Formatting Epub Output

[Faster]

Not sure why you didn't PM me the name of the book. Ah well!

To correct the side gaps:
Open the book in Sigil.
Click the folder Styles in the left panel to open it.
Right click 'page-template.xpgt'
Select 'Remove'

Why oh why do you want to justfy the text? It's bad for the eyes.
Anyway to get what you want:
Double click the css sheet: 'jaguarprincethe.css'
CTRL F for Find
Enter .para
You'll see a blank line:
.para {
display: block;
text-align: justify;
margin-top: 0%;
margin-bottom: 0%;
}
Type: text-align: justify;
as shown above.

Save the book.
Done.
Enjoy!

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by Faster

Why oh why do you want to justfy the text? It's bad for the eyes.

not so - google typesetting justify.]

there have been studies of readability & comprehension which show that justify is superior to left
http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/72/columns.asp
http://www.cuttingedgepr.com/article...ypesetting.asp

Typesetting specified
Comprehension level
% Good % Fair % Poor
Layout with totally justified setting 67 19 14
Layout with ragged right setting 38 22 40
Layout with ragged left setting 10 18 72


& 99.9% of all printed books use fully justified text. Betcha can't find one that doesn't.

[JSWolf]

First thing to do is get a copy of notepad++.

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

Next is to uncompress all the files in the ePub except META-INF and mimetype.

If you need to change the extension from .ePub to .zip, that's OK. You can rename it later when you want to test it.

In the uncompressed OEBPS directory delete the file page-template.xpgt. You don't need it and you don't want it.

Load all the .html files into notepad++. They will load in separate tabs.

In one of the HTML files select the line that is...

<link href="page-template.xpgt" rel="stylesheet" type="application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml"/>

Then hit control-h and you will see the search/replace dialog. The line you selected should be in the find what line of the dialog. Now make sure the Replace with line is empty. Check Wrap Around and Normal. Then click Replace All in All Opened Documents. That will do the search/replace among all the HTML files in all the tabs in one go.

Then do the same thing for the line that shows...

<meta name="Adept.resource" value="urn:uuid:b335f548-71c6-4cc5-b736-2065f32554f3"/>

Then go to the file menu and select Save All.

Next, load the OPF file (jaguarprincethe.opf)

Delete the line that shows...

<item href="page-template.xpgt" id="pt" media-type="application/vnd.adobe.page-template+xml"/>

That gets rid of the page-template file from the OPF file.

With Notepad++, you may be able to right click on the selected files in Windows Explorer and select edit with Notepad++. That will load all the selected files in one go.

After you've edited the OPF file save it and then go to the file menu and select Close All.

That's the first step to sorting out the files before beginning to edit the CSS.

[cybmole]

the above is very through but you can get by just using find /replace within sigil - worked for me anyway.

use find / replace in all files to zap the 2 long lines shown in previous post, ( find them in code view , cope / paste into find box so now typing needed!

then look at the list of files in LH pane scroll down to styles & expand it.
sigil will show 2 stylesheets under style & you can delete the .xpgt from that LH pane

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cybmole

the above is very through but you can get by just using find /replace within sigil - worked for me anyway.

use find / replace in all files to zap the 2 long lines shown in previous post, ( find them in code view , cope / paste into find box so now typing needed!

then look at the list of files in LH pane scroll down to styles & expand it.
sigil will show 2 stylesheets under style & you can delete the .xpgt from that LH pane

Does Sigil change anything in the CSS? I've not really looked when I've used it.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does Sigil change anything in the CSS? I've not really looked when I've used it.

its has been a while singe I fix a book like this but from memory...

zap the 2 long lines you detailed above + zap the .xpgt sheet.

then I think I ran epub to epub conversion in calibre which added default @page settings to each xhtml. the results looked good on my Sony reader so that's all I did. without that step the text goes edge to edge on Sony ; calibre sets, I think, 5pts left & right margins which look better.

I'm guessing ( NB Only guessing) that removing an entry from sigil's list of stylesheets is equivalent to unpacking epub & editing the OPF file

[JSWolf]

The @page addition is one reason I do not recommend ePub to ePub.

