List of epub formatting "don'ts"

[Jellby]

You cannot change (in the font) the line-spacing in relation to the em-size. But you can change the glyph sizes in relation to the em-size, and therefore change the line-spacing in relation to the glyph sizes.

[William Ockham]

Originally Posted by Jellby

You cannot change (in the font) the line-spacing in relation to the em-size. But you can change the glyph sizes in relation to the em-size, and therefore change the line-spacing in relation to the glyph sizes.

That's crazy. Let's say the distance between the floor and the ceiling in my house is three meters. Let's say my child is 1 meter tall at age 3. Fifteen years later, my child is 2 meters tall. Would you say that the height of my ceiling has changed in relation to my child? The distance between the ceiling and the bottom of the child's feet is the same. The distance between his head and the ceiling has changed, but that's not the definition of the height of the ceiling.

It doesn't matter whether you call it line-height, line-spacing, or leading, it does not change based on the metrics of the font.

[DiapDealer]

You're arguing semantics, while others are describing changes to certain fonts that will make lines of text rendered in that font appear to have less empty space between them. The visual effect that the "font metric changers" are able to achieve is quantifiable. Call it whatever the hell you want.

[William Ockham]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You're arguing semantics, while others are describing changes to certain fonts that will make lines of text rendered in that font appear to have less empty space between them. The visual effect that the "font metric changers" are able to achieve is quantifiable. Call it whatever the hell you want.

No, we don't get to call it whatever the hell we want. We don't get to retreat from verifiably false claims by moving the goalposts. Specific claims were made and those claims are false.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's nothing to do with the user agent. It's not actually line height information in the font, but the metrics. I can change the metrics and change the amount of space between lines. I've done this for ADE & Kindle (KF8) and it's worked. So while technically correct that there is no line height information in a font, there are metrics that say how to render the space between lines and that can be changed.

It is not possible to "change the amount of space between the lines" by altering any of the font metrics. You cannot make that statement true by altering the definitions of the words involved. Whether we call it line-height, line spacing, or leading, the concept has had the same definition for 500 years. It's the distance from baseline to baseline. Understanding that is foundational to understanding the use of typography. Folks who don't understand line-height shouldn't be messing with font metrics.

[DiapDealer]

Whatever. You're being overly obtuse. Have at it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by William Ockham

It is not possible to "change the amount of space between the lines" by altering any of the font metrics.

Yes you can. I've done it. Take a look at the two attached images. Both are the same font with the only difference being the metrics that I've edited.

So what would you call the fact that one has a grater space between the lines the other and all that was changed was some of the font metrics?

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by William Ockham

Would you say that the height of my ceiling has changed in relation to my child?

Yes, exactly

If I were your child I would indeed say that what was before a very high ceiling for me is now not high enough. Note that a reader (the human one) will often set the font size so that it looks right, he/she won't really care or notice if the nominal size is 12pt or 20pt, as long as the glyphs have the right size...

[William Ockham]

JSWolf, what font metrics did change to achieve that effect? I will happily admit that I'm wrong if you can send me a font that behaves this way.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by William Ockham

JSWolf, what font metrics did change to achieve that effect? I will happily admit that I'm wrong if you can send me a font that behaves this way.

I changed Typo Line Gap and Line Gap. The original value was 0 for the first image and I changed it to 200 for the second image. These value work for ADE.

For KF8 I changed Typo Ascender/Typo Descender, Win Ascent/Win Descent, and Ascender/Descender.

All it takes is some experimenting to get the values you want so you don't have to use line height in CSS. It also makes KF8 usable as the line height displayed won't be too large.

Take a look at my modified Charis SIL versions. They have two different line heights when used on a Kindle with KF8.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=184056

[abeonis]

The align attribute for img to define the vertical alignment doesn't pass FlightCrew ePub check. I use it in HTML coding to align a formula with the text: Exemple:

<p>La potencia <img src="potencia.gif" alt="Cálculo de potencia" align="middle" /> en vatios </p>

Generates an error message: "Attribute align is not declared for element img"

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by abeonis

The align attribute for img to define the vertical alignment doesn't pass FlightCrew ePub check. I use it in HTML coding to align a formula with the text: Exemple:

<p>La potencia <img src="potencia.gif" alt="Cálculo de potencia" align="middle" /> en vatios </p>

Generates an error message: "Attribute align is not declared for element img"

If you want to use inline styles, you'll have to use style="vertical-align:middle" instead of align="middle".

[abeonis]

If you want to use inline styles, you'll have to use style="vertical-align:middle" instead of align="middle".

It works.

So ... WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes are supported. ALIGN attribute is not. Is there a place in internet where I can find all this information? I didn't find it with Google.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by abeonis

It works.

So ... WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes are supported. ALIGN attribute is not. Is there a place in internet where I can find all this information? I didn't find it with Google.

width and height give the same kind of error for me in flight crew and have the same in line solution. Me, I just use a class=blalblah instead of a long multi-attribute inline

[abeonis]

width and height attributes don't give me any error in FliightCrew. I am OK to put everything in a class except for width and height, I don't want to create a class each time I use an image with different dimensions.

[SBT]

Originally Posted by abeonis

I am OK to put everything in a class except for width and height, I don't want to create a class each time I use an image with different dimensions.

Personally, I prefer to create an id for every image, and specify the size in the style sheet. Then nobody can accuse me of not separating content and display attributes Somehow it also seems tidier to lump all image attributes together in one corner of the stylesheet.