Paragraph spacing not working?

wellesradio · 12-20-2020, 06:32 PM

Forgive me for being a novice at this, but I'm having an issue with paragraph indentation. I'm editing an epub file in Sigil, but when I read it in Marvin 3 changing the setting for paragraph spacing does nothing. I can change everything else in Marvin 3; text size, margin size, line spacing, indentation. But when I try to raise or lower the paragraph spacing nothing happens.

Here's the HTML (I removed all but the first couple of paragraphs):

Quote:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title></title>
</head>

<body>
<div class="s" style="text-indent: 14.15pt;">
<h3><span style="font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; text-indent: 14.15pt;">CHAPTER ONE</span><br/></h3>
</div>

<div class="calibre1">
<div class="calibre1">
<div class="s" style="text-indent: 14.15pt;">

<p>Father walked into the living room.</p>
<p>"What have you been up to?" he asked Mary who was watching television by herself.</p>

<p>"Nothing much she said," she said. "I've been waiting for cartoons to start, but there's nothing on right now."</p>

<p>"Then you'd better move over," Father said, "Football game's about to start."</p>
<p></p>

<p></p>

</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

theducks · 12-20-2020, 08:46 PM

#1) you have no stylesheet, or Margins (top, Bottom) therefore you get whatever the render engine has for <p> tags

wellesradio · 12-20-2020, 09:46 PM

Originally, the code did have a style, but it made no difference:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
  <title></title>
</head>

<body>
  <div class="s" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt;">
    <h3 class="calibre2" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold; text-indent: 14.15pt;">CHAPTER ONE</span><br/></h3>
  </div>

  <div class="calibre1">
    <div class="calibre1">
      <div class="s" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.15pt;">
        <p class="calibre2" style="margin: 1em 0px;">&nbsp;</p>

          <p class="calibre2" style="margin: 1em 0px;">Father walked into the living room.</p>

PeterT · 12-20-2020, 09:55 PM

I believe people are wondering where classes like calibre1 and calibre1 are defined. There should be a stylesheet referred to by the XHTML. See https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_howto.asp

wellesradio · 12-20-2020, 10:16 PM

To be honest, I haven't a clue. I didn't write the code, I'm just trying to edit it so that the book reads better on my device.

Thasaidon · 12-21-2020, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wellesradio

To be honest, I haven't a clue. I didn't write the code, I'm just trying to edit it so that the book reads better on my device.

In order to edit an eBook you need to have at least some knowledge of html and CSS.

There are plenty of basic tutorials on the internet. I think there are even a couple on this site. See the Wiki link below.

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EPub_Tutorial

wellesradio · 12-21-2020, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

I believe people are wondering where classes like calibre1 and calibre1 are defined. There should be a stylesheet referred to by the XHTML. See https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_howto.asp

Looking those over, they were very helpful for future reference.
I have a better idea now of how I can define certain margins, but what would when I don’t want any particular definition so that I can change that in my reader (Marvin 3)?

DNSB · 12-21-2020, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wellesradio

Looking those over, they were very helpful for future reference.
I have a better idea now of how I can define certain margins, but what would when I don’t want any particular definition so that I can change that in my reader (Marvin 3)?

Then ensure that base margins are not defined internally. Generally, I set the default margins to 0 0 0 0 and then control the left/right margins from my ereader.

OTOH, I personally found Marvin even with CSS enabled was not even near the top in displaying an epub the way the publisher intended and it's epub3 support pathetic. Admittedly this was using the free nagware version where the "basic" epub3 support is close to non-existent. Claiming epub3 support and not being able to open an epub3 nav document? And yes, epub3 ebooks without a ncx file are becoming a lot more common these days.

Turtle91 · 12-21-2020, 01:34 PM

You need to select "Publisher's Layout" in Marvin...see the instructions I left in your post in the Marvin forum.

After doing that, Marvin still allows you to change margins, font-size, etc.

Also, the others are referring to the fact that your html file is not "linked" to the css file...in Sigil simply right click (or multi-select) on the file(s) you want to link in the Book Browser section (usually on the left of the window) and select "Link Stylesheets". Without a linked stylesheet all of those class="..." tags won't reference any of the styling.

It will end up looking something like this:

Code:

<head>
  <title>Cover</title>
  <link href="../Styles/styles.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet"/>
</head>

Notjohn · 12-22-2020, 04:29 PM

You might look at my style sheet at https://notjohnkdp.blogspot.com/2013...yle-sheet.html -- free for the taking; adapt at your pleasure.

It should go in the Sigil "Styles" folder, and note Dion's pointer above. In this case you'd name the file styles.css

Note that I never use an absolute measurement such as points, but rather ems (and maybe percents; I don't remember).

un_pogaz · 12-29-2020, 05:31 AM

The <p></p> tags are not displayed because they are empty.
It might not exist that it would be the same.

Write an unbreakable space inside for "validated" this.
Search/Replace: <p></p> => <p> </p>

12-21-2020, 01:34 PM	#9
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,347 Karma: 20171571 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 15/11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	You need to select "Publisher's Layout" in Marvin...see the instructions I left in your post in the Marvin forum. After doing that, Marvin still allows you to change margins, font-size, etc. Also, the others are referring to the fact that your html file is not "linked" to the css file...in Sigil simply right click (or multi-select) on the file(s) you want to link in the Book Browser section (usually on the left of the window) and select "Link Stylesheets". Without a linked stylesheet all of those class="..." tags won't reference any of the styling. It will end up looking something like this: Code: <head> <title>Cover</title> <link href="../Styles/styles.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet"/> </head>

12-29-2020, 05:31 AM	#11
un_pogaz Chalut o/ Posts: 439 Karma: 145424 Join Date: Dec 2017 Device: Kobo	The <p></p> tags are not displayed because they are empty. It might not exist that it would be the same. Write an unbreakable space inside for "validated" this. Search/Replace: <p></p> => <p> </p> Last edited by un_pogaz; 12-29-2020 at 05:33 AM.

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12-20-2020, 08:46 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,047 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	#1) you have no stylesheet, or Margins (top, Bottom) therefore you get whatever the render engine has for <p> tags

12-20-2020, 09:55 PM	#4
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,505 Karma: 78910112 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	I believe people are wondering where classes like calibre1 and calibre1 are defined. There should be a stylesheet referred to by the XHTML. See https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_howto.asp

12-20-2020, 10:16 PM	#5
wellesradio Member Posts: 23 Karma: 13884 Join Date: Jan 2014 Device: apple ipad (3rd generation)	To be honest, I haven't a clue. I didn't write the code, I'm just trying to edit it so that the book reads better on my device.

12-22-2020, 04:29 PM	#10
Notjohn mostly an observer Posts: 1,519 Karma: 987654 Join Date: Dec 2012 Device: Kindle	You might look at my style sheet at https://notjohnkdp.blogspot.com/2013...yle-sheet.html -- free for the taking; adapt at your pleasure. It should go in the Sigil "Styles" folder, and note Dion's pointer above. In this case you'd name the file styles.css Note that I never use an absolute measurement such as points, but rather ems (and maybe percents; I don't remember).

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