Trying to add space in EPUB document

[JSWolf]

Anyway, It looks like Brenda is afraid of HTML/CSS yet doesn't mind learing Indesign which is more difficult to learn. Sheesh!

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Anyway, It looks like Brenda is afraid of HTML/CSS yet doesn't mind learing Indesign which is more difficult to learn. Sheesh!

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't." Although in this case she may not know InDesign all that well either.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Anyway, It looks like Brenda is afraid of HTML/CSS yet doesn't mind learing Indesign which is more difficult to learn. Sheesh!

Originally Posted by hobnail

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't." Although in this case she may not know InDesign all that well either.

She came, she asked, she freely admitted she's not comfortable editing CSS. While I don't have much use for the "cotton-wool" world that people seem to be creating nowadays, I don't see any reason to be derisory. For all you know, she's an INDD whiz kid.

Hitch

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Hitch

She came, she asked, she freely admitted she's not comfortable editing CSS. While I don't have much use for the "cotton-wool" world that people seem to be creating nowadays, I don't see any reason to be derisory. For all you know, she's an INDD whiz kid.

Hitch

I'm always puzzled as to why people are using InDesign. I'm guessing that the majority of books people asking questions here are writing fiction and in an ebook those don't need much beyond h and p tags. But they're probably planning on producing a printed book as well as an ebook so a page layout program is needed. But InDesign seems like overkill for a novel.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by hobnail

I'm always puzzled as to why people are using InDesign. I'm guessing that the majority of books people asking questions here are writing fiction and in an ebook those don't need much beyond h and p tags. But they're probably planning on producing a printed book as well as an ebook so a page layout program is needed. But InDesign seems like overkill for a novel.

You're looking at it from the ebook myopia. Yes, 99%, she's creating a print layout. We deal with that at my shop, too. If we were only designing ebooks, hell, we'd do it in Word, by and large and then in HTML.

But, oddly enough, print has undergone a massive resurgence in the self-publishing industry. Trulytrulytrue.* We invested a fair amount of time mapping some standardized Indd styles to CSS. But we still make a lotta lotta eBooks for other publishers and those are all INDD files over which we have zero control or influence, so...

*My best guesstimate is, giveaways, book signings and some rather madcap marketing plans involving leaving printed books around cities in unique spots.

Hitch

[JSWolf]

I'm not bothered with the use of INDD to do the eBook. I am bothered be the lack of willingness to clean up the mess created by INDD.

The OP is unwilling to learn HTML/CSS and will end up with a rather messy eBook that make have all kinds of problems. Learn HTML/CSS and that eBook can-be cleaned up fairly easily.

[phillipgessert]

The problem with an InDesign workflow paired with reticence to get into the code is: the best shot at a serviceable output from InDesign, even one where some cleanup is required, is to have ebook output in mind from the start. And that's USUALLY not true of code-averse folks. It's sort of just seen as an additional output format. To be clear I am not speaking of the OP, just of InDesignheads in general, and certainly of myself back when I was one.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by phillipgessert

The problem with an InDesign workflow paired with reticence to get into the code is: the best shot at a serviceable output from InDesign, even one where some cleanup is required, is to have ebook output in mind from the start. And that's USUALLY not true of code-averse folks. It's sort of just seen as an additional output format. To be clear I am not speaking of the OP, just of InDesignheads in general, and certainly of myself back when I was one.

Yes. Sort of similar to web sites that make books available as both a web page and an ebook. So many seem to be focused on the web page first, then the ebook is an afterthought, with crud from the web page carried over; e.g., a background paper texture, colored text, etc.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by hobnail

… with crud from the web page carried over; e.g., a background paper texture, colored text, etc.

Which might look cute on a web page, but even there is terribly tiring to read. Black text on a plain white background might seem boring, but it works well.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Which might look cute on a web page, but even there is terribly tiring to read. Black text on a plain white background might seem boring, but it works well.

I've given up forcing myself to read crap on the web with busy or picture backgrounds. What a load of ------------. Who thinks that makes sense?

"Oh, gee, let's torture the people who manage to find my website with these cutesie pictures of my kids/family picnics/this 19th-centurly fleur-de-lis wallpaper, so that nobody can read the text! Wow, there's a plan!"

ggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hitch

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I've given up forcing myself to read crap on the web with busy or picture backgrounds. What a load of ------------. Who thinks that makes sense?

"Oh, gee, let's torture the people who manage to find my website with these cutesie pictures of my kids/family picnics/this 19th-centurly fleur-de-lis wallpaper, so that nobody can read the text! Wow, there's a plan!"

ggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hitch

Okay boomer...don't beat around the bush...tell us what you REALLY think!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Okay boomer...don't beat around the bush...tell us what you REALLY think!

Oh, that cuts to the quick. I mean, I don't give a flying s**t if you're 50 or 25 or 10, who the Hades wants to read something like that? Like...

http://www.roverp6cars.com/?LMCL=J71H_j or
http://www.gatesnfences.com/
http://www2.pnwx.com/
https://www.pennyjuice.com/
http://www.arngren.net/ (this one is special).
http://www.monkzone.com/monkzonehtml.htm

And on and on and on.

So yes, I'm being a grouchy old cow, but I'd hate this crap if I were 20.

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh, that cuts to the quick. I mean, I don't give a flying s**t if you're 50 or 25 or 10, who the Hades wants to read something like that? Like...

http://www.roverp6cars.com/?LMCL=J71H_j or
http://www.gatesnfences.com/
http://www2.pnwx.com/
https://www.pennyjuice.com/
http://www.arngren.net/ (this one is special).
http://www.monkzone.com/monkzonehtml.htm

And on and on and on.

So yes, I'm being a grouchy old cow, but I'd hate this crap if I were 20.

Hitch

The web designers for those sites deserve a special place in Hell.

[PeterT]

My father didn't have a P6, but an earlier model, the River 90. And that picture at the top with the bridge in the background? That's Iron Bridge near Telford (near Shrewsbury) in Shropshire.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh, that cuts to the quick. I mean, I don't give a flying s**t if you're 50 or 25 or 10, who the Hades wants to read something like that? Like...

http://www.arngren.net/ (this one is special).

And on and on and on.

So yes, I'm being a grouchy old cow, but I'd hate this crap if I were 20.

Hitch

I dunno, I rather like the arngren one. It's so demented it's cool. According to the comments in the source it's made with SiteBuilder and on their web page it says "Your website. Your way."

He took them at their word, and then some.