Alphabet for DropCaps

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

There are many websites with CSS dropcaps tutorials, for example, this one. However, this method is rather labor intensive, since you'll most likely have to adjust the values for each letter image.

Most ePub designers simply embed special dropcap fonts and apply them to the first letter of a chapter via CSS. If you search the epub forum you'll find many ready-made CSS examples that you can copy and paste.

One good example, is Jerome, Jerome K.: Three Men in a Boat, which uses both images and embedded fonts as dropcaps.

Well, as always...

The big problem is, getting them to work across all devices. Some readers will honor the placement, some, not so much. The vertical spacing is usually the tricky bit; the horizontal placement usually works best. If at all possible, if you can remotely use real letters instead, I'd personally recommend it, but...if it's an experiment, and you just want to play with it, it's a worthwhile exercise. :-)

Hitch

[crutledge]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Well, as always...

The big problem is, getting them to work across all devices. Some readers will honor the placement, some, not so much. The vertical spacing is usually the tricky bit; the horizontal placement usually works best. If at all possible, if you can remotely use real letters instead, I'd personally recommend it, but...if it's an experiment, and you just want to play with it, it's a worthwhile exercise. :-)

Hitch

As ever, Hitch, you are right. I have used two formats to decorate the first character of a chapter. Only the first has been consistant on all devices I have access to and it's an up-cap rather than a drop-cap.

The drop-cap displays very low on the Paperwhite but fine on the other Kindle devices.

I have thought to experiment with glyphs but they seem even more unpredictable. Perhaps I can find a better html call to display the glyphs.

Any criticism will be appreciated.

.first_letter {
 font-size : 150%;
 font-weight : bold;
/* float:left;*/
 width : 1em;
 color : black;
 }

span.dropcap {
    float: left;
    font-size: 2.7em;
    line-height: 0.8em;
    margin-right: 3pt;
    margin-bottom: -0.1em;
}

[RbnJrg]

By the way, did you read this thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=212300

It's very interesting and you can adapt all code to also work in ADE.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by crutledge

As ever, Hitch, you are right. I have used two formats to decorate the first character of a chapter. Only the first has been consistant on all devices I have access to and it's an up-cap rather than a drop-cap.

Oh, would that it were 'ere so (that I am right, "as ever").

The drop-cap displays very low on the Paperwhite but fine on the other Kindle devices.

Yuppperdoodle, as our bookmaker Barb says here at the Factory Grimm. And it usually looks like crap-city on the Kindle for iPad/iPhone, too, in the real world devices. And if that doesn't get you, it will look different yet again on the Cloud Reader. I hate to say it, but BFL's (Big First Letters, boxed with an invisible border, essentially) and RI's (Raised Initials, which I think you're referring to as an "up-cap") are about the only thing that work consistently. When you throw in K7, K8, 10 different devices, different screen resolutions and the lack of an actual vertical spacing control...well, hell.

I have thought to experiment with glyphs but they seem even more unpredictable. Perhaps I can find a better html call to display the glyphs.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

Any criticism will be appreciated.

Moi? Never.

.first_letter {
 font-size : 150%;
 font-weight : bold;
/* float:left;*/
 width : 1em;
 color : black;
 }

span.dropcap {
    float: left;
    font-size: 2.7em;
    line-height: 0.8em;
    margin-right: 3pt;
    margin-bottom: -0.1em;
}

The First-Letter has a width set--is that to try to achieve a type of vertical spacing? I think I misunderstand what you're trying to accomplish with the First-Letter class; it looks a bit like a Raised Initial to me, but my inference from your posts is something else. Can you clarify, please?

I think that Dropcap looks relatively correct; I'd have to go look at our own coding for our "standard," which of course, gets tweaked every time, depending on the font. But everybody's Drops are pretty much the same, for the same reasons: only so much you can do with the limitations both in ePUB and in MOBI/K8.

Hitch

[theducks]

There are many FREE 'display fonts' available which are simple to use and code as a dropcap. And they reflow fairly well (real short lines can be a PITA with a dropcap)

Images are probably a must if the book is to be converted to a format that does not support font embedding.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

There are many FREE 'display fonts' available which are simple to use and code as a dropcap. And they reflow fairly well (real short lines can be a PITA with a dropcap)

Images are probably a must if the book is to be converted to a format that does not support font embedding.

If the format doesn't handle font embedding, it also doesn't handle drop caps (i.e., Mobipocket).

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If the format doesn't handle font embedding, it also doesn't handle drop caps (i.e., Mobipocket).

My device is slightly more modern but I was aware there were issues with older devices
I also find it amazing that these still survive use this long. My original PEz developed a cracked trace (only worked with the board on the bench. Mount in the case ) Since the screen had experienced multiple 'pixel craters', I bined it after keeping the, still good battery

[crutledge]

I have come to the conclusion that dropcap and image is a trade-off between pretty and readable and have decided to stay with the "up-cap" which merely enlarges the first letter and has no indent. There is (for me) no stumble in reading the text.

I thank all who contributed to my education.

I am also thankful that I have no author or publisher hanging over my shoulder.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by crutledge

I have come to the conclusion that dropcap and image is a trade-off between pretty and readable and have decided to stay with the "up-cap" which merely enlarges the first letter and has no indent. There is (for me) no stumble in reading the text.

That is exactly what we decided to settle on at work.

The "Dropcap" broke on too many readers (not to mention all the different EPUB reading programs out there), so the typesetter decided to nix it (and decided that a simple Raised Cap would still keep with the "spirit of the original").

As long as your code is very cleanly marked (and you are consistent in your usage), it should be EASY AS PIE to change it in the future using CSS.

Here is an example of one of the books I completed last month + screenshots:

<p class="noindent"><span class="raisedcap">T</span>HIS is a story that began, in so far as it can be said to have an exact beginning, on a dim January day in 1932. Guernsey Cross, the secretary of the Governor, had darted in and out of the cluttered executive office for perhaps the dozenth time in a half hour. The Governor gave an empty dish on his desk a restless push, looked at me earnestly, and said, “Make no mistake about it. I don’t know why anyone would <i>want</i> to be President, with things in the shape they are now.”</p>

CSS:

.noindent {
	text-indent: 0;
}

span.raisedcap {
	font-size: 2em;
}

So if you wanted a Dropcap in the future, you could easily swap raisedcap CSS -> dropcap CSS.