problems with indented text when converting to MOBI

Borek · 06-09-2014, 10:53 AM

Hi All,

Did some searching of the forum, but couldn't find anything relevant.

I have an OpenOffice.org document that I am trying to convert to ebook formats. I am doing it using Calibre. Documents is correctly exported to EPUB (or at least it is converted in a way that satisfies me, taking into account I have about two hours experience only).

Problem is with conversion to MOBI. Part of the document contains indented text that tries to simulate forum discussion, with headers and quotes. Something like

Code:

What he saw on the screen was:
     John wrote:
          in the answer to Borek's post:
               Problem is with conversion to MOBI. Part of the document
               contains indented text that tries to simulate forum discussion,
               with headers and quotes.
          Don't use MOBI.

With each indent being 1 cm.

Unfortunately, in MOBI these indents become so large, "Problem is with conversion..." is shifted right way too far, so any longer text becomes barely readable (split between many lines containing just a word or two), something like:

Code:

What he saw on the screen was:
                John wrote:
                                in the answer to Borek's post:
                                                Problem is with conversion 
                                                to MOBI. Part of the 
                                                document contains 
                                                indented text that tries to 
                                                simulate forum discussion,
                                                with headers and quotes.
                Don't use MOBI.

Anyone had this problem before? Any idea what to do?

Toxaris · 06-09-2014, 11:33 AM

How do you define the indent in the ePUB file? How does the code look like?

Borek · 06-09-2014, 06:16 PM

I am not editing EPUB files. What I did was I added *.odt (native OPenOffice.org file) to the Calibre library and told Calibre to convert it directly to MOBI and EPUB (and AZW3). Indents in the *.odt are defined using paragraph styles.

Generated EBPUB and AZW3 - when checked with Calibre - look OK. MOBI looks bad (both when checked with Calibre and when sent to my Kindle through Amazon).

JSWolf · 06-09-2014, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borek

I am not editing EPUB files. What I did was I added *.odt (native OPenOffice.org file) to the Calibre library and told Calibre to convert it directly to MOBI and EPUB (and AZW3). Indents in the *.odt are defined using paragraph styles.

Generated EBPUB and AZW3 - when checked with Calibre - look OK. MOBI looks bad (both when checked with Calibre and when sent to my Kindle through Amazon).

Try converting the ePub and AZW3 to Mobi and see what happens.

Toxaris · 06-10-2014, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borek

I am not editing EPUB files. What I did was I added *.odt (native OPenOffice.org file) to the Calibre library and told Calibre to convert it directly to MOBI and EPUB (and AZW3). Indents in the *.odt are defined using paragraph styles.

Generated EBPUB and AZW3 - when checked with Calibre - look OK. MOBI looks bad (both when checked with Calibre and when sent to my Kindle through Amazon).

You can still look at the code though. Calibre has an editor. It might give us some leads.

Borek · 06-10-2014, 05:06 AM

Did some testing and I think I know where the problem is.

Looks like Calibre generated MOBI (or perhaps MOBI in general) doesn't like margins (and presumably other measurements as well) given in cm. I have manually edited stylesheet in EPUB and replaced all margins given as 0.5cm, 1cm, 1.5cm by 0.5em, 1em, 1.5em and so on - and the conversion result was close to what I expected. Sure, em and cm are not the same thing, but that was the simplest way of testing the idea. Unfortunately, living where I live and using local Windows version it would be quite difficult to not use cm.

I have a gut feeling cm were treated as inches previously, which was why these margins looked so large.

Looks like the conversion will be much more time consuming than expected :/

Toxaris · 06-10-2014, 06:43 AM

Margins should (almost) always be best set in relative measurements like em instead of fixed like cm, pt or px. As screen sizes differ, fixed sizes can cause a headache soon. Imagine reading a book on a phone which has margins of a cm... Not much room for text anymore.
The same applies to font sizes.

Borek · 06-10-2014, 10:51 AM

Technically you are right - unfortunately, most text editors I am aware of are printer oriented and they use cm/inch measurements only. ATM I have to work with ODT documents whether I like it, or not.

Toxaris · 06-10-2014, 12:37 PM

That is why a text editor/word processor is not always the best source for an e-book. It is fine to create the text, but for the e-book manual adjustment is required. A printed document is something different than a electronic document.

DaleDe · 06-10-2014, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borek

Technically you are right - unfortunately, most text editors I am aware of are printer oriented and they use cm/inch measurements only. ATM I have to work with ODT documents whether I like it, or not.

Atlantis will build an ePub and Mobi directly from the processor. It automatically converts any cm/in measurements to relative values during the ePub creation. The ePub is clean. It can read an ODT file.

Dale

roger64 · 06-11-2014, 03:23 PM

DiapDealer published two days ago a script that converts cm to em directly within EPUB CSS stylesheets using Calibre.

More about it here
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...6&postcount=30

It works both with condensed and "beautified" (classic) stylesheets. However, it does not convert values written in shorthand and leave them untouched.

Of course, still experimental.

Exemple with px in the screenshot for shorthand illustration. Number four (lowest one) should be OK however.

Borek · 06-11-2014, 03:40 PM

Thanks for the info.

