Empty <h1></h1> for ToC target?

jcsalomon · 03-28-2017, 10:40 PM

(For context, see the thread Non-<hn> tag in TOC: complement to sigil_not_in_toc in the Sigil forum.)

A series of books I’m typesetting each begin with a sort of one-sentence “Once upon a time…” preface. Since the dead-tree version had this formatted similar to headings, I coded the prefaces thus:

Code:

<body>
  <h1 title="Preface">Once there was a world [text elided]…</h1>
</body>

The “title="Preface"” causes Sigil’s ToC generator to give this text the correct entry everywhere. I also have this set as the SRL.

Trouble is, Amazon decided to reset the start-reading location to the next page, Chapter 1, possibly because that had the first text in <p> tags. (I’m guessing; I’ve read the threads about ’zon and SRL voodoo.) It’s also an abuse of <h1> semantics, and I want to format it slightly differently after all, and….

The obvious solution looks like this:

Code:

<body>
  <h1 title="Preface"></h1>
  <p class="preface">Once there was a world [text elided]…</p>
</body>

But (though I could be misunderstanding something) my online reading warns against having empty <h1> tags. So I could write

Code:

<h1 title="Preface">&nbsp;</h1>

or even

Code:

<h1 title="Preface" style="display:none;">&nbsp;</h1>

But before I make myself nuts with work-arounds—is there anything actually wrong with my initial “obvious solution”?

theducks · 03-30-2017, 07:31 PM

IIRC An empty h# eats visual space unless it has a class or style that sets a small height somehow. If you want that top margin space, the issue is moot

jcsalomon · 03-30-2017, 09:22 PM

It’s specially-formatted text on its own page; I could even say the space on top is on purpose.

(Though style="display:none;" would even eliminate that.)

03-28-2017, 10:40 PM	#1
jcsalomon Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 1204 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: Bookari (née Mantano Reader) on Android; Kindle Fire HD	Empty <h1></h1> for ToC target? (For context, see the thread Non-<hn> tag in TOC: complement to sigil_not_in_toc in the Sigil forum.) A series of books I’m typesetting each begin with a sort of one-sentence “Once upon a time…” preface. Since the dead-tree version had this formatted similar to headings, I coded the prefaces thus: Code: <body> <h1 title="Preface">Once there was a world [text elided]…</h1> </body> The “title="Preface"” causes Sigil’s ToC generator to give this text the correct entry everywhere. I also have this set as the SRL. Trouble is, Amazon decided to reset the start-reading location to the next page, Chapter 1, possibly because that had the first text in <p> tags. (I’m guessing; I’ve read the threads about ’zon and SRL voodoo.) It’s also an abuse of <h1> semantics, and I want to format it slightly differently after all, and…. The obvious solution looks like this: Code: <body> <h1 title="Preface"></h1> <p class="preface">Once there was a world [text elided]…</p> </body> But (though I could be misunderstanding something) my online reading warns against having empty <h1> tags. So I could write Code: <h1 title="Preface"> </h1> or even Code: <h1 title="Preface" style="display:none;"> </h1> But before I make myself nuts with work-arounds—is there anything actually wrong with my initial “obvious solution”?

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03-30-2017, 07:31 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,779 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	IIRC An empty h# eats visual space unless it has a class or style that sets a small height somehow. If you want that top margin space, the issue is moot

03-30-2017, 09:22 PM	#3
jcsalomon Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 1204 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: Bookari (née Mantano Reader) on Android; Kindle Fire HD	It’s specially-formatted text on its own page; I could even say the space on top is on purpose. (Though style="display:none;" would even eliminate that.)