First post: Problem between Words and Sigil

Ti-Ron · 03-22-2012, 09:10 AM

Hi all,
this is my first post ever on this forum. I am doing my master in publishing and electronical edition is my specialisation. I am working hard to learn everything by myself and this forum was really helpful. Thanks to all of you.

My first contact with Sigil and epub coding was with the basic tutorial on the Sigil's Wiki page. That was a good start but I had some problems with it.

Here's how it goes:
I start with my words file (.doc) and cleaned it up. Remove unecessary line jump and all the wierd stuff writers put on their manuscript. Then I save this fil in html to finally open it in Sigil. That was good for my first epub but this is a PITA with the CSS.

For an unknown reason words (I use openoffice) put all the CSS sheet in the head of my html file. This add like 470 lines of useless CSS code. This thing makes my file way too big!

To correct that I tried to jump from the .doc straight to Sigil with copy/paste my texte in the book view and then add my CSS style sheet. That's good but I lost all my characteristics. There's no more italic words or bold words in my text, I have to put them back manualy.

So my question is (sorry that was long) is there a way to keep the original formatting without haveing all those CSS codes in my head section?

*Pssst, I'm french, so sorry for the bad english!

DiapDealer · 03-22-2012, 09:21 AM

Word makes a mess of html. You can cut down on a lot of it by saving the document as Filtered Html from Word, but there's still going to be an annoying amount left. I believe there's a similar feature with OpenOffice. Look for an option called Save as HTML Without Ridiculous, Extraneous Amounts of Style Info Included.

Spoiler:

EDIT: Actually, it appears that OpenOffice (my version anyway) has no such option. There's only one Save As HTML choice.

Pablo · 03-22-2012, 09:45 AM

Here you can find a word macro that produces clean HTML code from a word document. I haven't used it myself, but I think it is worth trying.

Keroberos · 03-22-2012, 09:46 AM

You could also try the Writer2xhtml utility, I don't use Open Office so I don't know how well it works.

Ti-Ron · 03-22-2012, 09:55 AM

Wow! Thanks for the fast answers! I'll look at that!

st_albert · 03-22-2012, 10:36 AM

Writer2xhtml does a good job, and it has an epub export option that will make the epub package into the bargain. You will still need to tweak the epub with Sigil, however (IMHO).

Another OpenOffice / LibreOffice add-in is e-book Luke's writer2epub, which takes a slightly different approach to styling, but also produces a reasonable, valid epub. For production quality, you will also have to tweak it in Sigil. There's a forum for writer2epub here on MR.

Ti-Ron · 03-22-2012, 10:53 AM

I've tried both Writer2xhtml and Writer2Epub. They both do a greath job. W2xhtml have more possibilities (embed a css style sheet, zoom...) and W2Epub is more user friendly, this is just a click and save thing.

I'll do some tests with both and see how it goes!

Wow, the Sigil community is fast and full of widsom!

DaleDe · 03-22-2012, 01:38 PM

Note that you can take the output of Writer2Epub and pull the file into Sigil for further touchup and editing if you wish so I think it has the same possibilities as Writer2xhtml with less work.

DaleDe · 03-22-2012, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Word makes a mess of html. You can cut down on a lot of it by saving the document as Filtered Html from Word, but there's still going to be an annoying amount left. I believe there's a similar feature with OpenOffice. Look for an option called Save as HTML Without Ridiculous, Extraneous Amounts of Style Info Included.

Spoiler:

EDIT: Actually, it appears that OpenOffice (my version anyway) has no such option. There's only one Save As HTML choice.

Open Office does not need a filtered html save option as it does not add the same stuff that word does anyway.

Dale

DiapDealer · 03-22-2012, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Open Office does not need a filtered html save option as it does not add the same stuff that word does anyway.

Dale

That's debatable (that it doesn't need one).

Yes, it doesn't include as much stuff as Word does, but it still includes way too much style stuff IMO. I'm a minimalist. I want zero font stuff, zero language stuff. The Writer2xhtml addon gets me a lot closer, but it still needs a good notepad/regex scrubbing before it goes into Sigil. Headings, text, p-tags and bold/italic markup is all I want from a Save As Html function. The rest, I'll add myself later.

Ti-Ron · 03-23-2012, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Open Office does not need a filtered html save option as it does not add the same stuff that word does anyway.

Dale

Still add alot of stuff, way too much for me. I'M trying to create some top notch ebook without useless code in it, and OOo put a lot of them in the html file.

I did some tests yesterday and today and, seriously, Writer2ePub seems the be the best way to go (for my use anyway). I love the fact that the CCS style sheet is created apart.

