Can't remove blank spaces between paragraphs

Waylander · 04-14-2024, 12:12 PM

I trying to remove all the blank spaces between paragraphs in a book. When I check that option in the layout section, and also in Heuristic processing, it removes some of the blank spaces, but not all of them. I don't think these are proper scene breaks, as the paragraphs before and after are on the same subject in the same flow of writing. Maybe I need to look in the Calibre editor, but I wouldn't know what to look for and get right of.

theducks · 04-14-2024, 01:26 PM

Look at the code with the editor.
Paragraph spacing (visually) can be done 2 ways:

 

or a non-zero margin-top or margin-bottom style

JSWolf · 04-14-2024, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Look at the code with the editor.
Paragraph spacing (visually) can be done 2 ways:

 

or a non-zero margin-top or margin-bottom style

In some rare occasions, I've seen used to make space.

theducks · 04-14-2024, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

In some rare occasions, I've seen used to make space.

Yep!
Simply looking at the code is the easiest way to find out and plan an attack.
First is to replace 2+ in a row with a 
the it is safe to remove the rest,

.scenebreak is your style sheet entry to make one

Jaws · 04-15-2024, 09:26 PM

I think some of the responses have misunderstood the original query, which was about removing the extra spaces.

The most-probable cause is in the stylesheets... but it could be in any of several places in the stylesheets, because the style could be called in several different places. It might be in the style for <body>, for the <div> element including the text, or individually in (and you'll want to look at both the first paragraph in an html file and later ones — these often have different styles assigned).

What you're looking for is a combination of the misbegotten "display: block" element in the style, and the failure to explicitly specify the top and bottom margins as 0, which I've found most convenient to put at the end of the style:

{
…
margin-top: 0;
margin-bottom: 0;
}

(Note also the semicolon after the last element — although not required by CSS, just be in the habit. Think of it like having a period at the end of the sentence before a new paragraph.)

Two notes:

Although CSS allows use of the margin: 0 style to supposedly set all margins for that style to 0, this is not supported in many e-pub readers (despite epubcheck and other checkers allowing it to pass as "legal") and creates unpredictable results when converting to other formats. Not Recommended.

display: block should be used only when that paragraph is not reflowable (a stanza of poetry in which the linebreaks are is one example, so are some multililne descriptive headings); this should be pretty rare. It's also the default for unknown reasons in epubs generated by software from the baked-mud company.

Waylander · 04-16-2024, 05:46 AM

Ok, here's what I've found.

This comes up where there's a space between paragraphs that shouldn't be there: .

And here's what's in the CSS stylesheeet:

Code:

}
.calibre11 {
  font-style: italic;
}
.calibre12 {
  font-weight: bold;
  hyphens: auto;
  line-height: 200%;
  overflow-wrap: break-word;
  word-break: break-word;
  word-wrap: break-word;
}
.calibre13 {
  font-style: italic;
  line-height: 1.2;
}
.calibre14 {
  height: auto;
  text-align: center;
  width: auto;
}
.calibre15 {
  font-size: 0.75em;
  font-weight: bold;
}
.calibre16 {
  display: table-column;
  border-right: black solid 1px;
}
.calibre17 {
  display: table-cell;
  text-align: inherit;
  vertical-align: inherit;
  white-space: normal;
  padding: 0;
}
.calibre18 {
  color: gray;
  display: block;
  height: 0;
  margin: 0;
  border-top: black solid 1px;
  border-right: currentColor none medium;
  border-bottom: currentColor none medium;
  border-left: currentColor none medium;
}
.caption {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-align: justify;
  text-indent: 1.5em;
}
.caption1 {
  border-collapse: collapse;
  border-spacing: 2px;
  display: table;
  height: auto;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-top: 0;
  text-align: center;
  text-indent: 0;
  width: 100%;
  padding: 0;
}
.caption2 {
  display: table-row;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: baseline;
  width: 100%;
}
.center {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 0 1em;
}
.centered {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  line-height: 1.2;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-align: center;
}
.chaptertoc {
  font-weight: bold;
  line-height: 200%;
}
.content {
  display: table-cell;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: inherit;
  padding: 1px;
}
.ec-lmr {
  font-size: 0.75em;
}
.ec-lmr-12x-x {
  font-size: 1.41667em;
  line-height: 1.2;
}
.ec-lmssbx-10x-x {
  font-size: 1.125em;
  font-weight: bold;
  line-height: 1.2;
}
.figure {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-indent: 1.5em;
  margin: 0 auto;
}
.fontsmall {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-indent: 1.5em;
}
.footnotes {
  border-bottom: black solid 1px;
  border-top: black solid 1px;
  display: block;
  font-size: 0.75em;
  font-style: normal;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-right: 15%;
  margin-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-indent: 1.5em;
}
.hline {
  display: table-row;
  vertical-align: middle;
  border-top: black solid 1px;
}
.id {
  display: table-cell;
  font-weight: bold;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: inherit;
  white-space: nowrap;
  padding: 1px;
}
.likesectionhead {
  display: block;
  font-size: 1.125em;
  font-weight: bold;
  line-height: 1.2;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 1em 0;
}
.likesubsectionhead {
  display: block;
  font-weight: bold;
  margin: 1.33em 0;
}
.minipage {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-indent: 1.5em;
  width: 100%;
}
.newline {
  display: block;
  line-height: 1.2;
}
.noindent {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-indent: 1.5em;
  margin: 0;
}
.pagebreak {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-indent: 1.5em;
  margin: 0;
}
.quotation {
  display: block;
  margin: 1em;
}
.small-caps {
  font-variant: small-caps;
}
.sout {
  text-decoration: line-through;
}
.tabular {
  border-collapse: collapse;
  border-spacing: 0;
  display: table;
  text-indent: 0;
  margin: 0 auto;
}
.td {
  display: table-cell;
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: inherit;
  white-space: nowrap;
  padding: 1px 5pt;
}
.td1 {
  display: table-cell;
  text-align: justify;
  vertical-align: inherit;
  white-space: nowrap;
  padding: 1px 5pt;
}
.textsuperscript {
  font-size: 0.75em;
  line-height: normal;
  vertical-align: super;
}
.textsuperscript1 {
  font-size: 1em;
  line-height: 1.2;
  vertical-align: super;
}
.titlehead {
  display: block;
  font-size: 1.41667em;
  font-weight: bold;
  line-height: 1.2;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 0.83em 0;
}
.titlepage {
  border-bottom: 0;
  border-top: 0;
  display: block;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  text-align: center;
}

