Sigil, the ePub editor

[Valloric]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Is it possible to prevent the insertion of an extra line between text.
The coding of poem structure correctly inserts the blocks within <pre> tags, but still insists on an extra line feed/carriage return between each line such that;

aaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbb becomes

aaaaaaaaaa

bbbbbbbbbb

You're pasting that text from another rich text application, right? Pasting such text has its drawbacks, since Sigil can't control how the application you're pasting from inserts the text required onto the clipboard. And pasting into the Book View leaves the clipboard import up to Webkit, and it would be hard to circumvent this.

In general, if you want to transfer some rich text into Sigil, it is always best to import it.

But do create an issue on the tracker with this. Don't forget to include all the necessary steps (and HTML code) to replicate this issue.

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Also is there a way to supress the insistence of adding 4 character insert at the start of a new 'chapter' - other than manually manipulating the code ?

I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. Create an issue with step-by-step instructions that replicates this.

[GeoffC]

skip it (I've also replied to your pm).
I suspect much of my problem is copy/paste from other applications (as you've rightly indicated - namely MS Onenote, where I do much of my wips).

I've not had too much of this today - so it's probably due as well to me getting used to this application - which remains superb .... Thanks .....

[Croker]

Valloric

I'm loving Sigil and therefore have posted here to commend you on your hard work. Kudos!

Anyway, I do have one possible suggestion for you - is it possible to implement a "drop cap" setting into Sigil?

Allow me to explain - despite the explanations I've found here on the forums in how to add drop caps to ePubs, they might as well be written in Greek for all I understand of them. I mean no disrespect to the people involved in those conversations, but they tend to assume a deep knowledge of the various ins-and-outs of source code as used in an ePub file, and how to amend it manually.

For those of us who use programs like Book Designer and Sigil to tidy up our files and get them to display in the way we like, trying to tamper with the source code is too complex and daunting - at least, in my experience. I was nearly in tears of frustration trying to get fonts of my own choice to work with ePub files on my Sony Reader, and that was relatively straightforward to achieve (with the help of Calibre)!

So, my suggestion for Sigil is as follows - would it be possible to highlight a letter of text - at the very start of a chapter - and turn it into a drop cap by clicking a button in Sigil? I appreciate that I have no idea of how difficult this would be to achieve on a technical level, but it would be a massive bonus to me if you could pull it off.

I'd envisage that, in the same way you can highlight text in a file and click "bold" (and the source code will change to reflect your choice), you could do the same with a drop cap, selecting a letter and clicking the "drop cap" button (which would again insert the appropriate change to the source code).

So - is this possible (or even feasible!) or not? I'd be interested to know!

[Valloric]

Originally Posted by Croker

So, my suggestion for Sigil is as follows - would it be possible to highlight a letter of text - at the very start of a chapter - and turn it into a drop cap by clicking a button in Sigil?

This is certainly feasible and will be added to Sigil in time, as part of a larger "common actions shortcuts" menu or whatever. But this is a rather specific need. Sigil is currently still in its early stages, and there are a lot of things that affect most (if not all) of Sigil's users that need to be taken care of first. Features like a Search&Replace dialog (coming in the next version). After that there's some redesign work, and then we can talk about this. So I'm sorry to say you won't see it soon.

It's not that I don't think this is good feature—it is—but I need to prioritize.

Do add it to the tracker so I don't forget.

[Croker]

Originally Posted by Valloric

This is certainly feasible and will be added to Sigil in time, as part of a larger "common actions shortcuts" menu or whatever. But this is a rather specific need. Sigil is currently still in its early stages, and there are a lot of things that affect most (if not all) of Sigil's users that need to be taken care of first. Features like a Search&Replace dialog (coming in the next version). After that there's some redesign work, and then we can talk about this. So I'm sorry to say you won't see it soon.

It's not that I don't think this is good feature—it is—but I need to prioritize.

Do add it to the tracker so I don't forget.

Hey, that's okay - I appreciate you taking the time to reply, Valloric. I will pop it on the tracker, though.