Anyway, more on fixing this ePub later.

[Faster]

@cybmole The document linked

http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/72/columns.asp

deals with online web pages, undergraduates and comprehension.

Ebooks are quite different, I WAS an undergraduate (and post-graduate) but that was nearly fifty years ago and now I use a medium sized text for reading. Ebooks, mine anyway, don't allow for proportional spacing or hyphenation so you end up with silly spacing. I suggest you reread the article at the link again and be less selective about what you quote.

[Faster]

@kazbates
I notice the cover image didn't show in my PRS650

You may want to get the cover image to show:

Open the book in Sigil
Switch to Code View of the first text file 'jaguarprincethe_cov.html'
Replace:

<body>
...
</body>

with this

<body>
  <div>
    <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="100%" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 600 800" width="100%" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
      <image height="800" width="600" xlink:href="../Images/cover.jpg"></image>
    </svg>
  </div>
</body>

With regard to some of the procedures suggested above, you don't need to bother. Just do what I indicated. Calls to the missing .xpgt file, which I asked you to delete, are simply ignored. You don't need to remove all the calls.

Book checked and working as desired on a Sony PRS650.

Please check your mail box as I've sent you a PM.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Faster

<body>
  <div>
    <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="100%" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 600 800" width="100%" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
      <image height="800" width="600" xlink:href="../Images/cover.jpg"></image>
    </svg>
  </div>
</body>

With regard to some of the procedures suggested above, you don't need to bother. Just do what I indicated. Calls to the missing .xpgt file, which I asked you to delete, are simply ignored. You don't need to remove all the calls.

Book checked and working as desired on a Sony PRS650.

Please check your mail box as I've sent you a PM.

It is a much better idea to remove the page-template references. I do it all the time and when I use FlightCrew to verify the ePub, it will yell at me if the page-template reference is there.

Also, the code above is a problem. ADE needs to have the actual pixels of the image and not an arbitrary size. I've mentioned that as a bug and it's been fixed in Calibre. While ADE may be at fault, using the pixels of the image works in ADE and every other system where that code may work.

The correct code that will work on the Sony Reader and in the desktop ADE is...

<body>
  <div>
    <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="100%" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 825 1200" width="100%" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
      <image height="1200" width="825" xlink:href="../Images/cover.jpg"></image>
    </svg>
  </div>
</body>

[FatDog]

From a watcher - I love this thread. I'm getting 'geek goosebumps' and wish I was home with my personal MacBook to try these things.

[JSWolf]

Ok, I know I've been away from this thread for too long. Tomorrow I will dig into the actual CSS of the eBook in question and start fixing it up and posting the relevant bits here.

[kazbates]

FINALLY!! School is out, no more visitors or obligitory family trips and my online college course is finished!! Now I have to time to tackle learning how to edit these epubs!!

First things first. . .You all have given me great advice. Thank you! The problem is, I am in elementary school teacher brain mode and not programmer brain mode. Consequently, I am struggling to understand some of the things you've asked me to do, the most important of which is uncompressing the epub file. I have a free epub and have tried to rename the file to .zip, but Windows is not cooperating. My brain tells me that I need to open the file in Sigil so that I can see all the html files, but is there an easier way to incompress without going through Sigil?

[kazbates]

Okay! I am making a little headway. I am working on a different book and thanks to all of your suggestions, I have been able to get some things justified and have eliminated the huge borders. Unfortunately, I've encountered a new problem. Once I open the freed epub with Sigil, the special characters revert to the following:

Charlotte could turn to for comfort and company… Aurora’s concerns weren’t entirely unfounded. Hence the invention of Charlotte’s tailor-made handy-dandy fictional fiancé.

It is very similar to not setting the correct language in Book Designer.

Any suggestions?

[DaleDe]

It is a problem with the character set being specified in the xhtml file or files. It may also be that it is being specified twice in the file in different spots. You need to look at the offending file in code view in Sigil and then post the header (head) section and we can take a look.

Dale