Change text sizes in mobi.

[violent23]

I was wondering how to make the text size in a mobi all uniformly one size.

I recently purchased a book on my Kindle and wanted to change the cover art and try to change the text size. I got the drm off and it is now a mobi.
The problem with the text is that it is really really big in most places and then half the size in others. How can I change all of the text to one size. The big text is twice the size from every other mobi on my Kindle and it is bothering me to have to change my text size in the Kindle just for this one book.

It seems weird to me that a purchased e-book from amazon has such a text size problem. Shouldn't these problems be worked out now that we are on the third generation.

If anyone has any idea how to fix this please let me know.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by violent23

It seems weird to me that a purchased e-book from amazon has such a text size problem. Shouldn't these problems be worked out now that we are on the third generation.

It's absolutely nothing to do with Amazon. It's the publisher who creates the book, not Amazon.

[violent23]

Still, seems like Amazon should have some kind of standard set for all publishers to follow.. but whatever. Still need to know how to resize all text uniformly in a mobi.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by violent23

Still, seems like Amazon should have some kind of standard set for all publishers to follow.. but whatever. Still need to know how to resize all text uniformly in a mobi.

The only way to do it is to decompile the Mobi book to its HTML source, edit the HTML, and then re-build the book. You need to look for HTML "size=" attributes. I'm afraid there's no easy solution.

[JSWolf]

The easiest way to fix things is to use Calibre to convert to ePub, fix it up so it looks good and then use Calibre to convert back to Mobi.

[kovidgoyal]

convert from MOBI to MOBI in calibre, it will automatically rationalize font sizes

[HarryT]

"Rationalise" is an alarming word . Do you mean that if I've deliberately chosen to make a paragraph smaller or larger than the default text size, it will "correct" it for me?

[violent23]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

convert from MOBI to MOBI in calibre, it will automatically rationalize font sizes

I already did this, text is still the same. A lot really big some half the size.

[HarryT]

I'd go with Jon's suggestion: use Calibre to convert to ePub, edit the book in Sigil to correct the text size issue, then convert back to Mobi with Calibre.

[violent23]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'd go with Jon's suggestion: use Calibre to convert to ePub, edit the book in Sigil to correct the text size issue, then convert back to Mobi with Calibre.

Yeah, that sounds like the way it's gonna have to be.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by violent23

Yeah, that sounds like the way it's gonna have to be.

I've encountered similar problems with some poorly formatted ebook; likely poorly proofed conversions from some other format. I've found the MOBI>ePub in Calibre then edit in Sigil and then ePub>MOBI in Calibre again a very workable method.

Often you will find that the two sections of the book are all properly tagged, but reference different styles. When editing the ePub version in Sigil, make note of the style names and then edit the CSS style sheet (under the Styles entry on Sigil's tree view). Find the two styles, the one for the "big" text and the one for the "small" text, and change one to match the other. The text should now be uniform throughout the ePub with the exception of any headings or whatever that reference other styles.

[violent23]

The thing that really gets me is that I paid for this book. I should not have to go through all of this trouble to fix something I paid for.

[violent23]

Originally Posted by dwig

I've encountered similar problems with some poorly formatted ebook; likely poorly proofed conversions from some other format. I've found the MOBI>ePub in Calibre then edit in Sigil and then ePub>MOBI in Calibre again a very workable method.

Often you will find that the two sections of the book are all properly tagged, but reference different styles. When editing the ePub version in Sigil, make note of the style names and then edit the CSS style sheet (under the Styles entry on Sigil's tree view). Find the two styles, the one for the "big" text and the one for the "small" text, and change one to match the other. The text should now be uniform throughout the ePub with the exception of any headings or whatever that reference other styles.

BINGO!! This works... Thanks

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by HarryT

"Rationalise" is an alarming word . Do you mean that if I've deliberately chosen to make a paragraph smaller or larger than the default text size, it will "correct" it for me?

No it means it will correct huge differences in font size, like some text being 40pt and some being 10pt

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by violent23

The thing that really gets me is that I paid for this book. I should not have to go through all of this trouble to fix something I paid for.

I quite often edit eBooks I've paid for because the publishers don't format them the way I like. A lot have indents too large, spaces between paragraphs, fonts set to too small (I prefer the base font to be the default size), and margins too wide. These are typically the issues I deal with. Since I do know CSS and HTML well enough, I can fix these issues without too much hassle.