ePub with bad margins

dvd8n · 08-22-2011, 09:33 AM

I converted a number of books using Sigil from HTML to epub.

One has been giving me issues.

It displays fine in Sigil (and Calibre and EPUBReader) but when it displays on my PRS-650 it has margins about an inch wide on each side with only about an inch of text in a column down the middle of the screen.

Any idea how I can fix this? Or where I should look for the problem?

Cheers, David

cuthbert19 · 08-22-2011, 09:43 AM

Code view -> look for the paragraph and/or the <body> class in the xhtml file(s), then look for the class definition in the CSS; see there if there something wrong in the

Code:

margin-

variable definitions.

If you can't spot the problem on your own, post here the relevant part of the xhtml/css files/definitions.

BTW: this is actually not very Sigil- concerning ...

theducks · 08-22-2011, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvd8n

I converted a number of books using Sigil from HTML to epub.

One has been giving me issues.

It displays fine in Sigil (and Calibre and EPUBReader) but when it displays on my PRS-650 it has margins about an inch wide on each side with only about an inch of text in a column down the middle of the screen.

Any idea how I can fix this? Or where I should look for the problem?

Cheers, David

Start with the stylesheet.

You may have margins specified in inches (or other large fixed units)

Note that the margins may also be compounding.
You may have any of these: a Page margin, Body margin, a Div margin, a Paragraph margin. They nest

Then there are Blockquotes

that step in. they can be nested.

dvd8n · 08-22-2011, 10:39 AM

THis is the data at the top of all the sectionxxxx.html files:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!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>
<meta content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)" name="GENERATOR" />
<meta content="0;0" name="CREATED" />
<meta content="20100805;22515900" name="CHANGED" />
<style type="text/css">
/*<![CDATA[*/


h3.sgc-3 {text-align: left}
h2.sgc-2 {text-align: center}
h1.sgc-1 {text-align: center}
/*]]>*/
</style>
</head>

<body dir="ltr" style="" xml:lang="en-US" xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace">
<h3 class="western sgc-3" id="heading_id_4" style="text-align: center;">Chapter One</h3>

<p>In the dark a child was crying.</p>

It has a margin setting but surely it's commented out?

I can't find a file with css in it.

theducks · 08-22-2011, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvd8n

THis is the data at the top of all the sectionxxxx.html files:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!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>
<meta content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)" name="GENERATOR" />
<meta content="0;0" name="CREATED" />
<meta content="20100805;22515900" name="CHANGED" />
<style type="text/css">
/*<![CDATA[*/


h3.sgc-3 {text-align: left}
h2.sgc-2 {text-align: center}
h1.sgc-1 {text-align: center}
/*]]>*/
</style>
</head>

<body dir="ltr" style="" xml:lang="en-US" xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace">
<h3 class="western sgc-3" id="heading_id_4" style="text-align: center;">Chapter One</h3>

<p>In the dark a child was crying.</p>

It has a margin setting but surely it's commented out?

I can't find a file with css in it.

No CSS, commenting out inline styles = device Defaults

(Never trust them to do it your way

)

dvd8n · 08-22-2011, 10:49 AM

You think the device is defaulting rather than ignoring the commenting?

Whichever it is, it's poor.

Jellby · 08-22-2011, 11:07 AM

I'm not sure it's commented out. It's between HTML comments (), but it's CSS code after all, and in CSS code comments should be between /* */.

dvd8n · 08-22-2011, 11:14 AM

Doesn't it have both?

pietvo · 08-22-2011, 12:58 PM

It is not commented out. The CSS in in a CDATA section so the <!-- is not an HTML comment but just those 4 characters (having no meaning in CSS).

dvd8n · 08-22-2011, 01:15 PM

I'm getting a hint as to why it displays differently in different circumstances ...............

So what should I do? Get rid of all the confusing comments and set the margin to 0?

theducks · 08-22-2011, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvd8n

You think the device is defaulting rather than ignoring the commenting?

Whichever it is, it's poor.

HTML renders in the VIEWER's defaults in absence of a explicit style declaration.
If your commented out styles, was effctive, your Browser supplies the defaults .
See
http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/sample.html

dvd8n · 08-22-2011, 01:39 PM

I really meant that it's choice of defaults was poor

Toxaris · 08-22-2011, 01:43 PM

Also, margins in cm? That is a road to disaster. If you want to use openoffice, there are some plugins who can create reasonable ePUB's I believe.

dvd8n · 08-22-2011, 01:54 PM

This stuff was all in when I got the original HTML. I don't necessarily want any of it, and OpenOffice wasn't my choice. I just want to read the book

And I understand it's not Sigil's fault too - I just used this excellent tool to make the epub from the html.

