Smashwords Formatting Help Needed

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Smashwords

If you'd like to document examples of messy epub code and email it to me, I'll be happy to pass it on to our CTO. We're always looking for opportunities to improve Meatgrinder, especially if the changes improve reader experience. Our most recent updates have focused on better NCXes.

I like Smashwords, it's the only place where I've bought books so far. That said, your ePubs, though not awful, are more complicated than necessary. Examples: lots of useless declarations in the CSS and meaningless references to fonts that are not embedded in the document. The stylesheets of all the books I bought from Smashwords look the same, but they differ in the use of those styles in the body, so I have to tweak them on a one by one basis.
And I am talking of very simple, text-only books.

[sherman]

My problem with epubs from Smashwords is that measurements for things like text indents and font sizes are in points and inches. ems is a much better unit for text indentation, but word doesn't support it.

One would have thought that if authors had the option of uploading validated html or a valid epub, that could cause the author potentially far less headaches, and their books would look great.