EPUB -> MOBI -> HTMLz margin/blockquote annoyance

[therealjoeblow]

When I convert retail EPUBs to MOBI and then to HTMLZ, if the EPUB had 'quoted' blocks of text that was in <p> tags with a class that is indented from the normal body say 2em both left and right, it ends up after the conversion in <blockquote> tags, (sometimes nested multiples), but the margins get screwed, the left margin gets indented, but the right margin always ends up with zero indent, so the quoted block is pushed to the right and not centered like it was in the original with indents on both sides.

Why is that, and can the conversion not simply retain the original left and right indents and leave the text in a paragraph tag like it was?

Thanks
The REAL Joe

[DiapDealer]

Blockquotes are the only possible way to achieve left indented (increased left-margin) text in MOBI. The more margin needed ... the more blockquote nesting is done to achieve it. No way around it. Right margins just aren't happening (in MOBI). Period. It's a limitation of the MOBI format you're up against, not a conversion issue. There are no "true margins" in MOBI.

If HTMLZ is the ultimate goal, can I ask why you're including MOBI as an intermediate step?

[therealjoeblow]

Ok, makes sense now. Thanks very much for the explanation.

When I go from EPUB to HTMLZ, I usually find hangovers of embedded font family's and certain test sizing combinations that I've had trouble hunting down and removing; It seems when I go to MOBI as an intermediate step, it strips all of that crap out and consolidates a lot of the formatting classes into a more manageable number, and leaves me with a better formatted starting point for tweaking the formatting to my liking, only I have to fix all the blockquotes and breaks now (because single breaks end up as <br class="whatever"><br>.

cheers,
The REAL Joe