Blockquote Tab

[Cyberseeker]

Do E-pubs use the <blockquote> tab? I cannot find it in Sigil's format area, and when I type it manually it does not obey the stylesheet instructions. Is there another way to format quotes that I should know about? If so, can you suggest a stylesheet blub for quotations?

[Cyberseeker]

OK, Ive got some of it displaying right, but I cannot change the size. Also, I wonder why Sigil makes me type it manually?

[DiapDealer]

There are lots of tags that Sigil "makes" you type manually. It's not a full-blown html editor.

[Turtle91]

You can create your own "tabs" using the Clip Editor (Ctrl+Alt+C). When you display the Clip Bar (Right Click in menu area) you can see all the special commands you've created.

I use the following clip which will put <blockquote> around whatever text you have highlighted - then I just type the class name (or delete the ' class="" ' if I want just a generic blockquote):

Name: Blockquote
Text: <blockquote class="">\n\1\n</blockquote>

You can use this technique to create any "tab" and is definitely useful for those that you use regularly like: span, em, strong, div, a...and even regex phrases you use all the time.

Here's a few of the classes that I use:

/* Blockquote section styles */
/* Default */
blockquote {margin:2em; text-align:left; text-indent:0}
blockquote p {text-indent:0; margin:0 0 .75em; font-size:0.95em}

/* Custom */
blockquote.ul p     {padding-left:1.5em; text-indent:-.8em; margin-bottom:1em; text-decoration:underline}
blockquote.grave p  {font-weight:bold; text-align:center}
blockquote.book p   {text-align:justify}
blockquote.verse p  {margin-bottom:.25em; font-style:italic}
blockquote.letter p {font-size:0.85em; font-family:"Monotype Corsiva", "cursive"; font-style:italic}
blockquote p.sig    {text-align:right; margin:1em 0 0}

html:

<blockquote class="letter">
<p>yada yada</p>
<p>yada yada</p>
<p>yada yada</p>
<p>yada yada</p>
<p>yada yada</p>
<p class="sig">All my best,<br />Marcy</p>
</blockquote>

You need to make sure you have properly linked the stylesheet to the html sheet for it to be applied. Right click on the html file in the Book Browser window and select "Link Stylesheets..."


Cheers,

edit:

[Cyberseeker]

Thanks Turtle, Ive copied your code (minus the class) and created a clip. Ill do the same with bold.

[Notjohn]

And my thanks as well! I've longed for a way to put curly quotes around a highlighted block.

[JustinThought]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

You can create your own "tabs" using the Clip Editor (Ctrl+Alt+C). When you display the Clip Bar (Right Click in menu area) you can see all the special commands you've created.

//snip!//

Cheers,

edit:

Okay, brace yourself(-ves) for a N00B question. All right, ready?

First off, Turtle, I also copied your code, and it solved a number of problems I had encountered. So thanks for sharing it.

But I like to know "why?". So I went out there to investigate, and every reference I could find states that the <blockquote> tag is specifically designed to...well, quote blocks of text. Being a curious sort, I did a little S&R on the epub containing your code, replacing "blockquote" with "div". And I couldn't see any difference in what it was doing--at least within Sigil.

So, I have to ask--is there any advantage to using one over the other? --not criticizing, just really want to know. Thanks in advance!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JustinThought

Okay, brace yourself(-ves) for a N00B question. All right, ready?

First off, Turtle, I also copied your code, and it solved a number of problems I had encountered. So thanks for sharing it.

But I like to know "why?". So I went out there to investigate, and every reference I could find states that the <blockquote> tag is specifically designed to...well, quote blocks of text. Being a curious sort, I did a little S&R on the epub containing your code, replacing "blockquote" with "div". And I couldn't see any difference in what it was doing--at least within Sigil.

So, I have to ask--is there any advantage to using one over the other? --not criticizing, just really want to know. Thanks in advance!

A Blockquote is just that: a predefined function. You can use it as-is and get the effect.

OTOH A Div is just a 'container'. You have to define what that container will do.

<div class="inabox">
<p> stuff</>
<p> stuff</>
<p> stuff</>
</div>

.inabox defines what the 'box' will look like (background color, border, padding), the <p> still does the rest of the work.

W3Schools is a great tutorial site

[JustinThought]

Originally Posted by theducks

A Blockquote is just that: a predefined function. You can use it as-is and get the effect.

OTOH A Div is just a 'container'. You have to define what that container will do.

<div class="inabox">
<p> stuff</>
<p> stuff</>
<p> stuff</>
</div>

.inabox defines what the 'box' will look like (background color, border, padding), the <p> still does the rest of the work.

W3Schools is a great tutorial site

Thanks! What I'm reading is, because the above example does just that--defining exactly what the blockquote is doing--either one would suffice.

--And thanks for the tip on W3Schools. When I'm not living here, it seems I live over there. Great stuff, presented well, and gives you the opportunity to Tryit (and Messitup ).

[Turtle91]

The difference is symantics... If someone is scanning your document at a code level they will know that one block is supposed to be a blockquote, while the other is a container. From a user's perspective they can look identical.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

The difference is symantics... If someone is scanning your document at a code level they will know that one block is supposed to be a blockquote, while the other is a container. From a user's perspective they can look identical.

Also it is helpful for default fallbacks.

Let us say your reader is using an ebook program like Moon+ Reader, which tosses out almost all of the "Publisher CSS" and replaces it with user chosen preferences. If you coded your stuff as <div class="blockquote">, it would not display as intended.

Similar reasons why you would use:

<i> + <em> + <b> + <strong>

over

<span class="italics"> + <span class="emphasis"> + <span class="bold"> + <span class="strong">

Also, it is helpful for (present and future) conversion tools. For example, let's say you wanted Calibre to convert your EPUB to TXT. It would have no idea how to handle your <div class="blockquote">, but if you used <blockquote>, you could imagine it introducing spacing in the TXT file to offset the quote from the surrounding text.

EPUB:

<p>Example Text 1.</p>

<p>Example Text 2.</p>

<blockquote><p>Example blockquote.</p></blockquote>

<p>Example Text 3.</p>

TXT:

Example Text 1.
Example Text 2.

     Example blockquote.

Example Text 3.