EPUB>MOBI: missing text when % used for margin-top

odamizu · 01-01-2016, 05:51 PM

Calibre conversions going wonky from EPUB to MOBI.

When the epub uses % for margin-top for chapter heads -- e.g., h1 {margin-top: 20%} -- blank pages are inserted at the start of the chapter, and some or all of the text inside the <h1> element goes missing. Even weirder, the first few words of the subsequent <p> go missing so that the chapter starts mid-sentence.

If I run the same epub through KindleGen, everything is fine.

If I replace % with em -- e.g., h1 {margin-top: 2em} -- everything is fine.

If it's dual-mobi, the KF8 portion is fine; only the mobi portion is affected.

I tried checking "ignore margins" in the Calibre MOBI Output prefs, but that didn't help.

Is there another setting I should look at?

Any help appreciated.

kovidgoyal · 01-01-2016, 10:06 PM

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=186697

odamizu · 01-02-2016, 03:00 AM

Sorry for the incomplete info. Per your link above:

Source epub attached.
Calibre conversion log:
Spoiler:
Convert book 1 of 1 (Header Test2)
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 2.42.0
{'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0.0,
'book_producer': None,
'change_justification': u'left',
'chapter': u'/',
'chapter_mark': u'none',
'comments': None,
'cover': u'/var/folders/40/j4qb4w1j68b_y8wpsl9zgtvc0000gn/T/calibre_2.42.0_tmp_zeeLO2/tmPhVL.jpeg',
'debug_pipeline': None,
'dehyphenate': True,
'delete_blank_paragraphs': True,
'disable_font_rescaling': True,
'dont_compress': False,
'duplicate_links_in_toc': False,
'embed_all_fonts': False,
'embed_font_family': None,
'enable_heuristics': False,
'expand_css': True,
'extra_css': None,
'extract_to': None,
'filter_css': u'',
'fix_indents': True,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'format_scene_breaks': True,
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x10babe350>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_blank_line_size': 1.0,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'italicize_common_cases': True,
'keep_ligatures': False,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': u'//h:h1',
'level2_toc': u'//h:h2',
'level3_toc': None,
'line_height': 0.0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'margin_bottom': -1.0,
'margin_left': -1.0,
'margin_right': -1.0,
'margin_top': -1.0,
'markup_chapter_headings': True,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'minimum_line_height': 0.0,
'mobi_file_type': u'both',
'mobi_ignore_margins': False,
'mobi_keep_original_images': False,
'mobi_toc_at_start': False,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_inline_navbars': False,
'no_inline_toc': False,
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.TabletOutput object at 0x10babef50>,
'page_breaks_before': u'/',
'personal_doc': u'[EBOK]',
'prefer_author_sort': False,
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'pretty_print': False,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': u'/var/folders/40/j4qb4w1j68b_y8wpsl9zgtvc0000gn/T/calibre_2.42.0_tmp_zeeLO2/lELScf.opf',
'remove_fake_margins': False,
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.0,
'renumber_headings': True,
'replace_scene_breaks': u'',
'search_replace': '[]',
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'share_not_sync': False,
'smarten_punctuation': False,
'sr1_replace': None,
'sr1_search': None,
'sr2_replace': None,
'sr2_search': None,
'sr3_replace': None,
'sr3_search': None,
'start_reading_at': None,
'subset_embedded_fonts': False,
'tags': None,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'toc_title': None,
'unsmarten_punctuation': False,
'unwrap_lines': True,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}
InputFormatPlugin: EPUB Input running
on /var/folders/40/j4qb4w1j68b_y8wpsl9zgtvc0000gn/T/calibre_2.42.0_tmp_zeeLO2/7l9cuH.epub
Parsing all content...
Parsing OEBPS/Text/Header-Test2_0001.html ...
Parsing OEBPS/Styles/headertest.css ...
Parsing OEBPS/Text/Header-Test2.html ...
Reading TOC from NCX...
Merging user specified metadata...
Detecting structure...
Flattening CSS and remapping font sizes...
Source base font size is 12.00000pt
Cleaning up manifest...
Trimming unused files from manifest...
Creating MOBI Output...
Serializing resources...
Splitting markup on page breaks and flow limits, if any...
Creating KF8 output
Generating in-line ToC
Generating KF8 markup...
Compressing markup...
Creating indices...
Creating MOBI 6 output
Generating in-line TOC...
Applying case-transforming CSS...
Parsing manglecase.css ...
Parsing tocstyle.css ...
Rasterizing SVG images...
Converting XHTML to Mobipocket markup...
Serializing markup content...
Compressing markup content...
Generating MOBI index for a book
MOBI output written to /var/folders/40/j4qb4w1j68b_y8wpsl9zgtvc0000gn/T/calibre_2.42.0_tmp_zeeLO2/mUHRKD.mobi
Output dual-MOBI attached. (I have also tried this with straight mobi with the same problem.)
See first post for description of problem.
Conversion options: I'm not sure what the original defaults were, but I think most options are reflected in conversion log above. If there's anything in particular you want me to check, please let me know.

