How to remove text justification?

[VirgoGirl]

Hi!

I like to remove all the text justification from my epubs - personal preference - and have been using Sigil to edit the CSS. After a quick view through the Calibre online User Manual, it said that the newest version of Calibre can do it under "Look & Feel> Miscellaneous" options. So I upgraded, but I can't find the option to remove all the justification. I see "text justification", but under the pull down menu is "Original, "left align", and "justify text". This is a screen shot of 1.27's "Look & Feel" screen:

(if that is too small, use this link for a bigger image: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...pse11e15f7.jpg)

This is what the online user manual says:

Miscellaneous

There are a few more options in this section.

No text justification
Normally, if the output format supports it, calibre will force the output ebook to have justified text (i.e., a smooth right margin). This option will turn off this behavior, in which case whatever justification is specified in the input document will be used instead.

Linearize tables
Some badly designed documents use tables to control the layout of text on the page. When converted these documents often have text that runs off the page and other artifacts. This option will extract the content from the tables and present it in a linear fashion. Note that this option linearizes all tables, so only use it if you are sure the input document does not use tables for legitimate purposes, like presenting tabular information.

Transliterate unicode characters
Transliterate unicode characters to an ASCII representation. Use with care because this will replace unicode characters with ASCII. For instance it will replace “Михаил Горбачёв” with “Mikhail Gorbachiov”. Also, note that in cases where there are multiple representations of a character (characters shared by Chinese and Japanese for instance) the representation used by the largest number of people will be used (Chinese in the previous example). This option is mainly useful if you are going to view the ebook on a device that does not have support for unicode.

Input character encoding
Older documents sometimes don’t specify their character encoding. When converted, this can result in non-English characters or special characters like smart quotes being corrupted. calibre tries to auto-detect the character encoding of the source document, but it does not’ always succeed. You can force it to assume a particular character encoding by using this setting. cp1252 is a common encoding for documents produced using windows software. You should also read How do I convert my file containing non-English characters, or smart quotes? for more on encoding issues.

I'm kinda frustrated as this was the only reason I updated the program, 0.9.33 was working just fine for me. Am I missing something?

[kristalana]

You want "left align" under the text justification pull-down.

[theducks]

Kristalana hit the nail on the head.

'No' justification would be raggedy on both edges with no centering to boot.
So unless you write in one of those RTL written languages, Left is what you want

[VirgoGirl]

Hi, thanks for the replies!

Originally Posted by kristalana

You want "left align" under the text justification pull-down.

If I use left align, it locks it into the left justification, which means I can't then use the justification mode on my Kobo whenever I feel like the justification is necessary.

Originally Posted by theducks

'No' justification would be raggedy on both edges with no centering to boot.

When I remove all the justification in Sigil, it doesn't make the left side ragged, it has a smooth left side and a jagged right side.

I want to be able to remove all the justification as it converts, not afterward with Calibre or Sigil.

Thanks again for the replies!

[VirgoGirl]

I hate the word "justification".

[jackie_w]

There is no perfect automated solution for what you want. You can use a calibre conversion to remove all text-align css entries by entering text-align in the Convert - Look&Feel - Filter Style - Other CSS Properties box, but there will be collateral damage of all centre- and right-alignment disappearing as well. The only way to remove selectively is the way you've been doing it.

[ShellShock]

I think it could be automated to remove all "text-align: left" and "text-align: right" (so centering would still work) but I don't know how to do that with Calibre.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by VirgoGirl

Hi, thanks for the replies!


If I use left align, it locks it into the left justification, which means I can't then use the justification mode on my Kobo whenever I feel like the justification is necessary.



When I remove all the justification in Sigil, it doesn't make the left side ragged, it has a smooth left side and a jagged right side.

I want to be able to remove all the justification as it converts, not afterward with Calibre or Sigil.

Thanks again for the replies!

Sorry, but the Kobo setting appears to be broken.

The normal for browsers is to have a system default for ALL settings so if there is not an explicit call, the default is what you see (Left align is the common default: eg Sigil and Calibre).
The exact value of those is at the manufacturers whim .

Devices tend to offer 2 settings:
1) Use Our (user) settings
2) Use the books/publishers settings (system set defaults prevails if not set)

You are hoping/expecting to be able to use the Publishers CSS (option 2) and still be able to pick and choose which will be used at the device.
Hand editing the CSS is what I do for all my EPUB that I read on my Pocket Pro because calibre does not offer: Indent AND paragraph spacing together. I have a few Sigil-clips set up with MY values.

