Free from phoenix pick - Page 2

koland · 04-13-2012, 03:40 PM

This one is perfectly readable as is (although not the version they had at Smashwords, as the masher there was more of a mangler and the font and alignment changed nearly every paragraph.

The issue was more the size (and I was having a Calibre issue on the original pc, it seems) and the redundant font setting (which does impact your viewer performance some, as well as space on the drive).

For example, in the book, the font is set to Asalon, then back to Times Romance 2,737 times (which is how many times I just stripped it out). (ETA: oops, found another 2,900 times).

There were several book covers inside the EPUB, not visible at all (or perhaps hidden near the end, but I did scan thru); removing them and an ad for a writer's cruise reduced the size another 600K.

There are also font sets to 5pt, 9 pt, 12 (the normal), 17 and 20, amongst others. Hard font sets can make it more difficult to read (esp for those who need larger fonts and have limited size to choose from in their software).

I looked at the centering code - often random size indents are also used, rather than simple centering, which means (a) more code == bigger file and (b) off center most of the time, in a reader (fine if printing for binding).

I'm tempted to just yank all the CSS code, but it does control italics and bold.

But in the middle of words, the font is re-set to the current font, then reset again after a single letter (thousands of times).

JSWolf · 04-26-2012, 09:21 PM

This is the reason I detest the meatgrinder. Even if the eBook seems mostly OK, to go into the code to make changes can be a nightmare. Word garbage can go from not too-too bad to completely awful.

And in some readers, you can't do things like change the font, font size, color and other settings because word hard codes it.

koland · 04-26-2012, 11:28 PM

Often, with the meatgrinder books, it's easiest to simply delete the CSS file entirely. sure, you miss a few fonts and bold/italics disappear (as they aren't well done when added), but at least you can read the book.

Otherwise, I wonder if simply deleting most of the CSS entries would work (and leave only italic and bold commands) best.

04-13-2012, 03:40 PM	#16
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	This one is perfectly readable as is (although not the version they had at Smashwords, as the masher there was more of a mangler and the font and alignment changed nearly every paragraph. The issue was more the size (and I was having a Calibre issue on the original pc, it seems) and the redundant font setting (which does impact your viewer performance some, as well as space on the drive). For example, in the book, the font is set to Asalon, then back to Times Romance 2,737 times (which is how many times I just stripped it out). (ETA: oops, found another 2,900 times). There were several book covers inside the EPUB, not visible at all (or perhaps hidden near the end, but I did scan thru); removing them and an ad for a writer's cruise reduced the size another 600K. There are also font sets to 5pt, 9 pt, 12 (the normal), 17 and 20, amongst others. Hard font sets can make it more difficult to read (esp for those who need larger fonts and have limited size to choose from in their software). I looked at the centering code - often random size indents are also used, rather than simple centering, which means (a) more code == bigger file and (b) off center most of the time, in a reader (fine if printing for binding). I'm tempted to just yank all the CSS code, but it does control italics and bold. But in the middle of words, the font is re-set to the current font, then reset again after a single letter (thousands of times). Last edited by koland; 04-13-2012 at 03:45 PM.

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04-26-2012, 09:21 PM	#17
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,877 Karma: 146918083 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	This is the reason I detest the meatgrinder. Even if the eBook seems mostly OK, to go into the code to make changes can be a nightmare. Word garbage can go from not too-too bad to completely awful. And in some readers, you can't do things like change the font, font size, color and other settings because word hard codes it.

04-26-2012, 11:28 PM	#18
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	Often, with the meatgrinder books, it's easiest to simply delete the CSS file entirely. sure, you miss a few fonts and bold/italics disappear (as they aren't well done when added), but at least you can read the book. Otherwise, I wonder if simply deleting most of the CSS entries would work (and leave only italic and bold commands) best.

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