Thank you!

kovidgoyal · 01-02-2016, 03:18 AM

I extracted the old mobi from your joint file and opened it in Kindle Previewer, I see no missing text or page breaks. The margins around the first chapter title are very large, which gives the illusion of a page break, but it is not an actual page break. That comes from the way calibre chooses to interpret percentage margins when converting to old style mobi (IIRC as fractions of the screen height of whatever device you have chosen in the output profile). And I see no missing text.

See attached screenshot

odamizu · 01-02-2016, 02:43 PM

Thank you so much! Your comments pointed me in the right direction, which solved the problem. Under Page Setup, I had selected "Tablet" for my Output Profile, which caused all the weirdness and missing (hidden?) text when viewing on my iDevices. Changing the Output Profile to "iPad" or "Kindle" fixed everything. You are the best, Sir Calibre Master! Thanks again and Happy New Year!

fooeynet · 08-14-2017, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odamizu

Thank you so much! Your comments pointed me in the right direction, which solved the problem. Under Page Setup, I had selected "Tablet" for my Output Profile, which caused all the weirdness and missing (hidden?) text when viewing on my iDevices. Changing the Output Profile to "iPad" or "Kindle" fixed everything. You are the best, Sir Calibre Master! Thanks again and Happy New Year!

This thread helped me solve this problem as well!
Certain epubs that I convert to mobi ended up with "empty" pages after chapter headings, and the first page would be missing the first sentence of the chapter. (Making the font size huge and page back/forward would sometimes show some of the "missing" words).

I changed my output device from Tablet to a Kindle profile and those issues are gone.

JSWolf · 08-14-2017, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fooeynet

This thread helped me solve this problem as well!
Certain epubs that I convert to mobi ended up with "empty" pages after chapter headings, and the first page would be missing the first sentence of the chapter. (Making the font size huge and page back/forward would sometimes show some of the "missing" words).

I changed my output device from Tablet to a Kindle profile and those issues are gone.

Changing from tablet to kindle only has to do with the resizing of graphics. It has nothing to do with how the text is rendered. Tablet keeps graphics the same size by no resizing. You are best to go back to tablet.

There is a very simple way to solve the % margin problem. DO NOT CONVERT TO OBSOLETE MOBI! Convert to KF8 (AW3) instead since you have a Kindle 3 that does support KF8.

fooeynet · 08-22-2017, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There is a very simple way to solve the % margin problem. DO NOT CONVERT TO OBSOLETE MOBI! Convert to KF8 (AW3) instead since you have a Kindle 3 that does support KF8.

The problem with this is that I use the mail-to-kindle feature to enable whispersync. If I send the "both" formatted MOBI, I get proper fonts/etc. inside, but then I end up without covers.

With the "old" style MOBI formatted for Voyage, I don't get the weird layout when %margin is used, nor embedded fonts, but I get covers.

There used to be a tool that would extract these "missing" covers, but it doesn't work post 5.8.5.

Trade-offs, I suppose!

JSWolf · 08-22-2017, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fooeynet

The problem with this is that I use the mail-to-kindle feature to enable whispersync. If I send the "both" formatted MOBI, I get proper fonts/etc. inside, but then I end up without covers.

With the "old" style MOBI formatted for Voyage, I don't get the weird layout when %margin is used, nor embedded fonts, but I get covers.

There used to be a tool that would extract these "missing" covers, but it doesn't work post 5.8.5.

Trade-offs, I suppose!

So just sidel oad KF8 and forget whispersync. Do what a lot of people do. They read a different book on different devices.

shalym · 08-24-2017, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So just sidel oad KF8 and forget whispersync. Do what a lot of people do. They read a different book on different devices.

...and a lot of people don't want to do that. They WANT to be able to use whispersync, so this is a way for them to do that. Why does it bother you so much if people use mobi rather than KF8?

Shari

JSWolf · 08-24-2017, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shalym

...and a lot of people don't want to do that. They WANT to be able to use whispersync, so this is a way for them to do that. Why does it bother you so much if people use mobi rather than KF8?

