Adding spaces after images and between paragraphs

[awcross]

Hi all,

Sorry if this has already been asked and answered; I wasn't able to find it!

I am trying to add spaces after images and between paragraphs. I have tried to add manually in epub view, but it doesn't translate when opening anywhere other than Sigil. I have also tried adding it in the code view, knowing theoretically that it should be:

<p><br/></p>

but when I open the .epub anywhere else (reader, ADE) the spaces using that <p><br/></p> do not show up (i.e. the text is still directly below whatever I was trying to add space between). They do show up when I just use <br/>, but then of course it fails validation...and the spaces are removed again then I add the required <p></p>. I can't remember having this problem before!

[Turtle91]

Hi Awcross, welcome to MR!

First off, I wouldn't use fake spaces like that to create spacing between paragraphs and images, I would use margins and CSS stylesheets. Some devices intentionally ignore those empty paragraphs.

For example:

CSS:
div.image  {margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em}

HTML:
<div class="image"><img alt="" src="../Images/test.jpg" /></div>

You can do the same thing for special paragraph spacing - like section breaks or scene changes. I would NOT do this for every paragraph in the book...let the user set their own paragraph spacing with their device settings.

CSS:
p.SceneBreak {margin-top:2em; text-indent:0}

HTML:
<p>normal paragraph</p>
<p>normal paragraph</p>
<p>normal paragraph</p>
<p class="SceneBreak">First paragraph in new scene</p>
<p>normal paragraph</p>
<p>normal paragraph</p>

Cheers,

[JSWolf]

I would not add a full line between paragraphs. It looks awful.

I've seen some ePub use the following...

p {
margin-top: .3em
}

That give a little space, but not too much to be annoying. When you have a full line, it distracts when your eyes hit that full space.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would not add a full line between paragraphs. It looks awful.

I've seen some ePub use the following...

p {
margin-top: .3em
}

That give a little space, but not too much to be annoying. When you have a full line, it distracts when your eyes hit that full space.

Yes, my preference too is for a paragraph spacing of 0.2 or 0.3em. Gives a noticeable break, but not an annoying space. At the end of the day, though, these things do come down to personal preference, so I'm not suggesting that anyone else should share my preference .

[awcross]

Thanks!! I'm going to try this today. I'm definitely not putting extra spaces between paragraphs except for some back matter info. I't more o put some space after image headings.

Will let you know how it turns out!

[awcross]

All worked beautifully! Thank you so much!! <3

[Notjohn]

I prefer to put the images in their own section or file, to lessen the likelihood that image and caption will appear on different pages.

I use 0.25 em bottom margin for images, 1 em for captions (for occasions when I violate the above principle).

[PeterT]

You might like to look at Pablo's Guide to ePub creation. See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh....php?p=1503619