my mobi output for kindle

[TenaciousBadger]

hello all,

in preparation for my K3, i've tried to convert some of my books to MOBI using Calibre, knowing that it is a file-type supported by the Kindle software. as a long-time reader of ebooks i've grown some (annoying) habits when it comes to how my ebooks have to look, e.g spacing between paragraphs, and most importantly some empty lines within a chapter.
my big problem is that my conversions kill any such modification that i add to my input file (which is an already edited Open Office file). and i haven't really had any experience with to-MOBI conversions, i admit.
here's an example of one such MOBI from an .odt that already has spacing and formatting added to it.


my cry for help involves two things:
- some space between the paragraphs -- eventually i solved this one by tinkering with "line height" in "Look and Feel"
- AND i'd love for that blank line not to disappear, if possible.

thanks a lot and sorry if it's the 754th question on the matter
-------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE: 2 days later and i have discovered the wonders of Mobipocket Creator where all formatting is kept. yay!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by TenaciousBadger

my cry for help involves two things:
- some space between the paragraphs -- eventually i solved this one by tinkering with "line height" in "Look and Feel"
- AND i'd love for that blank line not to disappear, if possible.

thanks a lot and sorry if it's the 754th question on the matter

Have you tried the Insert blank line feature under Conversion - Look & Feel?

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Have you tried the Insert blank line feature under Conversion - Look & Feel?

thanks for your answer and yep i have already tried that but without success.
i've come up with a mini-solution to keep my empty line from being eaten up during the conversion process:

1. i've replaced the empty lines with a character, a star (*). and thank god for Oo and it's regular expressions (and also thank god for friends )

2. changed the font color for that star to white so it doesn't show. and it worked, it's stayed invisible in the conversion.

so yey!
now all i have left to do is hope that my specs work for the K3 screen and they won't look weird so that i would have to change everything

[JMikeD]

I normally set extra spacing between paragraphs (as well as adding paragraph indents) when editing using OO, and it shows up on the mobi files I send to the Kindle.

Or am I not understanding what you are trying to do?

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by JMikeD

I normally set extra spacing between paragraphs (as well as adding paragraph indents) when editing using OO, and it shows up on the mobi files I send to the Kindle.

Or am I not understanding what you are trying to do?

it's exactly that. but whatever i do in Oo just doesn't survive the conversion. it's back to zero paragraph spacing unless i change the "line height".

the indentation and italics are preserved. so is the TOC and headings (thank god!).

but i still haven't figured out a better way to preserve that pov break (the empty line)

oh well, it's ok for now. all i can do is wait for the mothership to finally beam the kindle to see if the specs are ok.

thanks

[theducks]

Originally Posted by TenaciousBadger

it's exactly that. but whatever i do in Oo just doesn't survive the conversion. it's back to zero paragraph spacing unless i change the "line height".

the indentation and italics are preserved. so is the TOC and headings (thank god!).

but i still haven't figured out a better way to preserve that pov break (the empty line)

oh well, it's ok for now. all i can do is wait for the mothership to finally beam the kindle to see if the specs are ok.

thanks

Set the top and bottom margins to something like: 0.5em
That gives 1em (.5 bottom+.5 top) between normal paragraphs, while keeping lines closer together

AFAIK you need to locate the style name used in the stylesheet and edit (Sigil is great for this )

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by TenaciousBadger

1. i've replaced the empty lines with a character, a star (*). and thank god for Oo and it's regular expressions (and also thank god for friends )

2. changed the font color for that star to white so it doesn't show. and it worked, it's stayed invisible in the conversion.

Nice workable solution.

I see many programs resort to non-breaking spaces, something like this:

<p>&nbsp;</p>

To maintain spaces between paragraphs.

[TenaciousBadger]

omg, just tried the wikipedia site provided by dwanthny (with the ctrl+shift+space for Oo) and one of the world's great mysteries has been solved: the grey space!!!!!!!!

for those who have been doing some editing in Oo, you'll know what i'm talking about. i've seen that little bugger in so many documents but i never knew where it had come from or what its role was!

now i know, much appreciated, mate!

theducks, i'll be sure to try your solution as well. and i've been dancing round Sigil for a while now. eventually he and i will have to get acquainted!