best way to add numbered chapters to a book with no chapters

[stumped]

in this case, the retail epub version of Wilbur Smith - War Cry. no headers, no chapters, just 200 ish pages of text with scene breaks.

i was able to do it in a very convoluted way involving find the scene break style, regex it into having a h2 and add the text" chapter", then generate a new toc, then convert the book in calibre to get toc classes assigned, then regex those to extract a number to use as a chapter number

there is surely a slicker and sigil only way ? - a plug in ??
start point - a book with no chapters, just scenes- the entire story is in a single xhtml ( others just contain also by, dedications etc )
target : a book with numbered chapters and one xhtml file per chapter

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by stumped

there is surely a slicker and sigil only way ? - a plug in ??

Shameless plug: You might find my Incremental IDs plugin helpful. You could use it to add sequential ids to all h2 headings and then use a regex search to add the numbers to the chapter titles.

If that sounds too complicated to you, you could also use the Function mode in Calibre Editor.

[JustinThought]

Originally Posted by stumped

in this case, the retail epub version of Wilbur Smith - War Cry. no headers, no chapters, just 200 ish pages of text with scene breaks.

//snip!!//

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Shameless plug: You might find my Incremental IDs plugin helpful.

//snip!!//

I had something like that come up--except the one I had didn't even have scene breaks. So I just had to assign my own scene breaks.

What I ended up doing was assigning my newly created scene breaks like so:

<p style="divider">&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&n bsp;·</p>

which gives you a very nondescript scene break (notice those itty-bitty dots between each two hard spaces). Because "divider" is defined as--

.divider {
line-height: 2.5em;
text-align: center;
}

you get a nice wide break.

Then, wherever you would like the text to be broken and to create a TOC entry, change those <p> tags to a

<hr class="sigilChapterBreak" />
<h3 style="divider" title="Break xxx"> &nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;·</h3>

tag instead. Then, I think you can use Doitsu's shameless plugin to change those xxx's to a sequential number, right Doitsu?

Once you go to edit/split at markers, you have all your separate files, and TOC generation will be easy.

You could further refine that by defining <h3> to either use page-break-before: always -- or avoid -- depending on how you want it displayed.

Okay. Kinda complicated. But maybe you'll find it worthwhile and get the results you want.

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Shameless plug: You might find my Incremental IDs plugin helpful. You could use it to add sequential ids to all h2 headings and then use a regex search to add the numbers to the chapter titles.

If that sounds too complicated to you, you could also use the Function mode in Calibre Editor.

I've used this method several times.

Once you've added the ids to the <h2> then:

search: <h2 id="(\d*?)>Chapter</h2>
replace: <h2>Chapter \1</h2>

[theducks]

Justin

Line-height is supposed to be numeric only, no units (like em)
line-height: 2.5;

BTW
I use a big line-height when I <br /> a chapter title and subtitle . This allows both to appear in the Sigil generated TOC

[stumped]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I've used this method several times.

Once you've added the ids to the <h2> then:

search: <h2 id="(\d*?)>Chapter</h2>
replace: <h2>Chapter \1</h2>

thanks guys - that is pretty much what I did, except for using a calibre conversion to force in the h2 IDs

there's no for dummies regex free solution then ?

i guess that most big ebook publishers add chapters to everything, so none of this is necessary. Maybe the author insisted on NO Chapters in this case.

I could have read it as is but my habit is to read to a chapter end before taking a break so moon reader saying only 346 pages to go was a tad daunting !

[JustinThought]

Originally Posted by theducks

Justin

Line-height is supposed to be numeric only, no units (like em)
line-height: 2.5;

BTW
I use a big line-height when I <br /> a chapter title and subtitle . This allows both to appear in the Sigil generated TOC

Thanks. I guess I was a little mistaken when I read--

The line-height property can accept the keyword values normal or none as well as a number, length, or percentage.

followed by

A length value can be defined using any valid CSS unit (px, em, rem, etc).

here -- https://css-tricks.com/almanac/prope...l/line-height/

Or maybe they're being a little "tricky."

Ennyway, that gives me something else to experiment with to see just how much I can muck things up!

I always value your input, so thanks again!

