Formula for calculating drop caps

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I think that was just the example he used. You dont have to use h1 + p as the selector you could use any selector. eg:

p.first::first-letter {...}

<h1>Chapter Title</h1>
<p class="dateline">London, Sept. 17, 1940</p>
<p class="first">First paragraph, or any paragraph that you want the drop-cap</p>

What you show is close to my preferred method. I really don't like hx+p selectors since all too often there is other text between the header and the first text paragraph which leads to manual fixing.

OTOH, other than for my own use, I tend to dislike drop caps. The last ebook I helped with that used drop caps ended up with a mess of code trying to make the drop caps look good acceptable in multiple formats and when drop caps just didn't work.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Do you happen to know what CSS rule(s) will trigger drop cap processing?

I don’t know exactly. The Kindle Publishing Guidelines includes suggested html markup for drop caps. Following that will certainly result in KFX drop caps.

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

There's a new initial-letter CSS rule that'll make creating drop caps much easier.

For example:

Spoiler:

h1 + p::first-letter {
  -webkit-initial-letter: 2;
  initial-letter: 2;
  margin-right: 0.2em;
  color: red;
}

However, I've found only one app that actually supports this new rule: iBooks.

EDIT: Gitden Reader also supports initial-letter, but not ADEPT DRM.

Just tried it: Marvin also supports initial-letter

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

(Do you have any idea whether initial-letter is on a track to being standardized? The article that you linked is over three years old.)

Doesn't matter. Too many different versions of ADE out there and you cannot guarantee that a version of ADE that supports this will be what's used. There are a lot of Readers out there still using an old version of ADE. Heck, there are Readers using FBReader to display ePub and then there are all the different programs for Android and iOS that will never support this.

The problem is that ePub wasn't fully finished wen the spec was released and getting all these programs to support new additions isn't easy and may never happen and even if all these programs did support the latest features, try getting all these programs updated for every instance where they are used. Not likely to happen. For example, look at Kobo. It uses RMSDK (ADE). But Kobo has not updated RMSDK in like forever and may never do so.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Just tried it: Marvin also supports initial-letter

Doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. Marvin using webkit on iOS. You have to have all the other programs on iOS and Android and Readers and Windows and Linux and OS X and it won't work. Give it up.

[Turtle91]

Oh yeah, there are still horses out there, sooooo....everyone should give up cars!

Not everyone wants to use ADE...give it up.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For example, look at Kobo. It uses RMSDK (ADE). But Kobo has not updated RMSDK in like forever and may never do so.

What is the basis for your statement that Kobo has not updated RMSDK in "like forever"? I seem to have noticed updates over the years.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I seem to have noticed updates over the years.

I created a simple epub3 test book that will display the rendering engine version, if the reading app supports JavaScript. (Select the Local storage test chapter and click Version.)

[PoP]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

There's a new initial-letter CSS rule that'll make creating drop caps much easier.

For example:

Spoiler:

h1 + p::first-letter {
  -webkit-initial-letter: 2;
  initial-letter: 2;
  margin-right: 0.2em;
  color: red;
}

However, I've found only one app that actually supports this new rule: iBooks.

EDIT: Gitden Reader also supports initial-letter, but not ADEPT DRM.

Just curious, why couldn't I get my Gitden Reader

Spoiler:

Using the Bluestacks Android emulator

to support it properly?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by PoP

Just curious, why couldn't I get my Gitden Reader to support it properly?

I only tested it with the iOS version.
Apparently, the Android version uses a different rendering engine.
(It also won't work with the last Safari Windows version, because it was introduced in Safari 9.)

[PoP]

Thanks ...the beauty of standards is there are so many to choose from.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

What is the basis for your statement that Kobo has not updated RMSDK in "like forever"? I seem to have noticed updates over the years.

Just because Kobo has released new firmware does not mean they've updated RMSDK. If I am not mistaken, the version RMSDK Kobo is using is equivelent to some ADE version 3.x.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Just because Kobo has released new firmware does not mean they've updated RMSDK. If I am not mistaken, the version RMSDK Kobo is using is equivelent to some ADE version 3.x.

Going back through multiple firmware revisions, the version of RMSDK has been updated several times. Now if I could make sense of the version information buried in the shared object files....

ADE v3.x.??? Hmmm... I'm still using ADE 2.0.1.

If I want epub3, I generate a kepub to send.