So far I managed to convert ODT to EPUB, then I manually edited EPUB - having some experience with CSS/HTML definitely helped. After that EPUB -> MOBI works OK. It happens a single style sheet will work for all documents I have to deal right now.

I will need a more flexible solution, but not soon.

mrmikel · 06-12-2014, 04:44 PM

If you are looking for the golden fleece of epubs it will be a while. It is all still rough around the edges and the manufacturer gang can't or won't shoot in the same direction. Look up discussions on the nook about it barfing badly if you put too many size changes in one line!, as a terrible example.

06-09-2014, 10:53 AM	#1
Borek Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2014 Device: Kindle	problems with indented text when converting to MOBI Hi All, Did some searching of the forum, but couldn't find anything relevant. I have an OpenOffice.org document that I am trying to convert to ebook formats. I am doing it using Calibre. Documents is correctly exported to EPUB (or at least it is converted in a way that satisfies me, taking into account I have about two hours experience only). Problem is with conversion to MOBI. Part of the document contains indented text that tries to simulate forum discussion, with headers and quotes. Something like Code: What he saw on the screen was: John wrote: in the answer to Borek's post: Problem is with conversion to MOBI. Part of the document contains indented text that tries to simulate forum discussion, with headers and quotes. Don't use MOBI. With each indent being 1 cm. Unfortunately, in MOBI these indents become so large, "Problem is with conversion..." is shifted right way too far, so any longer text becomes barely readable (split between many lines containing just a word or two), something like: Code: What he saw on the screen was: John wrote: in the answer to Borek's post: Problem is with conversion to MOBI. Part of the document contains indented text that tries to simulate forum discussion, with headers and quotes. Don't use MOBI. Anyone had this problem before? Any idea what to do? Last edited by Borek; 06-09-2014 at 06:17 PM.

06-11-2014, 03:23 PM	#11
roger64 Wizard Posts: 2,608 Karma: 3000161 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Kindle PW3 (wifi)	DiapDealer published two days ago a script that converts cm to em directly within EPUB CSS stylesheets using Calibre. More about it here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...6&postcount=30 It works both with condensed and "beautified" (classic) stylesheets. However, it does not convert values written in shorthand and leave them untouched. Of course, still experimental. Exemple with px in the screenshot for shorthand illustration. Number four (lowest one) should be OK however. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by roger64; 06-11-2014 at 03:30 PM.

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06-09-2014, 11:33 AM	#2
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	How do you define the indent in the ePUB file? How does the code look like?

06-09-2014, 06:16 PM	#3
Borek Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2014 Device: Kindle	I am not editing EPUB files. What I did was I added .odt (native OPenOffice.org file) to the Calibre library and told Calibre to convert it directly to MOBI and EPUB (and AZW3). Indents in the .odt are defined using paragraph styles. Generated EBPUB and AZW3 - when checked with Calibre - look OK. MOBI looks bad (both when checked with Calibre and when sent to my Kindle through Amazon).

06-10-2014, 05:06 AM	#6
Borek Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2014 Device: Kindle	Did some testing and I think I know where the problem is. Looks like Calibre generated MOBI (or perhaps MOBI in general) doesn't like margins (and presumably other measurements as well) given in cm. I have manually edited stylesheet in EPUB and replaced all margins given as 0.5cm, 1cm, 1.5cm by 0.5em, 1em, 1.5em and so on - and the conversion result was close to what I expected. Sure, em and cm are not the same thing, but that was the simplest way of testing the idea. Unfortunately, living where I live and using local Windows version it would be quite difficult to not use cm. I have a gut feeling cm were treated as inches previously, which was why these margins looked so large. Looks like the conversion will be much more time consuming than expected :/

06-10-2014, 06:43 AM	#7
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Margins should (almost) always be best set in relative measurements like em instead of fixed like cm, pt or px. As screen sizes differ, fixed sizes can cause a headache soon. Imagine reading a book on a phone which has margins of a cm... Not much room for text anymore. The same applies to font sizes.

06-10-2014, 10:51 AM	#8
Borek Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2014 Device: Kindle	Technically you are right - unfortunately, most text editors I am aware of are printer oriented and they use cm/inch measurements only. ATM I have to work with ODT documents whether I like it, or not.

06-10-2014, 12:37 PM	#9
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	That is why a text editor/word processor is not always the best source for an e-book. It is fine to create the text, but for the e-book manual adjustment is required. A printed document is something different than a electronic document.

06-11-2014, 03:40 PM	#12
Borek Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2014 Device: Kindle	Thanks for the info. So far I managed to convert ODT to EPUB, then I manually edited EPUB - having some experience with CSS/HTML definitely helped. After that EPUB -> MOBI works OK. It happens a single style sheet will work for all documents I have to deal right now. I will need a more flexible solution, but not soon.

06-12-2014, 04:44 PM	#13
mrmikel Color me gone Posts: 2,089 Karma: 1445295 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Central Oregon Coast Device: PRS-300	If you are looking for the golden fleece of epubs it will be a while. It is all still rough around the edges and the manufacturer gang can't or won't shoot in the same direction. Look up discussions on the nook about it barfing badly if you put too many size changes in one line!, as a terrible example.