Shari

Because Mobi needs to go away forever.

theducks · 08-24-2017, 03:41 PM

Mobi is an older, very limited, format.

Bottom line: Put up with the limits and be able to use Wispersync
or
Use USB so you can use the newer, feature rich format.
OR
Buy the book from Amazon. They allow the Kindle store to send AZW3

shalym · 08-24-2017, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Mobi is an older, very limited, format.

Bottom line: Put up with the limits and be able to use Wispersync
or
Use USB so you can use the newer, feature rich format.
OR
Buy the book from Amazon. They allow the Kindle store to send AZW3

Or...convert to dual-mobi, email to kindle from Calibre so that Whispersync is enabled, and download KF8 files. I guess the book cover doesn't work using this method, but as I use list view only on my Kindles, that makes no difference to me.

Shari

JSWolf · 08-24-2017, 06:57 PM

The thing to do is don't use a % for the top margin. If you get an eBook that does use %, convert that to em. I do when there is a % for the top margin, it's just way too big. Like 14%. That's just way too much. I change that to 0.8em. That's keeps the chapter title at the top of the screen without all that wasted screen space.

fooeynet · 08-25-2017, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So just sidel oad KF8 and forget whispersync. Do what a lot of people do. They read a different book on different devices.

Ha! Whispersync is the "killer app" part of Kindles and is what finally got me to switch from paper.

01-01-2016, 05:51 PM	#1
odamizu just an egg Posts: 1,798 Karma: 6759036 Join Date: Mar 2015 Device: Kindle, iOS	EPUB>MOBI: missing text when % used for margin-top Calibre conversions going wonky from EPUB to MOBI. When the epub uses % for margin-top for chapter heads -- e.g., h1 {margin-top: 20%} -- blank pages are inserted at the start of the chapter, and some or all of the text inside the <h1> element goes missing. Even weirder, the first few words of the subsequent <p> go missing so that the chapter starts mid-sentence. If I run the same epub through KindleGen, everything is fine. If I replace % with em -- e.g., h1 {margin-top: 2em} -- everything is fine. If it's dual-mobi, the KF8 portion is fine; only the mobi portion is affected. I tried checking "ignore margins" in the Calibre MOBI Output prefs, but that didn't help. Is there another setting I should look at? Any help appreciated. Last edited by odamizu; 01-02-2016 at 03:02 AM. Reason: clarity

