Fast way of adding empty lines to all paragraphs (or, even better, increase spacing)?

[Just some guy]

Hi,
I'm an absolute beginner, and I literally don't have a clue about html and css.

I've converted a bunch of InDesign files to ePub, and everything looks fine except I realize that the spacing before and after paragraphs are almost non-existing in the ePub.

So I'm looking for a fast and easy way to add some extra space, preferably by cheating so I won't have to learn anything about ebook editing. (Not just because I'm lazy; I've only got this one book and I'm never ever going to write another, so it's just not worth it to spend too much time.)

I found out that it's possible to simply add a <br> in the code whereever I want an empty line (that won't make the entire file explode or something, will it?), so that's an option if everything else fails.

Only thing is I need to do it like a thousand times, so it would be really nice if there were some kind of automated way to do it. Also, a full line is a bit over the top; something like 3/4 line or so would be perfect...

Thank you in advance for any hints or suggestions!

[theducks]

margin-top: 1em; adds 1em of height (em is the current size of the line)
2em makes 2 lines of top space

you add this to the CSS for the style in the <p style="name_here">

if the p has no style
just assign to the "p' level

p {margin-top: 1em;}

[JSWolf]

A 1em paragraph space is too much. It distracts from reading as your eye doesn't move to the next paragraph but to the space instead. It can get mistaken for a section break. But overall, a 1em space makes the book rather hard to read.

I've seen some publishers use a .3em space between paragraphs. That's not going to throw the reader out of the book.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A 1em paragraph space is too much. It distracts from reading as your eye doesn't move to the next paragraph but to the space instead. It can get mistaken for a section break. But overall, a 1em space makes the book rather hard to read.

I've seen some publishers use a .3em space between paragraphs. That's not going to throw the reader out of the book.

What you like and what the OP likes are INDIVIDUAL tastes. YOU do not get to dictate OP's tastes.

My post was an example. the number is up to the OP

[Just some guy]

Originally Posted by theducks

margin-top: 1em; adds 1em of height (em is the current size of the line)
2em makes 2 lines of top space

you add this to the CSS for the style in the <p style="name_here">

if the p has no style
just assign to the "p' level

p {margin-top: 1em;}

Thank you very much!

[Just some guy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A 1em paragraph space is too much. It distracts from reading as your eye doesn't move to the next paragraph but to the space instead. It can get mistaken for a section break. But overall, a 1em space makes the book rather hard to read.

I've seen some publishers use a .3em space between paragraphs. That's not going to throw the reader out of the book.

Thank you for the .3em suggestion!

I would never have figured this out without theducks , but .3em is exactly the amount of space I was looking for.

[Just some guy]

Originally Posted by theducks

margin-top: 1em; adds 1em of height (em is the current size of the line)
2em makes 2 lines of top space

you add this to the CSS for the style in the <p style="name_here">

Hi again,
I have a mysterious problem when I edit my various CSS styles:

In most cases, edits just work perfectly; changes are immediately updated in the text.

But in other cases, with other styles, there's simply no effect at all when I change a margin (or any other property for tht particular style).

It feels like I somehow fail to make the edit 'bite;' like I should press 'Enter' or 'Save' or something...

[Just some guy]

OK, please ignore my previous post; I now realize that if I for instance edit a Heading-4 for one chapter, that heading is only edited 'locally' for that chapter; not 'globally' for the entire book.

So, as far as I can see, I should first double-click each separate chapter to see which styles are used in it, and then edit each one.

And there's like a couple of hundreds, so now I know what to do for the rest of the day.

[JSWolf]

In some eBooks, the class used for the chapter header is different. But for the actual book chapters, I've not seen more than three different classes. You do get different classes in other parts of the book like the about bits.

[theducks]

See! That is the beauty of using LINKED Style Sheets

Define once,
Apply class=<name> as many times as needed.
I have a 'chapno' style as a saved clip. I paste that in the stylesheet, then REGEX Search and Replace to change each chapter heading to use style="chapno"

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

See! That is the beauty of using LINKED Style Sheets

Define once,
Apply class=<name> as many times as needed.
I have a 'chapno' style as a saved clip. I paste that in the stylesheet, then REGEX Search and Replace to change each chapter heading to use style="chapno"

If I was replacing all the chapter styles, I would not be using a class. I would just go with <h2>Chapter Title</h2> and apply the chapter title styling to h2. It's neater and works better for detecting chapter titles if you want to generate a new ToC.

[Just some guy]

Thank you very much to both of you!

I'm afraid I don't understand much of it, though. My main problem, besides my total newb-status, is the fact that I had a very complicated mess to deal with in the first place, with lots of fonts and styles and effects. So I just get what I deserve now, haha. That's alright, the book turns out nicely, thanks to you guys!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Just some guy

Thank you very much to both of you!

I'm afraid I don't understand much of it, though. My main problem, besides my total newb-status, is the fact that I had a very complicated mess to deal with in the first place, with lots of fonts and styles and effects. So I just get what I deserve now, haha. That's alright, the book turns out nicely, thanks to you guys!

You are probably wasting your time with "lots of fonts", if you are going with some of the common distribution channels AND DEVICES.

Many devices IGNORE (some just by default) Fonts. A bit of 'we know best' and give the ability to choose to the user.
Usually you get to Bold, Italic, Underline.
The other thing is "do you have the license" to distribute those fonts? Very few devices (have built in) support the range of fonts found on a typical PC
Typical Foundry Fonts run $49 a face (that is $200 for the Family if you use all, (normal) Bold, Italic, Bold italic) and I don't know what other terms are there when embedding )

[JSWolf]

When a CSS as messy as that one, there's a very good chance that it will cause a problem with some Readers/programs/apps. Do you want to risk that? If you don't, then you'll have to learn CSS/HTML and fix that mess.

I learned by diving into CSS/HTML and just learning. Also, what I could not figure out, I search for to find out what's what.

[Just some guy]

Originally Posted by theducks

You are probably wasting your time with "lots of fonts", if you are going with some of the common distribution channels AND DEVICES.

Many devices IGNORE (some just by default) Fonts. A bit of 'we know best' and give the ability to choose to the user.
Usually you get to Bold, Italic, Underline.

Well, 'lots of font' translates to around 6, I think. And everything looks like it should in Adobe, Sigil and Calibre. It also passes the validator-test. So I cross my fingers...

Originally Posted by theducks

The other thing is "do you have the license" to distribute those fonts?

Yes, I'm very careful about everything related to IP and I only use fonts that I have written permission to use (and embed) commercially.