FBReader ignores margin-top

[AlanHK]

I'm using FBReader version 2.2.7 on my MB501 Android phone, running Android 2.3.7 (the latest version it will run).

I notice that it does not seem to honour "margin-top" CSS in ePubs.
I use this style:

.noindent {
display: block;
text-indent: 0;
margin-top: 2em;
}

This is intended to put approx 2 line spaces above the para starting a subsection. This displays in Calibre and Sigil, for instance, on Windows. But in FBreader it has no extra space above. It does have no indent, so the style is not being completely ignored.

Is this a bug in FBreader or my styles?

Do I actually have to use nbsp paragraphs to make space between paras reliably?

[odedta]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

Do I actually have to use nbsp paragraphs to make space between paras reliably?

That would be the worst possible solution. Did you try setting margin-top in pixels? Is your ePub validated?

I recommend using Gitden reader, it's the best one out there in my experience.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by odedta

That would be the worst possible solution. Did you try setting margin-top in pixels? Is your ePub validated?

I used to use pixels, but ems seem more logical, as a ratio of the font size.
I'll try it though.
Sigil and Calibre both say "No errors".

Originally Posted by odedta

I recommend using Gitden reader, it's the best one out there in my experience.

Needs Android 4, won't run on my phone.

[odedta]

Try to validate via idpf just to be on the safe side. It seems far fetched that an epub reader would ignore a simple css rule as that

[Section8]

According to this page: http://fbreader.org/content/book-for...-not-supported, for epubs:

CSS support is not full.

Have you tried an equivalent "margin" such as: "margin: 2em 0 0;" ?

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by odedta

Try to validate via idpf just to be on the safe side. It seems far fetched that an epub reader would ignore a simple css rule as that

Validates, no errors.
Same with "Flight Crew" in Sigil.
And http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator

Originally Posted by Section8

Have you tried an equivalent "margin" such as: "margin: 2em 0 0;" ?

Tried all of these. All look about the same in Calibre or Sigil, all have no head space in FBReader.

.noindent {
  display: block;
  text-indent: 0;
  margin-top: 2em;
 }
.noindent {
  display: block;
  text-indent: 0;
  margin-top: 36px;
 }

.noindent {
  display: block;
  text-indent: 0;
  margin-top: 36pt;
 }

.noindent {
  display: block;
  text-indent: 0;
  margin: 36px 0px 0px 0px;
 }

Doesn't anyone here use FBReader?

I sent an email to their support, but no response. They don't seem to have a dedicated forum.
Though I think it's a one-man project and it's free, so I cant complain too much.

Here's the complete CSS just in case anyone sees some weird interaction.
But only "p" should matter, and that has "margin:0".

Spoiler:

p {
  display: block;
  text-align: justify;
  margin: 0;
  text-indent: 18pt;
}

.noindent {
  display: block;
  text-indent: 0;
  margin-top: 2em;
 }

h1 {
  text-align: center;
  display: block;
}
h2 {
  text-align: center;
  display: block;
  font-weight: bold;

} 
h3 {
  text-align: center;
  display: block;
  font-size: 1.29167em;
  font-style: italic;
  font-weight: bold;
  line-height: 1.2;
 }

.center {
   display: block;
   text-align: center;
   text-indent: 0;
}
.poem {
        text-align: left;
        text-indent: 0em;
        margin-left: 20%;
        margin-right: 0.5em;
        margin-bottom: 1em;
        margin-top: 1em;
        }

a { text-decoration: none;}

small { font-size : 0.8em;}

[dgatwood]

Have you tried padding-top?

[Notjohn]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

Doesn't anyone here use FBReader?

I use Overdrive on my Fire tablet for the occasional epub. It's free and it works well for me.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

Have you tried padding-top?

Same result: works everywhere except in FBReader.

[faltradl]

FBReader ignores many things. It uses then only it's own settings. That's no bug, it's a feature of FBReader. If you dont like this behavior you must use another reader.

[AlanHK]

I found there is an FBReader group on Google plus:
https://plus.google.com/communities/...99404862312312

Also complaints there about how FBR ignores CSS margins.

So it looks like either live with it or use the dumb blank line method.

Too bad, it seems to me that it is hardly the most complex kind of formatting.

[faltradl]

First I used FBReader instead of AdobeViewer. *) Its many ignorings are the reason to use now CoolReader. It has problems too, but not so many as FBReader.

*) I hate AdobeViewer has no way to store my standard fontsize. And the second is the mad pagecounting.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by faltradl

FBReader ignores many things. It uses then only it's own settings. That's no bug, it's a feature of FBReader. If you dont like this behavior you must use another reader.

In plain English, FBReader ignores too many things. So the best way to read ePub with Android is with a program that doesn't ignore most of your CSS.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by faltradl

First I used FBReader instead of AdobeViewer. *) Its many ignorings are the reason to use now CoolReader. It has problems too, but not so many as FBReader.

*) I hate AdobeViewer has no way to store my standard fontsize. And the second is the mad pagecounting.

ADE's page count is the best out there. It's not mad at all. It's done in a way that does not change based on font size, margins, line height, hyphenation, etc. It's based on 1024 bytes of compressed data = one page.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

I found there is an FBReader group on Google plus:
https://plus.google.com/communities/...99404862312312

Also complaints there about how FBR ignores CSS margins.

So it looks like either live with it or use the dumb blank line method.

Too bad, it seems to me that it is hardly the most complex kind of formatting.

I suggest that a better alternative would be to use an app which honours the publisher's CSS.

I've designed the occasional ebook myself, for a small press in the UK and for the MobileRead forum. It's hard to express how irritating it is to design an ebook and make sure it validates, and then get complaints that it doesn't work because the complainant uses an app which sets its own idiosyncratic rules.