I can usually bang out the touchup-edit in a few minutes, I also mark custom columns in Calibre, the date it has been done and with the validate status (No: when a quickie fix won't work)

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by theducks

Sorry, but the Kobo setting appears to be broken.

The normal for browsers is to have a system default for ALL settings so if there is not an explicit call, the default is what you see (Left align is the common default: eg Sigil and Calibre).
The exact value of those is at the manufacturers whim .

Devices tend to offer 2 settings:
1) Use Our (user) settings
2) Use the books/publishers settings (system set defaults prevails if not set)

You are hoping/expecting to be able to use the Publishers CSS (option 2) and still be able to pick and choose which will be used at the device.
Hand editing the CSS is what I do for all my EPUB that I read on my Pocket Pro because calibre does not offer: Indent AND paragraph spacing together. I have a few Sigil-clips set up with MY values.

I can usually bang out the touchup-edit in a few minutes, I also mark custom columns in Calibre, the date it has been done and with the validate status (No: when a quickie fix won't work)

The Kobo devices usually do not override styles that are in the book. For justification, the device has settings that can be left or right. But, if the styles used in the book set the justification, they are not overridden. To me this is the right way to do it. It means the author/publisher can style sections of the book to look different if needed.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The Kobo devices usually do not override styles that are in the book. For justification, the device has settings that can be left or right. But, if the styles used in the book set the justification, they are not overridden. To me this is the right way to do it. It means the author/publisher can style sections of the book to look different if needed.

I agree
Use one or the other.
Expecting a mix of both to work across devices to work is iffy.

I sure don't get even that much control. Font size: 1-6 and it rotates (landscape) to show the last few

[VirgoGirl]

Good morning!

I have a bad cold, so bear with me - if I come across in a short tempered manner, I don't mean to, I just have a horrible chest cold and 4 kids I have to continue to entertain as it's March Break. I feel like I want to throw a tantrum like a 2 year old then go to bed for a week.

I'm not sure the Kobo is *broken* per say, I think it just defaults to left align if no text align is expressly demanded, which IMHO as a user, is exactly the way it should work.

When I remove the justification through Sigil, I remove "text-align: justify;" so it doesn't spread across the page - I hate it when the first line of a paragraph has 4 words that are stretched across the screen with gaping holes in between, it bugs the hell out of me. I don't remove "text-align: center;", but if there is a left or right justification, I will look for it in the text and see if it is necessary to the flow of the text.

When I add a book after removing justification onto the Kobo and start reading it, the left side is smooth and the right side is jagged. SOMETIMES, though, I need to turn the justification back on if there is an issue with pages ending too far up the screen that are not the ends of chapters. That rarely happens, and sometimes it's just a whim to turn it back on.

If I remember correctly (and it's quite possible I don't as I have just drank a medium black coffee on an empty stomach, still slightly content from last night's Tylenol 1's, so who knows what I think is true), the Kobo's justification options are: off, left, justified (which is where the sentences go from one side of the screen to the other), and right (maybe?).

Okay, so what I WANT to do is to remove - as I'm processing the ebook - the command "text-align: justify" in the CSS so I don't have to go into Sigil and remove it later. A week ago I discovered, after years of having Calibre, that I could remove embedded fonts while processing, I had been using Sigil to do that. Now it's much easier.

If I can be a 2 year old for a moment, I'm annoyed that I cannot remove the justification thru Calibre as the User Manual implied I could. *stamp foot* There, done now.

Thanks again for your replies, it's nice to talk to talk to people who aren't asking me for cookies or a ride to their friends' houses.

[theducks]

You want: (set in look and feel section of Conversions)

text-align: left (other choices are original and the hated justify)
(I assume this leaves any text-align: center intact)

text-align has 4 possible values: Left, Right, Center, Justify <the one you hate
( inherit is a legal 5th value)

[VirgoGirl]

Originally Posted by theducks

You want: (set in look and feel section of Conversions)

text-align: left (other choices are original and the hated justify)
(I assume this leaves any text-align: center intact)

text-align has 4 possible values: Left, Right, Center, Justify <the one you hate
( inherit is a legal 5th value)

If I use the left align, though, it locks it into left justification and I can't use the justified setting on the Kobo.

I know, I know, I'm impossible to please.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by VirgoGirl

If I use the left align, though, it locks it into left justification and I can't use the justified setting on the Kobo.

I know, I know, I'm impossible to please.

It looks like you will simply have to use calibre's Edit Book feature and remove the items from the CSS as you previously did with Sigil.

Most ereading software will allow you, even if left justification is specified, to change the book to full justification in the settings. Since your Kobo is not one of these, manually editing the CSS is currently your only option.