Very basic ePub CSS?

[JSWolf]

There is no reason for the publisher to dump a catch-all CSS in the eBook. In looking at an ePub from Project Gutenberg for someone on MR, there was some class there that was causing a problem. The class wasn't needed. So having all of these extra classes could mean if there's something not quite right in one of the unused classes, it could cause a problem in the eBook.

I cannot stand eBooks made with Vellum, InDesign, or from Smashwords (having been typed into Word). The code in these eBooks can be rather nasty at times.

[Quoth]

Fortunately you can upload kindle and epub files directly. The Smashwords conversion from Word (and only .doc, not .docx) is poor. One's own .docx to epub2 in Calibre and then epub2 to something else is far better.
Though it depends how the wordprocessor document is created and how styles are used etc, it's possible even with .docx to epub2 to end up with garbage.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Fortunately you can upload kindle and epub files directly. The Smashwords conversion from Word (and only .doc, not .docx) is poor. One's own .docx to epub2 in Calibre and then epub2 to something else is far better.
Though it depends how the wordprocessor document is created and how styles are used etc, it's possible even with .docx to epub2 to end up with garbage.

The reason the conversion from Word to ePub is so poor with Smashwords is that most of the authors have no clue about styles. They use Word incorrectly sso that when the .doc file is converted, the code is very much a mess. The same .doc file that's a mess on Shasmwords will be a mess converted with Calibre.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The reason the conversion from Word to ePub is so poor with Smashwords is that most of the authors have no clue about styles. They use Word incorrectly sso that when the .doc file is converted, the code is very much a mess. The same .doc file that's a mess on Shasmwords will be a mess converted with Calibre.

All true. But also certain styles convert poorly / incorrectly when using .doc rather than .docx and Smashwords last time I looked don't accept docx. Even docx direct to azw isn't perfect. Going docx -> epub2 -> azw is perfect.

I found issues also with .doc uploaded to Amazon. The .docx was better, but they themselves told me to upload epub2. The epub2 uploaded is perfect when purchased as azw or kfx. The Amazon delivered mobi for a DXG is what you'd expect, but even that is wrong with .doc, specifically if the first paragraph after a heading or centred "break" has no indent and all the following body text paragraphs have an indent (but no inter-paragraph vertical margin), the first paragraph in mobi format (Amazon or Smashwords) or azw format (Amazon) is a different size font. Converting .docx with Calibre locally to epub2 avoids it. The mobi or azw has to be converted from epub2 in Calibre rather than the original .docx. Makes no difference using Calibre on Windows or Linux, MS Word (Windows only) or LO Writer (Windows or Linux). I'm told Smashwords uses Calibre.