[theducks]

That may be fine for HTML... But
we are doing a subset of XHTML, which means that even ALL legal XHTML features are not doable.

I stick with a value or a percentage. That works on old versions of RMSDK (which is known to be fussy )

[JustinThought]

Originally Posted by theducks

That may be fine for HTML... But
we are doing a subset of XHTML, which means that even ALL legal XHTML features are not doable.

I stick with a value or a percentage. That works on old versions of RMSDK (which is known to be fussy )

And that's why I keep coming here. Learn something new every day. Thanks again!

And keep in mind, I only have experience with E-Readers on Android, many of which just do what they decide to do, no matter what you've done with the coding and CSS. (And I honestly can't understand why anyone would have a dedicated E-Reader device, when you can check your e-mail, chat with someone on Whazzap, Face up to Facebook, twig someone of Twitter [if you're so inclined], then go back to reading that exciting chapter that you were interrupted from, all on the same device.)

[Notjohn]

Originally Posted by stumped

in this case, the retail epub version of Wilbur Smith - War Cry. no headers, no chapters, just 200 ish pages of text with scene breaks.

Since my major preoccupation is as author, not as formatter, I don't think you have a right to do this. You bought a book for $14.95, and that gives you the right to read it, and within limitations pass it on to someone else. It doesn't give you the right to revise it. I'm not familiar with the book, but I see that it is indeed a single chunk of text, with the occasional break of a short line or several stars. That's the book Mr Smith wrote.

Would you also reformat À la recherche du temps perdu?

It may be of course that your judgment is superior, and that another publisher would have done it differently. A friend of mine wrote a first novel that consisted of several hundred thousand words and a single paragraph. Doubleday bought the book, cut it in halves, divided the halves into chapters and the chapters into paragraphs. It got him a good critical reception, a fellowship, and a job teaching creative writing at the state university. But HE accepted the revisions, and I don't believe Mr Smith has accepted yours.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by JustinThought

(And I honestly can't understand why anyone would have a dedicated E-Reader device, when you can check your e-mail, chat with someone on Whazzap, Face up to Facebook, twig someone of Twitter [if you're so inclined], then go back to reading that exciting chapter that you were interrupted from, all on the same device.)

That's partially the appeal for some. Absolutely zero distractions.

And some people just much prefer reading on e-ink. Much easier on the eyes, and can be easily read in sunlight.

Originally Posted by Notjohn

Since my major preoccupation is as author, not as formatter, I don't think you have a right to do this. You bought a book for $14.95, and that gives you the right to read it, and within limitations pass it on to someone else. It doesn't give you the right to revise it.

What if JustinThought wrote within his physical book, and at every scene break added his own numbering system? This is the same exact thing.

Originally Posted by Notjohn

I'm not familiar with the book, but I see that it is indeed a single chunk of text, with the occasional break of a short line or several stars. That's the book Mr Smith wrote.

If you look at the sample on Amazon of the Physical book or ebook, it looks as if there is a centered line separating each scene.

But who knows what happened, maybe JustinThought ran it through Calibre and the way it was coded made the lines go poof.

Maybe the ebook was crappily converted. Maybe the people who did the conversion missed important formatting (like scene breaks) that existed in the print edition (I have seen this happen in many books).

Maybe they coded the scene breaks using a CSS border-bottom, and the reader JustinThought uses removes lots of superfluous CSS?

[stumped]

Originally Posted by Notjohn

Since my major preoccupation is as author, not as formatter, I don't think you...

Would you also reformat À la recherche du temps perdu?

Never heard of it. but for starters, I'd certainly translate it

.. and I don't believe Mr Smith has accepted yours.

Whoa
He does not have to: I am not publishing a revision, I am not even sharing it with anyone, unless the cat fancies a read. What I have done is made it more consumable, on a device and in an app of my choosing. Perhaps Mr Smith has never used an e- reader.

Do I really have to read Kerouac's On the Road, on a continuous roll of paper , and not in a book that has the audacity to split it up into pages ( shock , horror ) , just because that's how he wrote it .

