Why is it so hard to preserve blank lines?

[Robotech_Master]

I don't know why it is, but many of the e-book reading apps I've tried lately lose track of the blank lines I separate sections with in e-book files I create. Moon+ loses them, and Freda, and Bookviser Reader. Yet apps like Kobo and Nook don't have any trouble keeping them; ditto Google Play Books and iBooks. What's up with that?

[Cinisajoy]

How are you coding the line breaks and I think you posted in the wrong section.

[Robotech_Master]

By making them separate sections in Scrivener.

And I couldn't find any other forum that talked about e-reader apps from multiple platforms in one place (as this happens across both Windows and Android apps), so I figured "general" was the place to go.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

By making them separate sections in Scrivener.

And I couldn't find any other forum that talked about e-reader apps from multiple platforms in one place (as this happens across both Windows and Android apps), so I figured "general" was the place to go.

Ask in the writer's corner.

[Robotech_Master]

What would writers know about how e-reader programs are coded?

[Cinisajoy]

You said books you created so I assumed you were a writer.
And because many writers use the program you mentioned.
Let me yell for a geek or three that know more than I do.

[JSWolf]

Because Kobo and Nook respect the CSS. Those other programs mentioned do not. Plain and simple.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Because Kobo and Nook respect the CSS. Those other programs mentioned do not. Plain and simple.

Pretty much it, at least for Moon+ I know it is.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

By making them separate sections in Scrivener.

And I couldn't find any other forum that talked about e-reader apps from multiple platforms in one place (as this happens across both Windows and Android apps), so I figured "general" was the place to go.

Since you are talking about ePub the ePub forum might do ?

[Ripplinger]

I got in the habit of adding a line that reads <p>&nbsp;</p> where I want a space and to make sure that space will not be removed, and everywhere I've seen, including Moon+ Reader Pro, it seems to work.

Moon+ has a setting to disable CSS, make sure that is not checked, maybe that's your only problem.

Edit: Just wanted to add that my version of Moon+ Reader Pro is 3.5.0.

[RichL]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Pretty much it, at least for Moon+ I know it is.

In Moon reader 2.1 you can check/un-check use of CSS.

[murg]

I put in something like:

<p class="centre">* * *</p>
or
<p class="centre">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</p>

since this is targeted at an ereader, this covers the situation where the 'blank' line is at the top or bottom of the page.

The mdash method has the additional feature of not interfering with the existing asterisk scene breaks in the book.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I got in the habit of adding a line that reads <p>&nbsp;</p> where I want a space and to make sure that space will not be removed

BR

[Toxaris]

It does not depend on Scrivener itself, but more how the blank line is coded into the ePUB. That can be done in various ways. The purists will insist you use margins to create a blank line and although they are correct, your reading program need to honor the stylesheet in order to represent it (btw, a reading program that does not honor stylesheets is a broken program in my book...). Another much used method is the empty paragraph. However, a lot of readers and reading programs will discard real empty paragraphs or paragraphs with only a space inside it (e.g. <br /> or <p> </p>. That is why you need to enter a special space inside it to work in all cases: <p>&nbsp;</p>.
So, perhaps Scrivener has an output option for this, otherwise you need to check how it is put in the code and correct it there.

[Jim Chapman]

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

I don't know why it is, but many of the e-book reading apps I've tried lately lose track of the blank lines I separate sections with in e-book files I create. Moon+ loses them, and Freda, and Bookviser Reader. Yet apps like Kobo and Nook don't have any trouble keeping them; ditto Google Play Books and iBooks. What's up with that?

if you set Freda's 'remove blank lines' setting to yes, then blank lines will be removed everywhere, whether at the end of sections, or at the ends of paragraphs, or wherever. The best way to ensure that you get a blank line after some element in Freda is to set a margin below the element ("margin-below" in the CSS Style). Freda's parsing of CSS styles is a bit flakey, but it should be able to understand that (but make sure that the setting 'max margin' is set to some value other than zero - a zero value for that setting will mean that Freda suppresses all margins).

If you don't want to start messing about with margins, then probably your best bet is to use the Freda settings:
line break after para = no
force indent = yes
remove blank lines = no
This should mean that any place you actually insert a line break (element "<br>") in your file, you will see a line break. Paragraphs will not have space inserted between them, but the first line of each paragraph will be indented.

Do let me know how you get on, and by all means send me some sample files and style sheets, if you'd like me to check what exactly Freda is doing with them, and to fix the program in any places where it is doing the wrong thing.