Mobipocket output

[jimad]

Are the parameters to the --encoding option on any2mobi documented anywhere? -- I haven't found it yet.

I am having a fair amount of problems with the autoguess encoding feature of any2mobi, which I would like to be able to override.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by jimad

Are the parameters to the --encoding option on any2mobi documented anywhere? -- I haven't found it yet.

The documentation for any2lrf has a bit more information:

--encoding

Specify the character encoding of the source file. If the output LRF file contains strange characters, try changing this option. A common encoding for files from windows computers is cp-1252. Another common choice is utf-8. The default is to try and guess the encoding.

[BarnOwl]

I have a 9 mb PDF file with paragraph spacing in the original file. If I convert it to Mobi the paragraph spacing is gone.
This also happens if I convert the pdf (with Acrobat) to rtf/doc whatever and then convert it in Calibre. Somehow Calibre removes the spacing.

Surely I am missing something, a parser with settings in a conversion option menu would be great.

[tlc]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

calibre assumes all txt files are written using markdown syntax

Is there (or could you create) a list of specific syntax details like this somewhere? The Calibre FAQ says it supports TXT and HTML, when it supports subsets of these. I understand why, but it would be very useful to know the subsets.

For example, some time ago when a pdf-to-mobi conversion didn't do well, I looked into the pdf-to-html conversion and saw a bunch of absolute positioning

<div style="position:absolute;top:523;left:91">

and no paragraph elements. I would guess that the html-to-mobi (or html-to-*) needs paragraph elements to generate paragraphs.

Specifically, what html elements are useful to the html-to-* converters? Ideally, should the absolute positioning I saw be "fixed" in pdf-to-html or html-to-*?

Thanks,
tlc

[kovidgoyal]

As a general rule, for best results you should generate semantic markup. Use <p> for paragraphs, <h1-6> for headings class="chapter" for chapters and so on.

[Lee Crocker]

Is there a way to manually get an "mbpagebreak" tag into the result file from HTML? Putting the Mobipocket-specific code in the source doesn't work, as you specify (input is treated as standard)--but there's no standard equivalent in HTML. This is a real deal-breaker for me--I have to be able to specify my own pagebreaks. Perhaps you could interpret some "magical" CSS like a "pagebefore" class? Or maybe a flag to pass through Mobi tags unmolested?

[pdurrant]

No need to invent a pseudo-CSS property for this, there's already a real one:

page-break-before: always

Originally Posted by Lee Crocker

Is there a way to manually get an "mbpagebreak" tag into the result file from HTML? Putting the Mobipocket-specific code in the source doesn't work, as you specify (input is treated as standard)--but there's no standard equivalent in HTML. This is a real deal-breaker for me--I have to be able to specify my own pagebreaks. Perhaps you could interpret some "magical" CSS like a "pagebefore" class? Or maybe a flag to pass through Mobi tags unmolested?

[Lee Crocker]

(About CSS page-break-before:always)

Yes, but that would require Calibre to parse and interpret all of the CSS associated with the input HTML, a much more difficult task than just using a tag class.

I can get the pagebreaks I need by using the --chapter-mark tag, and then using my own .ncx file for the TOC (which I have to do anyway). Now if I can figure out how to attach a second ncx file for a list of illustrations...

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by Lee Crocker

(About CSS page-break-before:always)

Yes, but that would require Calibre to parse and interpret all of the CSS associated with the input HTML, a much more difficult task than just using a tag class.

I can get the pagebreaks I need by using the --chapter-mark tag, and then using my own .ncx file for the TOC (which I have to do anyway). Now if I can figure out how to attach a second ncx file for a list of illustrations...

calibre does parse all CSS. And using page-break-before:always will work. Int he 0.6 release of aclibre you will also be able to specify an XPath expression to insert page breaks.

[Lee Crocker]

Cool. What about multiple NCXs?

[kovidgoyal]

What's the point of multiple NCXs? Just create one NCX with multiple sections

[kindleformatting]

Kovid, et al.,

With the release of the Kindle DX, the problems with Creator's default image re-sizing/scaling has become more apparent.

http://kindleformatting.com/blog/200...image-test.php

I would love to have the ability to create a Mobi file from my Mobipocket-specific source using a third-party app. Any2mobi converts to an ePub first and removes my Mobi-specific HTML, and also ignores the NCX file. That happens even if I run any2mobi on an OPF created in Creator.

Thoughts on a solution?

- Joshua

[kovidgoyal]

calibre does not ignore NCX files, if they are pointed to in the OPF. As for mobi specific formatting, what formatting exactly do you have in mind that you can't acheive with normal HTML?

[kindleformatting]

Kovid, thanks for the reply back. I was unable to make the NCX file catch when I was testing any2mobi. I tried running it on the opf I had made in Creator and on the HTML file. I am trying to get the location bar on the K2 to have waypoints the same way it does in a PRC made with Creator

As I outline in my Kindle Formatting book, there is a lot of HTML formatting that is not valid in Mobi/Kindle, and some specific Kindle formatting that is not necessarily valid HTML. An example of this problem is the lack of support for outlines made from list tags. Mobi does not support the list-style-type CSS or the related HTML attribute, so there is no way to make an outline like that. I use a selection of special markup to make outlines look good. So, I could make an ePub first, but, as with Mobigen, the formatting does not necessarily translate to Mobi perfectly. I really want the best of both worlds: Mobipocket Creator's ability to take my HTML and make a Mobi directly, and any3mobi's ability to gracefully handle large image files.

The best way for you to see the types of formatting peculiarities I am talking about is for you to read my book. I'd be happy to send you a copy if you like. Just tell me if you want it in print, PDF, ePub, or Mobi (print, PDF, and ePub are best).

I appreciate your assistance.

- Joshua

[tompe]

Originally Posted by kindleformatting

As I outline in my Kindle Formatting book, there is a lot of HTML formatting that is not valid in Mobi/Kindle, and some specific Kindle formatting that is not necessarily valid HTML. An example of this problem is the lack of support for outlines made from list tags. Mobi does not support the list-style-type CSS or the related HTML attribute, so there is no way to make an outline like that. I use a selection of special markup to make outlines look good. So, I could make an ePub first, but, as with Mobigen, the formatting does not necessarily translate to Mobi perfectly. I really want the best of both worlds: Mobipocket Creator's ability to take my HTML and make a Mobi directly, and any3mobi's ability to gracefully handle large image files.

html2mobi or opf2mobi in MobiPerl will probably handle this. They do not change MobiPocket specific markup and they allow the images not to be rescaled or resized.