vertical-align: super

[Francois_C]

Thanks again for this editor.

I would ask for one minor feature, which would be very useful for me.

I generally build my ebooks with Amanuensis (because of the better handling of images), but Argonite does not seem to keep maintaining this excellent software, and the sources are unfortunately unavailable, as far as I know.

When a string is written as an exponent, Amanuensis translates it in the style sheet with:
vertical-align: top
which is not properly displayed on my Kobos. So I must replace all occurrences (seldom more than 3 if the original ODT is properly written, but sometimes more) with:
vertical-align: super

Maybe it could be added to the smarten punctuation option, or, if "vertical-align: super" works with all e-readers, automatically converted when loading the epub?

Of course, modifying only one word in Amanuensis sources would fix the issue, but we have not these sources...

Thanks.

[eschwartz]

This isn't punctuation, the goal of Smarten Punctuation is not to fix general mistakes that people may make, but rather to convert punctuation into a more typographically correct form.

You can however do a Search and Replace.

[drjenkins]

I have seen multiple e-books with "vertical-align: sup;" so I created a saved search to replace "vertical-align: sup;" with "vertical-align: super;". You might consider doing the same with "vertical-align: top;".

Contrary to my initial expectation I have not yet seen a case where "vertical-align: sup;" was meant to be "vertical-align: sub;".

[DigitEditLab]

My advice is:

vertical-align:super;
line-height:0;
font-size:x-small;

It should improve the rendering. Do you approve?

[eschwartz]

Please don't arbitrarily set small fonts in the CSS, leave that to the ereader settings. They exist for a reason, stop being mean and denying them the ability to do their job properly.

[Arios]

@ DigitEditLab

Nice codes and they seem to work well, but I used to use them:

sup {
  font-size: 0.55em;
  vertical-align: 0.6em;
  line-height: 0.5em;
}

And Francois_C you're right the Kobo don't render <sup> properly (particularly Mlle). If you try either of these codes and they work well, let us know.

[Francois_C]

Thanks everybody.
I'll try your suggestions. I already have a saved search for this, but I seldom use it, because when I type "v" in the search box, the first available option is "vertical-align:top", and "vertical-align:super" in the replace box.
Of course, I understood it was not punctuation, as I use very often the "smarten punctuation" command: punctuation conventions are very complicated in French (always non-breakable spaces with "double" punctuation marks (;:?!,«»), and many ebook makers don't comply with them.
I don't agree with arbitrarily setting fonts size either, for the same reasons as you, eschwartz (though I'm rather a "rational pessimist").
Maybe add a "fix CSS for Kobo" option?
BTW, I also noticed in some ebooks strange errors like 1,5em instead of 1.5em. Maybe the result of a localization madness which often happens in free software.
For instance, Gimp can no longer work properly with UFRaw when it is set to French (probably arithmetical dots converted to commas somewhere Another example of this madness: with the last version of MKVMerge GUI, when I want to set a stream language to French, the dropdown menu will drop up and open on zza (Zaza; Dimil;..., and (as you cannot type the first letters) I must laboriously navigate through hundreds of local languages before I can reach French. In Windows versions, common languages are on top, but I suppose this was considered imperialist...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DigitEditLab

My advice is:

vertical-align:super;
line-height:0;
font-size:x-small;

It should improve the rendering. Do you approve?

Depends what you're using it for. If it's a superscript such as a "2" for "squared", it may be reasonable enough, but if it's for a footnote hyperlink, then no, an "x-small" hyperlink will be too small to activate easily on many reading devices.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Francois_C

I don't agree with arbitrarily setting fonts size either, for the same reasons as you, eschwartz (though I'm rather a "rational pessimist").
Maybe add a "fix CSS for Kobo" option?

You should see our thread (in sig).

Re: Fix CSS for Kobo -- perhaps you could write or modify plugin to do this. Ideally with a number of fixes that makes a plugin worthwhile to make.

[DigitEditLab]

@HarryT:
You're right. My code may entail some problem in (smaller) footnotes. I am currently assessing the version "font-size:80%;", which could make it.

@all:
I'm not convinced that we should leave the font sizing to the reader. Note that the "x-small" value doesn't mean "small" but "smaller" than the font size in the parent element.

@Francois_C:
The punctuation in French is perfectly processed thanks to a non-breakable space added with a safe and effective regex query, instead of any "smarten punctuation".
Bon courage, collègue !

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DigitEditLab

@all:
I'm not convinced that we should leave the font sizing to the reader. Note that the "x-small" value doesn't mean "small" but "smaller" than the font size in the parent element.

x-small means way too small. Given that newer Readers are high resolution, x-small for a link is just ridiculously small. I actually prefer something like[*] in the same size font or slightly smaller for the link.

[Francois_C]

Originally Posted by DigitEditLab

@Francois_C:
The punctuation in French is perfectly processed thanks to a non-breakable space added with a safe and effective regex query, instead of any "smarten punctuation".
Bon courage, collègue !

"Smarten punctuation" generally works well for me. On LibreOffice, I use this (rather empirically written but generally working – to add non breakable spaces – except for opening lower double quotes that must be treated separately):
([a-z0-9àâäéèêëíìîïóòôöùúÛüÿyç…;!?»”"\)])([;:?!»])
Replace with:
$1(paste non breakable space here)$2
and:
([a-z0-9àâäéèêëíìîïóòôöùúÛüÿyç…;!?»”"\)]) ([;:?!»])
$1(paste non breakable space here)$2
Which regex are you using?