How can I make my books look all the same ?

StudioNeuneu · 08-01-2023, 03:53 PM

Hello!

I want to convert all my ebooks so that they all have the same appearance (same color, same font, same indent...). But after I convert them, they don't look all the same.
How I can do?

Thanks!

Karellen · 08-01-2023, 05:20 PM

That will be too difficult to accomplish during the conversion stage. There are too many variables and differences between books. Some books might have tables, images, lists, and other books may not have them. The Conversion process simply converts, it can't redesign an entire book.

You would need to edit the css and html tags within the book to make them uniform.

Sirtel · 08-02-2023, 08:42 AM

Not possible with conversion, unless you totally strip any and all formatting from the books. As Karellen said, you'll have to manually edit the css/html of every individual book. (And yes, some of us do exactly that, to achieve what you described).

StudioNeuneu · 08-02-2023, 03:31 PM

Well, I thought we could do this with conversion. There is some options about styles and html.
I think I will stay like that so, I don't have enough knowledge about css/html.

Thanks for the infos !

DNSB · 08-02-2023, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StudioNeuneu

Well, I thought we could do this with conversion. There is some options about styles and html.
I think I will stay like that so, I don't have enough knowledge about css/html.

Thanks for the infos !

It takes a bit of practice but if you want to get into editing your ebooks, you can find quite a bit of help on MobileRead and elsewhere. If nothing else, keep a backup of the original book and you can easily revert if you accidentally mistype a regex for instance. If you use Sigil, it allows you to checkpoint your book as you are working on it, again making it easy to recover from an oopsie.

theducks · 08-02-2023, 06:19 PM

Like DNSB, I tend to use Sigil to tweak GOOD (quality) EPUB
(I Like the Calibre Editor debug for getting rid of bad code errors)

I reverse engineer EACH BOOK instead of nukeing styles.
I just select a class= on a paragraph, heading... and right click: Goto Link or style.

THEN
I have 3+ mystandard (saved)clips, the I replace the stye code between the { ... }
Indented, non-indented, chapno (chapter heads), and body (I am not selling books, so I DO set body to my prefs)
Others (usages) are usually just one of those with a minor value adjustment

Sirtel · 08-02-2023, 06:56 PM

I use the calibre editor. The things I nuke outright are embedded body font, body margins, line height, atypical body font size - those just go via the mass Find & Replace. Spaces between paragraphs (if there are any) and text indents other than 1em need editing, not just nuking. The next thing on the menu are blockquotes, poems and such; sometimes their margins need fixing. I don't much care what chapter headings look like, unless they have a huge margin/padding as large as half the page. Sometimes the TOC needs fixing too. Widows and orphans I set to 1 for my Kobos, to avoid large gaps at the bottom of the page, and I disable hyphenation.

All in all, most books take only a minute or two.

I knew nothing about css/html either when I started to fix my books; but I was just too annoyed by various things to let it rest. I couldn't enjoy reading my books unless I fixed the formatting.

DNSB · 08-02-2023, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I knew nothing about css/html either when I started to fix my books; but I was just too annoyed by various things to let it rest. I couldn't enjoy reading my books unless I fixed the formatting.

Oddly close to how I got into editing ebooks to improve my enjoyment in reading them.

nabsltd · 08-03-2023, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The things I nuke outright are embedded body font, body margins, line height, atypical body font size - those just go via the mass Find & Replace.

Sounds very familiar, although I have found that I need to actually look at the line-height values to see if I should keep them. An example is that in most readers, a larger-font for the first letter in a paragraph (initial cap) will cause the line height to expand and leave a lower margin that is too large. This can be fixed by applying line-height: 1; to the span.

But, since any value less than the actual computed line height will end up with the correct display, I have seen all values from zero to one, using both bare numbers and percentages. I couldn't come up with a regex that kept those while destroying things like line-height: 1.5;, so I fix them manually.

Sirtel · 08-03-2023, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nabsltd

Sounds very familiar, although I have found that I need to actually look at the line-height values to see if I should keep them. An example is that in most readers, a larger-font for the first letter in a paragraph (initial cap) will cause the line height to expand and leave a lower margin that is too large. This can be fixed by applying line-height: 1; to the span.

But, since any value less than the actual computed line height will end up with the correct display, I have seen all values from zero to one, using both bare numbers and percentages. I couldn't come up with a regex that kept those while destroying things like line-height: 1.5;, so I fix them manually.

Yeah, I meant line-height in the body text, not special cases. Those I leave alone.