You're quite right to prioritise stuff like Search & Replace, mind you. To be honest, the sooner I can use just Sigil to prepare all my ePubs from start to finish, the happier I'll be!

As an aside - and without wishing to derail this thread - if anyone can explain in layman's terms how I can easily add drop caps to my ePubs, please drop me a PM and let me know!

[pdurrant]

Not a PM, as it may be of interest generally.

There are several ways to do a drop cap. If you book is formatted just right, it can be done just with CSS, but setting it up is tricky.

So, a simple two-step drop cap tutorial:

1. In Sigil Book View, go to the paragraph you want to have a drop cap. Now switch to code view. Find the paragraph and add the following around the first letter of the paragraph, in this example, an H.

<span class="dropcap">H</span>

2. Now look up at the top of the file in code view. Find the lines that say

<style type="text/css">
/*<![CDATA[*/

and immediately after them add the following

span.dropcap { float:left; font-size: 4.7em; line-height:0.8em; margin-right: 3pt; margin-bottom: -0.1em; }

Switch back to book view. Ta da!

Add the <span class="dropcap"></span> to all the letters at the start of paragraphs where you want a drop cap.

You might need to tweak the values for font-size, line-height and margin-bottom to get the effect you want. The Sigil book view may not show exactly how it'll appear in ADE, but it's pretty close.

I've added a sample Sigil file showing the drop cap in action.

Originally Posted by Croker

As an aside - and without wishing to derail this thread - if anyone can explain in layman's terms how I can easily add drop caps to my ePubs, please drop me a PM and let me know!

[Croker]

YOU BEAUTY! That works a treat.

Thanks very much!

[mklynds]

Okay I have been around the forums for a while but I am brand spankin new to Sigil as of 15 minutes ago or so. I was wondering if anyone has made a tutorial for Sigil or compiled a list of helpful commands. I have zero coding experience but am a bit of a perfectionist and would love to be able to make my books better.

Another question. Is there a book here on mobile read that I could download as a example of what a properly formatted book should like like. As it is now. I have no idea how to take the image of the book in my head and make it a reality.

Hopeless I know!! But I learn quick!

Mike

[Valloric]

Originally Posted by mklynds

Another question. Is there a book here on mobile read that I could download as a example of what a properly formatted book should like like.

Here's one of the most amazing epubs you can find.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Valloric

Here's one of the most amazing epubs you can find.

Seconded , thirded, fourthed etced .....

[Josch91]

Hi Valloric,

is it possible, that Sigil is also reading out the chapter-informations from the "toc.ncx" file, when opening a ePub file. Because there are some ePubs without chapter tags in the html files. If you are opening this files with Sigil to edit them, all the chapter informations are gone.

Thank you in advance,
Josch

[Valloric]

Originally Posted by Josch91

is it possible, that Sigil is also reading out the chapter-informations from the "toc.ncx" file, when opening a ePub file. Because there are some ePubs without chapter tags in the html files. If you are opening this files with Sigil to edit them, all the chapter informations are gone.

The NCX is always specific to the XHTML files in the epub. Since Sigil doesn't (in the current version) preserve the original file structure, that information is meaningless. The content of those XHTML files is loaded, and then transferred back into XHTML based on the location of the chapter breaks.

Somehow trying to preserve the NCX links to elements within the original XHTMLs also doesn't work, since HTML Tidy will rewrite the markup into something different and the original links will be meaningless too.

So no, the NCX information cannot be preserved.

[Josch91]

Thank you for your fast reply. Are you planning to integrate the functionality to preserve the original file structure in the near future?

Thank you in advance,
Josch

[Valloric]

Originally Posted by Josch91

Thank you for your fast reply. Are you planning to integrate the functionality to preserve the original file structure in the near future?

See this thread. Basically yes.

But the NCX will probably still be ignored on import. HTML Tidy will still obsolete any links in it so it can't be used.

[poodlemama]

Is there any way to remove all page numbers from an ePub?