Justified paragraph becomes unjustified

camdenmaine · 02-17-2021, 04:58 PM

This year I've been using Calibre as a conversion engine to take in a word file and put out epub. I then use Sigil to tweak. Recently I've noticed some justified paragraphs that mid-way through become left aligned, then sometimes even switching back to justifed. So the middle of a paragraph, for example, might be left aligned.
When I look at the code I see something like this:

<p>It is fairly apparent that high performing organizations have favorable <span class="calibre4">cultural profiles. </span> In addition . . .

Where calibre4 is defined as white space: pre-wrap; and pre-wrap messes up justification.

The odd thing is that there is nothing in the word document to occasion any special treatment of those two words. They are just in the middle of a paragraph.

One of my documents has hundreds of these seemingly random spans. I redefined the class as white space: normal; and everything went back to proper justification. Any idea what might be going on? Anyway, if you do conversion with Calibre, keep an eye on paragraph justification.

JSWolf · 02-17-2021, 05:26 PM

The solution is to install Diaps Editing Toolbag editor plugin and use that to remove all of those spans. It's better to get rid of the spans then it is to change the CSS and leave them. Plus, the code is a lot neater. And it reduces the size of the eBook.

jhowell · 02-17-2021, 06:08 PM

In HTML multiple white space characters (spaces, tabs, etc.) are rendered as a single space, but in Word multiple white space characters are meant to all be significant.

I took a look at the code calibre uses to convert DOCX format and it appears that it uses white-space:pre-wrap in places where the Word document contains text that has extra white space.

In your case the sentence has two spaces after the period. The extra markup is being generated to assure that both spaces are rendered in the resulting EPUB.

BetterRed · 02-18-2021, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhowell

In HTML multiple white space characters (spaces, tabs, etc.) are rendered as a single space, but in Word multiple white space characters are meant to all be significant.

I took a look at the code calibre uses to convert DOCX format and it appears that it uses white-space:pre-wrap in places where the Word document contains text that has extra white space.

In your case the sentence has two spaces after the period. The extra markup is being generated to assure that both spaces are rendered in the resulting EPUB.

↑ ↑ ↑ ✔

I would fix it in the DOCX.

BR

JSWolf · 02-18-2021, 07:46 AM

So the old fashioned two spaces after a period is no longer valid.

theducks · 02-18-2021, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So the old fashioned two spaces after a period is no longer valid.

I think that practice was developed FOR Mono spaced fonts (rickety old typewriters

) back in the darker ages. AFAIK HTML never rendered duplicate spaces, interpreting white space as a CODE readability effect.

BetterRed · 02-18-2021, 05:08 PM

Pretty sure there are threads in the ePub and/or Workshop forums about getting a wider space between sentences.

There is a thinspace character, but, afaik, there's no wide/thick/fatspace character - why's that I've often wondered?

BR

theducks · 02-18-2021, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Pretty sure there are threads in the ePub and/or Workshop forums about getting a wider space between sentences.

There is a thinspace character, but, afaik, there's no wide/thick/fatspace character - why's that I've often wondered?

BR

There are 4 spaces on the editors character tool (top line)
I think emsp is your fat space

BetterRed · 02-18-2021, 10:48 PM

Doh - there must have been a time when I knew that, for I just discovered I already have a custom shortcut for it in Word

BR

Quoth · 02-19-2021, 11:01 AM

I search for multiple spaces (replace with one), lines starting or ending in space (delete space) and empty lines (delete) all as the LAST thing after all other edits. Then I save as in native and then docx for Calibre.

I only use non-standard width spaces for paper versions (like between a number and the unit abbreviation). I'd rarely use a non breaking space (either ctrl or alt space, I forget). I do sometimes have an non-paragraph return, but NEVER EVER on fully justified text.

02-17-2021, 04:58 PM	#1
camdenmaine Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: iPad, Kidle	Justified paragraph becomes unjustified This year I've been using Calibre as a conversion engine to take in a word file and put out epub. I then use Sigil to tweak. Recently I've noticed some justified paragraphs that mid-way through become left aligned, then sometimes even switching back to justifed. So the middle of a paragraph, for example, might be left aligned. When I look at the code I see something like this: <p>It is fairly apparent that high performing organizations have favorable <span class="calibre4">cultural profiles. </span> In addition . . . Where calibre4 is defined as white space: pre-wrap; and pre-wrap messes up justification. The odd thing is that there is nothing in the word document to occasion any special treatment of those two words. They are just in the middle of a paragraph. One of my documents has hundreds of these seemingly random spans. I redefined the class as white space: normal; and everything went back to proper justification. Any idea what might be going on? Anyway, if you do conversion with Calibre, keep an eye on paragraph justification.

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02-17-2021, 05:26 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,758 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	The solution is to install Diaps Editing Toolbag editor plugin and use that to remove all of those spans. It's better to get rid of the spans then it is to change the CSS and leave them. Plus, the code is a lot neater. And it reduces the size of the eBook.

02-17-2021, 06:08 PM	#3
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,072 Karma: 91577715 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Charlottesville, VA Device: Kindles	In HTML multiple white space characters (spaces, tabs, etc.) are rendered as a single space, but in Word multiple white space characters are meant to all be significant. I took a look at the code calibre uses to convert DOCX format and it appears that it uses white-space:pre-wrap in places where the Word document contains text that has extra white space. In your case the sentence has two spaces after the period. The extra markup is being generated to assure that both spaces are rendered in the resulting EPUB.

02-18-2021, 07:46 AM	#5
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,758 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	So the old fashioned two spaces after a period is no longer valid.

02-18-2021, 05:08 PM	#7
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,725 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Pretty sure there are threads in the ePub and/or Workshop forums about getting a wider space between sentences. There is a thinspace character, but, afaik, there's no wide/thick/fatspace character - why's that I've often wondered? BR

02-18-2021, 10:48 PM	#9
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,725 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Doh - there must have been a time when I knew that, for I just discovered I already have a custom shortcut for it in Word BR

02-19-2021, 11:01 AM	#10
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,045 Karma: 105092227 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	I search for multiple spaces (replace with one), lines starting or ending in space (delete space) and empty lines (delete) all as the LAST thing after all other edits. Then I save as in native and then docx for Calibre. I only use non-standard width spaces for paper versions (like between a number and the unit abbreviation). I'd rarely use a non breaking space (either ctrl or alt space, I forget). I do sometimes have an non-paragraph return, but NEVER EVER on fully justified text.

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