Quoth · 08-03-2023, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nabsltd

Sounds very familiar, although I have found that I need to actually look at the line-height values to see if I should keep them. An example is that in most readers, a larger-font for the first letter in a paragraph (initial cap) will cause the line height to expand and leave a lower margin that is too large. This can be fixed by applying line-height: 1; to the span.

But, since any value less than the actual computed line height will end up with the correct display, I have seen all values from zero to one, using both bare numbers and percentages. I couldn't come up with a regex that kept those while destroying things like line-height: 1.5;, so I fix them manually.

Special initial caps reduce readability. They are format egotism for last 200+ years on paper. Deleting the span in one go with Edit Spans & Divs solves that.

JSWolf · 08-03-2023, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StudioNeuneu

Well, I thought we could do this with conversion. There is some options about styles and html.
I think I will stay like that so, I don't have enough knowledge about css/html.

Thanks for the infos !

Editing eBooks helped me to learn a lot about HTML/CSS.

jackie_w · 08-03-2023, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

Special initial caps reduce readability. They are format egotism for last 200+ years on paper.

Some may say that stating personal opinion as fact demonstrates egotism of a different kind. If people wish to "decorate" their chapter openings they should be free to do so without being lectured by others.

Quoth · 08-03-2023, 05:16 PM

Decorating your own book is your own business.
Accessibility in reading can be opinionated, but there are facts too. Drop caps and decorative caps reduce readability, that's fact. It also doesn't work universally in ebooks, though no problem for paper.

Sarmat89 · 08-03-2023, 07:24 PM

Convert them to FB2 - it is the only useful semantic markup out there.

08-01-2023, 03:53 PM	#1
StudioNeuneu Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2023 Device: iPad	How can I make my books look all the same ? Hello! I want to convert all my ebooks so that they all have the same appearance (same color, same font, same indent...). But after I convert them, they don't look all the same. How I can do? Thanks!

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08-01-2023, 05:20 PM	#2
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,611 Karma: 9500498 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	That will be too difficult to accomplish during the conversion stage. There are too many variables and differences between books. Some books might have tables, images, lists, and other books may not have them. The Conversion process simply converts, it can't redesign an entire book. You would need to edit the css and html tags within the book to make them uniform.

08-02-2023, 08:42 AM	#3
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,460 Karma: 239219453 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	Not possible with conversion, unless you totally strip any and all formatting from the books. As Karellen said, you'll have to manually edit the css/html of every individual book. (And yes, some of us do exactly that, to achieve what you described).

08-02-2023, 03:31 PM	#4
StudioNeuneu Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2023 Device: iPad	Well, I thought we could do this with conversion. There is some options about styles and html. I think I will stay like that so, I don't have enough knowledge about css/html. Thanks for the infos !

08-02-2023, 06:19 PM	#6
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	Like DNSB, I tend to use Sigil to tweak GOOD (quality) EPUB (I Like the Calibre Editor debug for getting rid of bad code errors) I reverse engineer EACH BOOK instead of nukeing styles. I just select a class= on a paragraph, heading... and right click: Goto Link or style. THEN I have 3+ mystandard (saved)clips, the I replace the stye code between the { ... } Indented, non-indented, chapno (chapter heads), and body (I am not selling books, so I DO set body to my prefs) Others (usages) are usually just one of those with a minor value adjustment

08-02-2023, 06:56 PM	#7
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,460 Karma: 239219453 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	I use the calibre editor. The things I nuke outright are embedded body font, body margins, line height, atypical body font size - those just go via the mass Find & Replace. Spaces between paragraphs (if there are any) and text indents other than 1em need editing, not just nuking. The next thing on the menu are blockquotes, poems and such; sometimes their margins need fixing. I don't much care what chapter headings look like, unless they have a huge margin/padding as large as half the page. Sometimes the TOC needs fixing too. Widows and orphans I set to 1 for my Kobos, to avoid large gaps at the bottom of the page, and I disable hyphenation. All in all, most books take only a minute or two. I knew nothing about css/html either when I started to fix my books; but I was just too annoyed by various things to let it rest. I couldn't enjoy reading my books unless I fixed the formatting.

08-03-2023, 05:16 PM	#14
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,010 Karma: 105092227 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Decorating your own book is your own business. Accessibility in reading can be opinionated, but there are facts too. Drop caps and decorative caps reduce readability, that's fact. It also doesn't work universally in ebooks, though no problem for paper.

08-03-2023, 07:24 PM	#15
Sarmat89 Fanatic Posts: 516 Karma: 2268308 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: none	Convert them to FB2 - it is the only useful semantic markup out there.

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