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Old 04-11-2013, 01:56 PM   #1
ecbritz
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How do I display one portrait ebook page at a time on a wide screen?

I am just starting out with Sigil. Actually, I'm just starting out to explore this program. I need to take small steps and I need plain and simple advice tailored to just one small step at a time.

Up to now, I've managed to produce a cover page containing graphics, plus pages with text following it. The TOC I also managed to create successfully.
Everything formatted / edited within Sigil. I avoid importing into Sigil document files with complex formatting (typed and converted to html with my word processor).

I use Sony Reader-for-PC (the latest version) to read my Sigil ebooks. The problem I encounter here is that a single "portrait" Sigil ebook page filled with an image is not demarcated as a single portrait page and positioned in the middle of my widescreen / "landscape" screen display by the Sony Reader-for-PC program.

If I set the Reader to display two pages at a time, I see two "portrait" pages next to each other. I would for instance see the cover page (filled with graphics) and the blank page following it - demarcated as two pages - on the screen. However, if I set the Reader to display one page at a time, the image filling the cover page moves to the left, leaving the rest of the widescreen display blank. In the case of pages with text, the text wrapping is automatically adjusted to the widescreen / "landscape" display.

What I would like to see in my Sony Reader-for-PC, is one "portrait" shaped page at a time in the middle of the screen. Is it possible to control this by doing something to the ebook while compiling it with Sigil?
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Old 04-11-2013, 02:26 PM   #2
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That is really the way it is supposed to work.
Text is allowed to reflow, so a paragraph fills the line, as wide as it is.
A Picture, for all practical purposes, is a Fixed object. (IMHO Stretching looks bad. Stretching over 300% wide ) . The cover is typically a single page, Just long enough to hold the picture. You might try setting the justification for that Paragraph to Left, but not all software supports the setting (It hurts nothing to try )
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Old 04-11-2013, 07:48 PM   #3
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Thanks. Once one is certain about a limitation or systematic feature, you can try to work around it. If one fills the whole cover page with a single image, you are apparently going to have this problem of mine, once you set your e-reader to a single-page display. With a widescreen monitor your cover image will be stuck on the left side with a blank space -- where the second page would be positioned in a two-page display -- on the right. I'll try to combine pictures with text outside rather than inside the pictures, for the cover page, to see how that works in one-page and two-page displays. One should also consider making a second page, immediately following the cover page, which matches or continues the cover in some way, for an attractive two-page "first encounter" of the book. I'm just thinking out loud!
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Old 04-12-2013, 02:58 AM   #4
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Who will read a book on a widescreen monitor? Most will use a dedicated reader or tablet.
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Old 04-12-2013, 05:15 AM   #5
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Un-maximise the window your reader program runs in. Drag it to a narrower width, position it centrally on your screen.
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Old 04-12-2013, 09:02 AM   #6
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It can be especially hard of us with older eyes, though the rest of me is young at heart at least. My widescreen can be too wide for editing sometimes, though I compensate by changing zoom slider at the bottom right to at least 130%. That way I can lean back a bit and take off my glasses...sometimes anyway.
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Old 04-12-2013, 09:07 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Toxaris View Post
Who will read a book on a widescreen monitor? Most will use a dedicated reader or tablet.
Agreed. This is a edge case to begin with.

Then the user has a further, edge requirement that runs 180 from what most MR users here want (No stinkin' blank pages ).

Adobe reader does show blank pages because, most documents were designed for the PRINTED page (of which there was NO printing on the backside).
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Old 04-13-2013, 09:47 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrmikel View Post
It can be especially hard of us with older eyes, though the rest of me is young at heart at least. My widescreen can be too wide for editing sometimes, though I compensate by changing zoom slider at the bottom right to at least 130%. That way I can lean back a bit and take off my glasses...sometimes anyway.
Oh, for goodness' sake! You don't HAVE to view everything in a maximised window!
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Old 04-13-2013, 10:35 AM   #9
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It looks terrible if I span displays

You don't ever want 1 page on the Left Widescreen and 1 on the Right Widescreen
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Old 04-13-2013, 08:11 PM   #10
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I need to work through the tutorials a bit more before asking stupid questions here. For instance, I would love to know how to WRAP text around pictures inside the Sigil editing window, in stead of being limited to the no-wrap setting (the default setting?). I'm sure the answer will crop up in the tutorials, at least I hope it does ...

Regarding the matter of cover page display on a widescreen PC monitor, I tried to produce an epub by using the writer2epub extension available for LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice -- just to see what happens to the cover page when displayed on a widescreen PC monitor.

The writer2epub extension did not produce an epub containing the pictures I inserted into the OpenOffice source document. But writer2epub did use the first picture inserted into the OpenOffice source document to create a cover page. Leaving the questions about the absence of pictures in the writer2epub-produced epub aside, the cover page created by writer2epub displays with a black background on a widescreen PC monitor. This is of course ideal. (See the attachment.)

If this writer2epub-created epub is imported into Sigil, the cover page html can be left as is and your Sigil-produced cover will have the same black background.

Another interesting thing is that writer2epub does reproduce footnotes created in the OpenOffice source document. However, they are reproduced as "endnotes". When you import the writer2epub-produced epub into Sigil, these "endnotes" are contained in a separate html, and they are displayed as "endnotes" in the Sigil-reproduced epub.

I don't of course suggest using OpenOffice and writer2epub as in-between programs: it would be a bit crazy to work like that. I would much rather know how to produce that black background (or a background with another colour) using Sigil itself. HOW DO I DO THAT?

PS To position the cover in the centre of the widescreen PC monitor display, you must simply centre the picture inside Sigil. In Sigil, do Ctrl-E.
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Old 04-13-2013, 08:20 PM   #11
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I managed to enter the same posting twice, sorry. How do I remove this one?

Last edited by ecbritz; 04-13-2013 at 08:22 PM.
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Old 04-13-2013, 10:01 PM   #12
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For EPUB discussion, The MR EPUB forum is a good place.

Sigil is a tool to edit EPUB.

BTW A lot of your questions have already been answered in the Stickies in that forum.
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Old 04-15-2013, 04:49 AM   #13
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Could you please give me a link for the MR EPUB forum, where I should read the stickies? Its probably a MobileRead section, but I can't find it searching with my browser. Are you perhaps referring to https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=179 ? Which sticky should I read at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=179 ?

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Old 04-15-2013, 06:45 AM   #14
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MR means mobileread - this forum. It looks like you've already found the EPUB section.

If you're interested in EPUB design, you should read all the stickies. Then all the other threads :-)
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Old 04-15-2013, 09:39 PM   #15
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It bothers me that rude language was directed at a very highly appreciated and valued forum member in this thread.
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