Newbie with CSS question

[oenopion]

Hi, brand new to Sigil and formatting, but I have some basic css understanding.

My stylesheet is working for several of my headers, which I have modified and have taken just fine. But when I try to define a first paragraph no indent style (changing the <p> to a <p.first> which I have added to the css, it works fine when I look at it after jumping out of code view. However, when I try to save it, it reverts back to <p>.

I imagine there is a piece of code I am missing, or that is inserted somewhere keeping this change from taking place? Anyone have any ideas.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by oenopion

But when I try to define a first paragraph no indent style (changing the <p> to a <p.first> which I have added to the css, it works fine when I look at it after jumping out of code view. However, when I try to save it, it reverts back to <p>.

I hope you're not actually putting the code <p.first> in your xhtml?

If you have a p.first { } entry in your css, you apply it to an element by adding the "class" attribute to that element with a value of "first". Specifically; <p class="first">

[oenopion]

Of course I was actually putting it in!
I guess I should amend my first statement about having some basic css understanding...

And yes, your code worked like a charm. Thanks!

Actually I had seen that on the Sigil manual, and tried it, but I had set my indent to .001 which doesn't seem to work, so it didn't appear to have worked? Somewhere I read that some ereaders will auto indent 0 defined paragraphs, and it was suggested to have a minute indent like .001? But, as mentioned, I have only been at this conversion stuff since yesterday! Thanks again for your help.

... whoops, almost signed off before also asking ... What's the best way to amend all my other 34 first chapter paragraphs? Is there any type of s&r trick, or paste them in one by one?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by oenopion

What's the best way to amend all my other 34 first chapter paragraphs? Is there any type of s&r trick, or paste them in one by one?

That depends on the element that precedes the first paragraph. If it's for example a <h3>...</h3> heading, you could theoretically use a regular expression that searches for a closing h3 tag followed by an opening p tag.

However, it'd be probably more efficient to use a CSS plus operator in your stylesheet.

Assuming that all your chapter headings are enclosed in h3 tags, you could for example use the following styles to indent all paragraphs except for the first paragraph immediately following a h3 heading.

p { text-indent: 1em; margin: 0;}
h3 + p { text-indent: 0; }

[oenopion]

Doitsu! Thanks, that was a breeze and a big help. I appreciate the replies, and have learned a lot just from seeing how they work. I can see how important the css (and learning it!) is going to be in this project.

[exaltedwombat]

Or you could use

p {text-indent:0;}

p + p {text-indent:1em;}

That allows for breaks that are delimited other than by h3.

[okletsgo]

I'm trying to copy and paste a css file into Sigil, but it won't take it. It doesn't even show up on the clipboard history. This is my first experience with the epub world and specifically to Sigil. What am I missing?

[okletsgo]

Saoved the file as .css instead of .txt and added it to Sigil. It worked.

[exaltedwombat]

Or you can create a blank stylesheet in Sigil and paste the contents in.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by okletsgo

This is my first experience with the epub world and specifically to Sigil. What am I missing?

Some time ago I wrote an Epub tutorial for beginners (see my signature for the links). I think you may find it useful.

[oenopion]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

Or you could use

p {text-indent:0;}

p + p {text-indent:1em;}

That allows for breaks that are delimited other than by h3.

So, if I'm following this, p would be defined as no indent for the default, and p + p would give that particular paragraph an indent? (Though for now, my simple project only needs the no indent after the chapter subheading once for each new chapter)

[oenopion]

Pablo, thanks for posting that link. Your guide is a great help since I only opened Sigil for the first time yesterday. I love how you have both the pdf and epub versions to compare back and forth. I opened your epub in Sigil and can toggle between code and page, which makes learning and understanding so much easier. Nice!

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by oenopion

So, if I'm following this, p would be defined as no indent for the default, and p + p would give that particular paragraph an indent? (Though for now, my simple project only needs the no indent after the chapter subheading once for each new chapter)

What it actually says, is that a paragraph has no indent by default. However, if a paragraph is directly after another paragraph, that second paragraph must be indented.
So, in that case only the first paragraph would have no indent.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by oenopion

Pablo, thanks for posting that link. Your guide is a great help since I only opened Sigil for the first time yesterday. I love how you have both the pdf and epub versions to compare back and forth. I opened your epub in Sigil and can toggle between code and page, which makes learning and understanding so much easier. Nice!

I'm glad you like it!

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by oenopion

So, if I'm following this, p would be defined as no indent for the default, and p + p would give that particular paragraph an indent? (Though for now, my simple project only needs the no indent after the chapter subheading once for each new chapter)

Yup. Same idea as the other suggestion, but approached from a different angle.

You can set indent as the default, but make an exception when <p> is preceded by <h3>. Or you can default to no indent, but make an exception when <p> is preceded by another <p> (i.e. for all paragraphs except the first).