PS I was thinking of re-reading the 10 commandments- do let me know where to get permission to format shift from the original stone lumps

[stumped]

Originally Posted by JustinThought

, then go back to reading that exciting chapter that you were interrupted from, all on the same device.)

Ahem - it pretty difficult to go back to that exciting chapter when the book in question does not have any. Which is what the thread is about

FYI. I myself am reading it on an android tablet, in Moon+ reader, so I can interrupt myself with social trivia like this response, any time I choose to. But if I still had my Kindle Oasis, I would have given it the same split into chapters treatment

and to whoever checked out the kindle sample - yes it has scene breaks, 187 of them . I converted each one into a new chapter. So each now starts on a new e-device "page" . IF W Smith doesn't like that, he should have stuck to PDF or more carefully thought through allowing the kindle & epub versions to be sold

He and all the other authors I read may be equally horrified that I mercilessly delete dedications to people I will never meet or have never hear of, and epigrams from Dead White Guys without even reading them. Quel Philistine.

as for " It doesn't give you the right to revise it.". i can colour in, scribble in the margin, or otherwise deface MY copy of any $14.95 printed book I buy. My copy, My rules.
In e-format, I can highlight, annotate... and even share! my scandalous behaviour those 'cos amazon invented this thing called most popular highlights. and enabled it by default in all of their readers.
Better organise an authors' strike immediately until such behaviour is supressed.

[JustinThought]

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

That's partially the appeal for some. Absolutely zero distractions.

And some people just much prefer reading on e-ink. Much easier on the eyes, and can be easily read in sunlight.

So that sent me to find out just what this e-ink thing was, and I got a little chuckle on this page:

"E Ink or electrophoretic ink is a type of electronic paper manufactured by E Ink Corporation. It was founded in 197 based on a research..."

Hmmm. So it seems this is very long-established technology

But I have to admit, from the illustrations, the presentation looks very clear.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by stumped

PS I was thinking of re-reading the 10 commandments- do let me know where to get permission to format shift from the original stone lumps

Shakespeare would be rolling in his grave knowing line numbers have been added to his works!

Originally Posted by JustinThought

So that sent me to find out just what this e-ink thing was, and I got a little chuckle on this page:

"E Ink or electrophoretic ink is a type of electronic paper manufactured by E Ink Corporation. It was founded in 197 based on a research..."

Hmmm. So it seems this is very long-established technology

But I have to admit, from the illustrations, the presentation looks very clear.

Maybe that can be their new slogan: "E-ink... almost as old as paper itself!"

If you enjoy reading, I would say definitely check it out. Another advantage is that the batteries last forever (no need to charge every single night). Screen On Time is measured in days/weeks, not hours. Some also come with a backlight (which allows you to read in the dark). And after staring for hours at a computer/phone screen, your eyes can actually rest!

On the EPUB side of things, Kobo seems to be making some of the best e-ink readers:

https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders

JSWolf promotes them highly (as do others on MobileRead). I bought my sister an Kobo Glo HD a few years ago as a gift and it looks fantastic (I haven't personally had the chance to dabble with it too much).

On the Amazon side of things, their latest e-inks are the Kindle Voyage + Kindle Paperwhite + Kindle Oasis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon...hth_generation

Originally Posted by stumped

In e-format, I can highlight, annotate... and even share! my scandalous behaviour those 'cos amazon invented this thing called most popular highlights. and enabled it by default in all of their readers.
Better organise an authors' strike immediately until such behaviour is supressed.

As a complete side note, I was researching some obscure ebook topics and ran across a speech given by the creators of EPUB.js + Hypothes.is, "EPUB.js & Online Ebook Annotation ~ Fred Chasen and Jake Hartnell @ I Annotate 2014":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtj4LYBzRiw

EPUB.js being a way to embed EPUBs into your sites.

Hyphethes.is being an implementation of the Web Annotations standard.

That lead me to research the Web Annotations standard:

https://www.w3.org/blog/2017/02/maki...ns-on-the-web/

This would be a way to markup documents (such as books, websites, or research papers) with comments and easily Export/Import them between other programs/tools.

One of the blog posts spreading around against Web Annotations was because it could be used by trolls for harassment:

https://ellacydawson.wordpress.com/2...ences-writers/