Help a noob?

[Calenorn]

Hello folks!

I have absolutely no experience with HTML. Despite this obvious handicap, I've been experimenting with calibre's tweak book plug-in to polish up some e-books. Sometimes things turn out pretty well; others, not so much.

So it's time to do a little homework. Can anyone recommend a concise manual or guide that I could read to get started? An included list of HTML tags usable in caliber would be valuable. A primer on style sheets would also be a bonus.

Many thanks in advance!!!

C.

[jackie_w]

The www.w3schools.com website might be helpful. It introduces things in nice bitesize chunks rather than blinding you with science. Plus it has the benefit of interactive "Try it Yourself" examples.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

Hello folks!

I have absolutely no experience with HTML. Despite this obvious handicap, I've been experimenting with calibre's tweak book plug-in to polish up some e-books. Sometimes things turn out pretty well; others, not so much.

So it's time to do a little homework. Can anyone recommend a concise manual or guide that I could read to get started? An included list of HTML tags usable in caliber would be valuable. A primer on style sheets would also be a bonus.

Many thanks in advance!!!

C.

IMHO
Try Sigil, it will make things easier (in most cases)
Get a few sample EPUB and reverse engineer them (again, Sigil has a right click help GoTo Link or Style Finds the (first defined) selected CSS selector.

Note: the first I have see a few CSS the slam load a few basic parameters, then come along and add a few more (this is valid, just a PITA to debug)
Calibre ebook-viewer and Sigil (even Firefox) has a HTML 'Inspector' built in). Right click. One of the panels will show 'computed values' (after all the inheritance)

[Sabardeyn]

Something to keep in mind, and which you'll see stated in many forms throughout ebook crafting forums, is that there is no perfect or universal way to create an ebook that all hardware and software readers/viewers/devices can use.

We're in the middle of the ebook version of the "Browser Wars" of the 1990's. Where everyone is claiming compliance with a standard, but they're not actually 100% compliant. Or they've added a "feature" with better capabilities so they don't see the need to support the standard implementation of the feature. Of course, no one else can get that feature to work properly, so any 3rd party ebooks fail.

Despite the above, I'm not attempting to warn you off. Just trying to make you aware that some relatively simple seeming tasks can become extremely complex. Knowing this as you go into the project might keep you from yanking out your hair and running naked through the streets, gibbering like you've just had a heart-to-heart chat with, while staring deeply into the eyes of, Cthulhu -- and several of his nearest and dearest. All at once.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

The www.w3schools.com website might be helpful. It introduces things in nice bitesize chunks rather than blinding you with science. Plus it has the benefit of interactive "Try it Yourself" examples.

Thanks, jackie! I will bookmark that site. Lots to delve into there!

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by theducks

IMHO
Try Sigil, it will make things easier (in most cases)
Get a few sample EPUB and reverse engineer them (again, Sigil has a right click help GoTo Link or Style Finds the (first defined) selected CSS selector.

Note: the first I have see a few CSS the slam load a few basic parameters, then come along and add a few more (this is valid, just a PITA to debug)
Calibre ebook-viewer and Sigil (even Firefox) has a HTML 'Inspector' built in). Right click. One of the panels will show 'computed values' (after all the inheritance)

Thanks, ducks! I am definitely in that reverse engineering phase. I haven't tried Sigil yet. Will try to inspect in calibre's viewer. That could save some back-and-forth.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by Sabardeyn

Something to keep in mind, and which you'll see stated in many forms throughout ebook crafting forums, is that there is no perfect or universal way to create an ebook that all hardware and software readers/viewers/devices can use.

We're in the middle of the ebook version of the "Browser Wars" of the 1990's. Where everyone is claiming compliance with a standard, but they're not actually 100% compliant. Or they've added a "feature" with better capabilities so they don't see the need to support the standard implementation of the feature. Of course, no one else can get that feature to work properly, so any 3rd party ebooks fail.

Despite the above, I'm not attempting to warn you off. Just trying to make you aware that some relatively simple seeming tasks can become extremely complex. Knowing this as you go into the project might keep you from yanking out your hair and running naked through the streets, gibbering like you've just had a heart-to-heart chat with, while staring deeply into the eyes of, Cthulhu -- and several of his nearest and dearest. All at once.

Thanks S! Yes, it's clear even to a beginner like me that there's more than one way to accomplish the simplest of tasks (italicizing a word, for example). Fortunately I'm just doing this for fun and have the luxury of proceeding at my own pace, so no bald horror-show streaking for me!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

Thanks, ducks! I am definitely in that reverse engineering phase. I haven't tried Sigil yet. Will try to inspect in calibre's viewer. That could save some back-and-forth.

If you use the Open with plugin you can open the epub in Sigil directly from calibre. Do your work close Sigil and be back where you started in calibre

Good luck.

[Agama]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

I have absolutely no experience with HTML. Can anyone recommend a concise manual or guide that I could read to get started? An included list of HTML tags usable in caliber would be valuable.

You need to use those tags and style elements which are supported by ePub readers generally, rather than just by calibre. The ePub forum of MobileRead is full of helpful information.

You should also note that ePub uses XHTML rather than HTML. There's not a lot of difference but XHTML is more pedantic and some readers will fail to render files which have invalid XHTML in them. (See http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_xhtml.asp)