theducks · 04-16-2024, 10:42 AM

There is no Calibre9 style, so you get the default for BR, making the lousy coding even worse.

Waylander · 04-16-2024, 11:15 AM

I think that might be because I've already tried converting the book a few times trying different ways of removing the remaining blank lines between paragraphs. What's confusing is why most have been removed but there are still quite a few randomly left, where they shouldn't be.

theducks · 04-16-2024, 11:38 AM

When conversions go wrong, always start with the original source otherwise you are piling garbage on garbage and your fix is being applied to the previous miss.

The order of doing 'fixes' is important. Only looking at the code gives a clue.
If is used in multiples and singly, you need to replace the multiples ( scenebreaks) first
And before you do the first S&R, Beautify, so the code is even

04-14-2024, 12:12 PM	#1
Waylander Fanatic Posts: 594 Karma: 2905052 Join Date: Oct 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 5 SE, Onyx Boox Poke 3	Can't remove blank spaces between paragraphs I trying to remove all the blank spaces between paragraphs in a book. When I check that option in the layout section, and also in Heuristic processing, it removes some of the blank spaces, but not all of them. I don't think these are proper scene breaks, as the paragraphs before and after are on the same subject in the same flow of writing. Maybe I need to look in the Calibre editor, but I wouldn't know what to look for and get right of.

04-14-2024, 01:26 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,820 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Look at the code with the editor. Paragraph spacing (visually) can be done 2 ways: <p> </p> or a non-zero margin-top or margin-bottom style

04-15-2024, 09:26 PM	#5
Jaws JCL Punch-Card Collector Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Antarctica Device: Aggressively Device Independent	I think some of the responses have misunderstood the original query, which was about removing the extra spaces. The most-probable cause is in the stylesheets... but it could be in any of several places in the stylesheets, because the style could be called in several different places. It might be in the style for <body>, for the <div> element including the text, or individually in <p> (and you'll want to look at both the first paragraph in an html file and later ones — these often have different styles assigned). What you're looking for is a combination of the misbegotten "display: block" element in the style, and the failure to explicitly specify the top and bottom margins as 0, which I've found most convenient to put at the end of the style: { … margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; } (Note also the semicolon after the last element — although not required by CSS, just be in the habit. Think of it like having a period at the end of the sentence before a new paragraph.) Two notes: Although CSS allows use of the margin: 0 style to supposedly set all margins for that style to 0, this is not supported in many e-pub readers (despite epubcheck and other checkers allowing it to pass as "legal") and creates unpredictable results when converting to other formats. Not Recommended. display: block should be used only when that paragraph is not reflowable (a stanza of poetry in which the linebreaks are </br> is one example, so are some multililne descriptive headings); this should be pretty rare. It's also the default for unknown reasons in epubs generated by software from the baked-mud company.

04-16-2024, 11:38 AM	#9
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,820 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	When conversions go wrong, always start with the original source otherwise you are piling garbage on garbage and your fix is being applied to the previous miss. The order of doing 'fixes' is important. Only looking at the code gives a clue. If <br class="calibre9" /> is used in multiples and singly, you need to replace the multiples (<br class="calibre9" /><br class="calibre9" /> scenebreaks) first And before you do the first S&R, Beautify, so the code is even

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04-16-2024, 10:42 AM	#7
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,820 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	There is no Calibre9 style, so you get the default for BR, making the lousy coding even worse.

04-16-2024, 11:15 AM	#8
Waylander Fanatic Posts: 594 Karma: 2905052 Join Date: Oct 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 5 SE, Onyx Boox Poke 3	I think that might be because I've already tried converting the book a few times trying different ways of removing the remaining blank lines between paragraphs. What's confusing is why most have been removed but there are still quite a few randomly left, where they shouldn't be.

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