First line in ePub is indented, but shouldn't be :)

[Just some guy]

Hi again,
Is it possible to remove indentation from the first line in an ePub, while not changing the following ones (that should be indented)?

My text is based on a Word paragraph style that looks correct in Word as well as InDesign, while the ePub has these indentations...

EDIT: My apologies; the problem is not related to ePub; it occurs during conversion from Word to InDesign. Sorry.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Just some guy

Hi again,
Is it possible to remove indentation from the first line in an ePub, while not changing the following ones (that should be indented)?

My text is based on a Word paragraph style that looks correct in Word as well as InDesign, while the ePub has these indentations...

EDIT: My apologies; the problem is not related to ePub; it occurs during conversion from Word to InDesign. Sorry.

@Just some guy - That's an unusual workflow. There are a number of commonly used tools to get from a Word DOCX to an ePub, and InDesign ain't one of them. Is there a particular reason you're using InDesign to generate the ePub? If all I wanted to do was to convert a DOCX to ePub, InDD wouldn't be my first choice.

FWIW- I convert up to a dozen documents a day from DOCX to ePub.

BR

[sbin]

Originally Posted by Just some guy

Is it possible to remove indentation from the first line in an ePub, while not changing the following ones (that should be indented)?

Regardless of your workflow, you should be able to accomplish that by modifying the css.
If you're able to manage a bit of code, here's your two possible scenarios:

1. If the first paragraph has a different class than all the other paragraphs, it's easy: just set "text-indent: 0" for that class in the css.
2. If the first paragraph is not different from all the others, you have to get a bit creative. Depending on how your html is formatted, you could target your first paragraph for example by using a selector like "h1 + .yourtextclass".

[JSWolf]

Just create a class for your paragraph. I use .noindent as the name in CSS. <p class="noindent">

.noindent {
text-indent: 0
}

Done.

[Just some guy]

Thank you all! I'm sorry, I just got mails right now that there were replies to my question.

And no, I'm afraid that I literally don't have a clue about code and css -- I'm only doing this one-time project -- so I solved the problem in InDesign by changing the first lines manually (a couple of hundred times, haha).

I'm sure InDesign isn't meant to do this but I'm happy with the result; it just took a while to get there...

[JSWolf]

InDesign? Oh heck no! That's just rubbish for making ePub. I've seen some really bad code come from InDesign. Please find someone who knows CSS/HTML and get him/her to look at the code and fix the mess.

[Just some guy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

InDesign? Oh heck no! That's just rubbish for making ePub. I've seen some really bad code come from InDesign.

What would be the problem? The books looks correct in Calibre and Adobe Digital editions now.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Just some guy

What would be the problem? The books looks correct in Calibre and Adobe Digital editions now.

None.
Jon is an over the top purist (inside the code).

Many tools for Paper books, create 'excess' markup within an e-pub, unless the user is very sophisticated.

If it 'works' on its intended target... It is fine (for now. It may not survive later improvements ).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

None.
Jon is an over the top purist (inside the code).

Many tools for Paper books, create 'excess' markup within an e-pub, unless the user is very sophisticated.

If it 'works' on its intended target... It is fine (for now. It may not survive later improvements ).

Most eBooks are very easy to hand code. I've seen some of the ID code and can be almost as bad as FrontPage code.

[Just some guy]

Originally Posted by theducks

None.
Jon is an over the top purist (inside the code).

Many tools for Paper books, create 'excess' markup within an e-pub, unless the user is very sophisticated.

If it 'works' on its intended target... It is fine (for now. It may not survive later improvements ).

Thank you! I have lots of respect for purists, but I think I'll stick with my current version then.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Just some guy

Thank you! I have lots of respect for purists, but I think I'll stick with my current version then.

I've read of a number of cases were these sorts of eBooks with messy/bloated code has caused problems. I've even taken some of these problem eBooks and cleaned up the code and then using the same Reader/program/app, the eBook is able to be read no problem. So no, it's not being a purist. It's making the code clean so it works better. One thing I've never understood is why there can be more then 100 unused CSS entries in the CSs and HTML. What good does that do? It does no good at all. There are tools for removing unused classes, subset fonts, and remove crud from graphics (makes them smaller without the crud). Yes the publishers do not use these tools and prefer to make eBooks that are less than optimal.