how to go about things, but it's generally like reading Sanskrit for me.

Here's my issue:

Initially, I would load my ebook into Calibre, put in the metadata, and then open the finished ebook in Sigil, to insert pictures between the text. The photo's showed up, but I would lose all formatting of my text in the process- and b/c there's often multiple articles and notes, formatting is essential for making the information accessible. When I say formatting, I mean things like the alignment of the text (centered, for example), the color of the text, the font, & bold/italic/underline, etc.

The formatting would be reflected in the Sigil file, but when I saved it, and uploaded it to my ebook, it disappeared.

So then I tried uploading the book first to Sigil. I wrote out all the content I wanted to add in an open office doc., and then copied/pasted the entire thing into the ebook in Sigil, (while looking at the metadta, which was in a folder called “Jacket.xhtml” ). Then, I used Sigil to insert the images where they belonged between the text. I saved it, then uploaded it to my device- but while the photo's stayed, & the formatting stayed, the text was all black, and the font was a generic one.

I then tried uploading the saved sigil file into Calibre- in the Calibre ebook viewer, the formatting and text colors and images all showed up, but when I used Calibre to add the ebook to my device, I again lost the text color and font.

I tried opening the ebook in Calibre, to re-format the text color in the metadata editor, but b/c I added the info in Sigil, it's no longer part of the metadata in Calibre, it's part of the book.

I tried adding the ebook through Adobe DE instead, same thing. No text color, generic font.

Now, I have googled this and read about the issues of color and font- and understand they have to be added by style sheets, but again.. Sanskrit. I can't find a “style sheets for idiots” or step-by-step CSS for morons thread. Yet.

That said, when I switched from Book view to Code view in Sigil, the Sanskrit does appear to have code with things like “font color- #11111” (not really 1111, but you know what I mean)- and “font- Vani”, etc. So to my un-tech-savvy eyes, it appears to be in there.

Please help.

I can live with generic fonts, but the text color is important- it separates the articles and notes.
What am IO doing wrong? Bearing n mind, I don't speak Sanskrit, is there a generic copy & paste stylee sheet, or tutorial I can refer to?

Two other things that may be important:

-I'm not trying to change the entire ebook's text color; just the metadata and notes I add.

-One tutorial showed all the buttons on Sigil, including a “text color” one with a bucket. I don't have that. I had all the other buttons BUT text color. This is why I copied and pasted my content from an Open Office document- b/c Sigil didn't have the text color option, anywhere.
Am I missing something? I just downloaded Sigil this week, so I'm positive it's the most recent edition.


Any help would be tremendously appreciated; I'm so frustrated at this point.
TIA

*I'm adding two screenshots of the same book, in code view & book view. I don't know if they help or not, but figured they might.


As you can see, the paint bucket/text color button is missing; and the CSS seems to reflect font family and colors for text- I think.



And in the book view, you can see the same book, but it's showing things properly formatted, in text colors and font.

[theducks]

Your views don't show the same place in the book
(and that appears to be a Calibre Jacket)

Failure only on devices usually means a CSS error. Validate using W3C
Sigil/Calibre viewers are more forgiving (but not totally ) of CSS errors.

Missing semi-colon or a Colon in the wrong place are common.
Invalid argument values (type) is another.

[Hitch]

Hello, Slammerkin:

I'm not quite sure I understand your actual issue; I'm inferring, from what I've read, and re-read, that you want to be able to save metadata--so, we're not talking about anything that occurs between the body tags of an HTML document--and retain color and formatting of text, when you read it in some type of e-reader? Before I try to answer this, is that correct? And you also want to be able to keep images in the headers/metadata of these HTML documents, and be able to view them, in something like ADE or Calibre reader?

If I've understood you correctly, I don't know how you'd do that. Metadata is not, by definition and by usage, color-coded nor does it have styles affixed in any way. It's simply metadata, and intended to be displayed simply as text. For that matter, it defaults, if memory serves, to the automatic color of the reader. Metadata is, as defined, "data about data," and is not itself a part of the book that's intended to be displayed stylistically; the information is for categorization purposes, not mini-database purposes with images, like a mini-wiki, if that makes sense.

If I've not understood you correctly, my apologies, but I think you are conflating CSS, font colors, etc., with the automatic coloration of html editors (to help coders keep track of what is what) with the ability to create colored, font-defined text in an actual ebook. I do not believe you can do what you wish to do, again, if I have correctly interpreted what you are asking.

Hitch