01-02-2016, 03:00 AM	#3
odamizu just an egg Posts: 1,798 Karma: 6759036 Join Date: Mar 2015 Device: Kindle, iOS	Sorry for the incomplete info. Per your link above: Source epub attached. Calibre conversion log: Spoiler: Convert book 1 of 1 (Header Test2) Resolved conversion options calibre version: 2.42.0 {'asciiize': False, 'author_sort': None, 'authors': None, 'base_font_size': 0.0, 'book_producer': None, 'change_justification': u'left', 'chapter': u'/', 'chapter_mark': u'none', 'comments': None, 'cover': u'/var/folders/40/j4qb4w1j68b_y8wpsl9zgtvc0000gn/T/calibre_2.42.0_tmp_zeeLO2/tmPhVL.jpeg', 'debug_pipeline': None, 'dehyphenate': True, 'delete_blank_paragraphs': True, 'disable_font_rescaling': True, 'dont_compress': False, 'duplicate_links_in_toc': False, 'embed_all_fonts': False, 'embed_font_family': None, 'enable_heuristics': False, 'expand_css': True, 'extra_css': None, 'extract_to': None, 'filter_css': u'', 'fix_indents': True, 'font_size_mapping': None, 'format_scene_breaks': True, 'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4, 'input_encoding': None, 'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x10babe350>, 'insert_blank_line': False, 'insert_blank_line_size': 1.0, 'insert_metadata': False, 'isbn': None, 'italicize_common_cases': True, 'keep_ligatures': False, 'language': None, 'level1_toc': u'//h:h1', 'level2_toc': u'//h:h2', 'level3_toc': None, 'line_height': 0.0, 'linearize_tables': False, 'margin_bottom': -1.0, 'margin_left': -1.0, 'margin_right': -1.0, 'margin_top': -1.0, 'markup_chapter_headings': True, 'max_toc_links': 50, 'minimum_line_height': 0.0, 'mobi_file_type': u'both', 'mobi_ignore_margins': False, 'mobi_keep_original_images': False, 'mobi_toc_at_start': False, 'no_chapters_in_toc': False, 'no_inline_navbars': False, 'no_inline_toc': False, 'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.TabletOutput object at 0x10babef50>, 'page_breaks_before': u'/', 'personal_doc': u'[EBOK]', 'prefer_author_sort': False, 'prefer_metadata_cover': False, 'pretty_print': False, 'pubdate': None, 'publisher': None, 'rating': None, 'read_metadata_from_opf': u'/var/folders/40/j4qb4w1j68b_y8wpsl9zgtvc0000gn/T/calibre_2.42.0_tmp_zeeLO2/lELScf.opf', 'remove_fake_margins': False, 'remove_first_image': False, 'remove_paragraph_spacing': False, 'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.0, 'renumber_headings': True, 'replace_scene_breaks': u'', 'search_replace': '[]', 'series': None, 'series_index': None, 'share_not_sync': False, 'smarten_punctuation': False, 'sr1_replace': None, 'sr1_search': None, 'sr2_replace': None, 'sr2_search': None, 'sr3_replace': None, 'sr3_search': None, 'start_reading_at': None, 'subset_embedded_fonts': False, 'tags': None, 'timestamp': None, 'title': None, 'title_sort': None, 'toc_filter': None, 'toc_threshold': 6, 'toc_title': None, 'unsmarten_punctuation': False, 'unwrap_lines': True, 'use_auto_toc': False, 'verbose': 2} InputFormatPlugin: EPUB Input running on /var/folders/40/j4qb4w1j68b_y8wpsl9zgtvc0000gn/T/calibre_2.42.0_tmp_zeeLO2/7l9cuH.epub Parsing all content... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Header-Test2_0001.html ... Parsing OEBPS/Styles/headertest.css ... Parsing OEBPS/Text/Header-Test2.html ... Reading TOC from NCX... Merging user specified metadata... Detecting structure... Flattening CSS and remapping font sizes... Source base font size is 12.00000pt Cleaning up manifest... Trimming unused files from manifest... Creating MOBI Output... Serializing resources... Splitting markup on page breaks and flow limits, if any... Creating KF8 output Generating in-line ToC Generating KF8 markup... Compressing markup... Creating indices... Creating MOBI 6 output Generating in-line TOC... Applying case-transforming CSS... Parsing manglecase.css ... Parsing tocstyle.css ... Rasterizing SVG images... Converting XHTML to Mobipocket markup... Serializing markup content... Compressing markup content... Generating MOBI index for a book MOBI output written to /var/folders/40/j4qb4w1j68b_y8wpsl9zgtvc0000gn/T/calibre_2.42.0_tmp_zeeLO2/mUHRKD.mobi Output dual-MOBI attached. (I have also tried this with straight mobi with the same problem.) See first post for description of problem. Conversion options: I'm not sure what the original defaults were, but I think most options are reflected in conversion log above. If there's anything in particular you want me to check, please let me know. Thank you! Last edited by odamizu; 01-03-2016 at 12:44 AM. Reason: removed attachments now that problem is solved

01-02-2016, 03:18 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,219 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I extracted the old mobi from your joint file and opened it in Kindle Previewer, I see no missing text or page breaks. The margins around the first chapter title are very large, which gives the illusion of a page break, but it is not an actual page break. That comes from the way calibre chooses to interpret percentage margins when converting to old style mobi (IIRC as fractions of the screen height of whatever device you have chosen in the output profile). And I see no missing text. See attached screenshot Attached Thumbnails

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01-01-2016, 10:06 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,219 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=186697

01-02-2016, 02:43 PM	#5
odamizu just an egg Posts: 1,798 Karma: 6759036 Join Date: Mar 2015 Device: Kindle, iOS	Thank you so much! Your comments pointed me in the right direction, which solved the problem. Under Page Setup, I had selected "Tablet" for my Output Profile, which caused all the weirdness and missing (hidden?) text when viewing on my iDevices. Changing the Output Profile to "iPad" or "Kindle" fixed everything. You are the best, Sir Calibre Master! Thanks again and Happy New Year!

08-24-2017, 03:41 PM	#12
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,914 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Mobi is an older, very limited, format. Bottom line: Put up with the limits and be able to use Wispersync or Use USB so you can use the newer, feature rich format. OR Buy the book from Amazon. They allow the Kindle store to send AZW3

08-24-2017, 06:57 PM	#14
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,249 Karma: 145488788 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	The thing to do is don't use a % for the top margin. If you get an eBook that does use %, convert that to em. I do when there is a % for the top margin, it's just way too big. Like 14%. That's just way too much. I change that to 0.8em. That's keeps the chapter title at the top of the screen without all that wasted screen space.

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