Toxaris · 08-22-2011, 03:06 PM

Change everything in the internal stylesheet from cm to something else, e.g. pt. Margins of 5pt would be acceptable usually.

08-22-2011, 09:33 AM	#1
dvd8n Connoisseur Posts: 75 Karma: 77598 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650, Hanvon h516, Kobo Aura HD	ePub with bad margins I converted a number of books using Sigil from HTML to epub. One has been giving me issues. It displays fine in Sigil (and Calibre and EPUBReader) but when it displays on my PRS-650 it has margins about an inch wide on each side with only about an inch of text in a column down the middle of the screen. Any idea how I can fix this? Or where I should look for the problem? Cheers, David

08-22-2011, 09:43 AM	#2
cuthbert19 Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 1916 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Cybook Opus	Code view -> look for the paragraph and/or the <body> class in the xhtml file(s), then look for the class definition in the CSS; see there if there something wrong in the Code: margin- variable definitions. If you can't spot the problem on your own, post here the relevant part of the xhtml/css files/definitions. BTW: this is actually not very Sigil- concerning ...

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08-22-2011, 10:39 AM	#4
dvd8n Connoisseur Posts: 75 Karma: 77598 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650, Hanvon h516, Kobo Aura HD	THis is the data at the top of all the sectionxxxx.html files: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?> <!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> <meta content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)" name="GENERATOR" /> <meta content="0;0" name="CREATED" /> <meta content="20100805;22515900" name="CHANGED" /> <style type="text/css"> /<![CDATA[/ <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } H1 { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } H1.western { font-family: "Arial", sans-serif; font-size: 16pt } H1.cjk { font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 16pt } H1.ctl { font-family: "Tahoma"; font-size: 16pt } H2 { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } H2.western { font-family: "Arial", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic } H2.cjk { font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic } H2.ctl { font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic } H3 { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } H3.western { font-family: "Arial", sans-serif } --> h3.sgc-3 {text-align: left} h2.sgc-2 {text-align: center} h1.sgc-1 {text-align: center} /]]>/ </style> </head> <body dir="ltr" style="" xml:lang="en-US" xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"> <h3 class="western sgc-3" id="heading_id_4" style="text-align: center;">Chapter One</h3> <p>In the dark a child was crying.</p> It has a margin setting but surely it's commented out? I can't find a file with css in it.

08-22-2011, 10:49 AM	#6
dvd8n Connoisseur Posts: 75 Karma: 77598 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650, Hanvon h516, Kobo Aura HD	You think the device is defaulting rather than ignoring the commenting? Whichever it is, it's poor.

08-22-2011, 11:07 AM	#7
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,543 Karma: 19001583 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	I'm not sure it's commented out. It's between HTML comments (<!-- -->), but it's CSS code after all, and in CSS code comments should be between /* */.

08-22-2011, 11:14 AM	#8
dvd8n Connoisseur Posts: 75 Karma: 77598 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650, Hanvon h516, Kobo Aura HD	Doesn't it have both?

08-22-2011, 12:58 PM	#9
pietvo Reader Posts: 520 Karma: 24612 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Utrecht, NL Device: Kobo Aura 2, iPhone, iPad	It is not commented out. The CSS in in a CDATA section so the <!-- is not an HTML comment but just those 4 characters (having no meaning in CSS).

08-22-2011, 01:15 PM	#10
dvd8n Connoisseur Posts: 75 Karma: 77598 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650, Hanvon h516, Kobo Aura HD	I'm getting a hint as to why it displays differently in different circumstances ............... So what should I do? Get rid of all the confusing comments and set the margin to 0?

08-22-2011, 01:39 PM	#12
dvd8n Connoisseur Posts: 75 Karma: 77598 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650, Hanvon h516, Kobo Aura HD	I really meant that it's choice of defaults was poor

08-22-2011, 01:43 PM	#13
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Also, margins in cm? That is a road to disaster. If you want to use openoffice, there are some plugins who can create reasonable ePUB's I believe.

08-22-2011, 01:54 PM	#14
dvd8n Connoisseur Posts: 75 Karma: 77598 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Sony PRS-650, Hanvon h516, Kobo Aura HD	This stuff was all in when I got the original HTML. I don't necessarily want any of it, and OpenOffice wasn't my choice. I just want to read the book And I understand it's not Sigil's fault too - I just used this excellent tool to make the epub from the html.

08-22-2011, 03:06 PM	#15
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Change everything in the internal stylesheet from cm to something else, e.g. pt. Margins of 5pt would be acceptable usually.

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