Don't worry, I'm really perfectionnist, I always work back in Sigil to be sure that the file is to my standards.

Thanks to all for you help!

Montyp535 · 03-28-2012, 02:47 AM

or try "Atlantis Word processor" - it makes good epubs you can work with Sigil...

Ti-Ron · 03-28-2012, 04:11 PM

Thanks for the new option!

03-22-2012, 09:10 AM	#1
Ti-Ron Connoisseur Posts: 80 Karma: 1023042 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Touch, iPad	First post: Problem between Words and Sigil Hi all, this is my first post ever on this forum. I am doing my master in publishing and electronical edition is my specialisation. I am working hard to learn everything by myself and this forum was really helpful. Thanks to all of you. My first contact with Sigil and epub coding was with the basic tutorial on the Sigil's Wiki page. That was a good start but I had some problems with it. Here's how it goes: I start with my words file (.doc) and cleaned it up. Remove unecessary line jump and all the wierd stuff writers put on their manuscript. Then I save this fil in html to finally open it in Sigil. That was good for my first epub but this is a PITA with the CSS. For an unknown reason words (I use openoffice) put all the CSS sheet in the head of my html file. This add like 470 lines of useless CSS code. This thing makes my file way too big! To correct that I tried to jump from the .doc straight to Sigil with copy/paste my texte in the book view and then add my CSS style sheet. That's good but I lost all my characteristics. There's no more italic words or bold words in my text, I have to put them back manualy. So my question is (sorry that was long) is there a way to keep the original formatting without haveing all those CSS codes in my head section? *Pssst, I'm french, so sorry for the bad english!

03-22-2012, 09:21 AM	#2
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,352 Karma: 203720150 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Word makes a mess of html. You can cut down on a lot of it by saving the document as Filtered Html from Word, but there's still going to be an annoying amount left. I believe there's a similar feature with OpenOffice. Look for an option called Save as HTML Without Ridiculous, Extraneous Amounts of Style Info Included. Spoiler: Or something similar EDIT: Actually, it appears that OpenOffice (my version anyway) has no such option. There's only one Save As HTML choice. Last edited by DiapDealer; 03-22-2012 at 09:43 AM.

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03-22-2012, 09:45 AM	#3
Pablo Guru Posts: 972 Karma: 4999999 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Rosario, Argentina Device: SONY PRS-T2, Kindle Paperwhite 11th gen	Here you can find a word macro that produces clean HTML code from a word document. I haven't used it myself, but I think it is worth trying.

03-22-2012, 09:46 AM	#4
Keroberos Zealot Posts: 128 Karma: 238654 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Kobo Mini (4GB), Nook Classic wi-fi, iPod Touch (Bluefire Reader)	You could also try the Writer2xhtml utility, I don't use Open Office so I don't know how well it works.

03-22-2012, 09:55 AM	#5
Ti-Ron Connoisseur Posts: 80 Karma: 1023042 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Touch, iPad	Wow! Thanks for the fast answers! I'll look at that!

03-22-2012, 10:36 AM	#6
st_albert Guru Posts: 697 Karma: 150000 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: none	Writer2xhtml does a good job, and it has an epub export option that will make the epub package into the bargain. You will still need to tweak the epub with Sigil, however (IMHO). Another OpenOffice / LibreOffice add-in is e-book Luke's writer2epub, which takes a slightly different approach to styling, but also produces a reasonable, valid epub. For production quality, you will also have to tweak it in Sigil. There's a forum for writer2epub here on MR.

03-22-2012, 10:53 AM	#7
Ti-Ron Connoisseur Posts: 80 Karma: 1023042 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Touch, iPad	I've tried both Writer2xhtml and Writer2Epub. They both do a greath job. W2xhtml have more possibilities (embed a css style sheet, zoom...) and W2Epub is more user friendly, this is just a click and save thing. I'll do some tests with both and see how it goes! Wow, the Sigil community is fast and full of widsom!

03-22-2012, 01:38 PM	#8
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	Note that you can take the output of Writer2Epub and pull the file into Sigil for further touchup and editing if you wish so I think it has the same possibilities as Writer2xhtml with less work.

03-28-2012, 02:47 AM	#12
Montyp535 Zealot Posts: 141 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: MD Device: (former) Ebookwise 1150, PB 302, (now) PB 612, PB Touch, HTC DesireS	or try "Atlantis Word processor" - it makes good epubs you can work with Sigil...

03-28-2012, 04:11 PM	#13
Ti-Ron Connoisseur Posts: 80 Karma: 1023042 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Touch, iPad	Thanks for the new option!

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