Kobo Libra 2 left and right margins

[Nacho]

Hi,

I've recently got a Kobo Libra 2 and some books have margins too large for my liking, about half a centimeter or more even with the margins slider set to zero in the device.

With my old Kindle, I used Calibre to edit the books with:

html {
margin-left: -50px;
margin-right: -50px;
}

My new Kobo, however, does nothing, although the preview in Calibre shows the change in margins. Once the book is transferred to the device, it keeps the original margins.

Does anyone know a way to decrease left and right margins below the zero setting, either in the device or through Calibre?

Thanks for your help.

[DNSB]

If the margins are set to 0 in the CSS, your Kobo will display edge to edge. You may want to check the book(s) in an editor and see where/how the margins are set in the CSS.

You could also try changing your added CSS code to:

html {
margin-left: -50px !important;
margin-right: -50px !important;
}

to force the override.

[afv011]

When I have books with too wide margins I use calibre to do an ePub to ePub conversion with a profile that has narrow margins.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by afv011

When I have books with too wide margins I use calibre to do an ePub to ePub conversion with a profile that has narrow margins.

I just remove all body margins other than 0 in the editor before I load a new book to my Kobo (I also remove/change lots of other stuff).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by afv011

When I have books with too wide margins I use calibre to do an ePub to ePub conversion with a profile that has narrow margins.

It's a lot easier to go into the CSS and set the margins to 0 that are causing the overall L/R margins.

By editing ePub to how I want, I've learned a lot about HTML/CSS for ePub. So if you did it, you too could learn HTML/CSS for ePub.

Also, you can remove a lot of rubbish. SOmetimes the CSS can have lots of excess classes. Sometimes the cover is either generic or too small so that can be fixed. Sometimes you get previews/adverts for other books. They can be removed. Embedded fonts you don't want can be removed. Any of the HTML you don't want such as review blurbs can be removed. Metadata can be fixed if needed. And more.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

By editing ePub to how I want, I've learned a lot about HTML/CSS for ePub. So if you did it, you too could learn HTML/CSS for ePub.

Yes. I knew nothing about css/html when I started editing my books, but it wasn't actually all that difficult. There's still a lot I don't know, because I haven't studied it in depth; I know just enough to make my books look the way I want on my ereaders. It doesn't even take much time - a few minutes per book at most, once you've gotten into the habit.

It's totally worth it to me, because I hate being so annoyed with bad formatting I have to quit reading and fiddle with the settings (which often doesn't help). Of course many people aren't fussy and can swallow any nonsense the formatting program has coughed up, so messing with the book code isn't worth it to them. Unfortunately I'm pretty fussy and can't just ignore things like huge margins/line height/text indents, spaces between paragraphs and so on.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yes. I knew nothing about css/html when I started editing my books, but it wasn't actually all that difficult. There's still a lot I don't know, because I haven't studied it in depth; I know just enough to make my books look the way I want on my ereaders. It doesn't even take much time - a few minutes per book at most, once you've gotten into the habit.

It's totally worth it to me, because I hate being so annoyed with bad formatting I have to quit reading and fiddle with the settings (which often doesn't help). Of course many people aren't fussy and can swallow any nonsense the formatting program has coughed up, so messing with the book code isn't worth it to them. Unfortunately I'm pretty fussy and can't just ignore things like huge margins/line height/text indents, spaces between paragraphs and so on.

I get the look I want using calibre and EPUB -> EPUB conversion. 2 mouse clicks and done.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by John F

I get the look I want using calibre and EPUB -> EPUB conversion. 2 mouse clicks and done.

Doesn't work in many cases for me (or I'd have to bulk remove things I don't want to remove). I guess my needs are more detailed than yours.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

I get the look I want using calibre and EPUB -> EPUB conversion. 2 mouse clicks and done.

The look I want cannot be done with a calibre conversion.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yes. I knew nothing about css/html when I started editing my books, but it wasn't actually all that difficult. There's still a lot I don't know, because I haven't studied it in depth; I know just enough to make my books look the way I want on my ereaders. It doesn't even take much time - a few minutes per book at most, once you've gotten into the habit.

It's totally worth it to me, because I hate being so annoyed with bad formatting I have to quit reading and fiddle with the settings (which often doesn't help). Of course many people aren't fussy and can swallow any nonsense the formatting program has coughed up, so messing with the book code isn't worth it to them. Unfortunately I'm pretty fussy and can't just ignore things like huge margins/line height/text indents, spaces between paragraphs and so on.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The look I want cannot be done with a calibre conversion.

I concur with all the above!

[afv011]

Originally Posted by John F

I get the look I want using calibre and EPUB -> EPUB conversion. 2 mouse clicks and done.

Exactly, I don't see the need to muck with CSS when you can have it all automated.

[John F]

Originally Posted by afv011

Exactly, I don't see the need to muck with CSS when you can have it all automated.

Yup. More time reading, less time fiddling.*

*No slight intended to fiddlers.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by afv011

Exactly, I don't see the need to muck with CSS when you can have it all automated.

That depends on what you want. If your needs for formatting are relatively simple, you can get it (in most cases) with conversion; if you want the formatting to be more fine-tuned, conversion won't work so well.

Edit: For example, I recently edited a book where spaces between paragraphs were not coded with margins or padding, there just were empty paragraphs inserted between others. Conversion won't remove those and you'd be stuck with spaces between paragraphs without editing the book. I've seen this one quite often and that was one reason I started to edit the css/html instead of converting.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That depends on what you want. If your needs for formatting are relatively simple, you can get it (in most cases) with conversion; if you want the formatting to be more fine-tuned, conversion won't work so well.

Edit: For example, I recently edited a book where spaces between paragraphs were not coded with margins or padding, there just were empty paragraphs inserted between others. Conversion won't remove those and you'd be stuck with spaces between paragraphs without editing the book. I've seen this one quite often and that was one reason I started to edit the css/html instead of converting.

What is your process? Do you start reading and make changes as you see things you don't like?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by John F

What is your process? Do you start reading and make changes as you see things you don't like?

No. I don't even check the books in the Calibre viewer first, as there is almost always something I want to remove or change and there's no point in wasting time on any pre-checks. The very first thing I do after editing the metadata is open the file in the calibre editor. I open the html files one after another (checking stuff like ads, praises/raves etc I'd want to get rid of) until I come to the actual content (prologue or first chapter); then I can see what the layout/formatting looks like in the preview window and what I want to change or remove. After doing the necessary edits, I also check the files at the end, for things like samples, excerpts and more ads. Those must go as well.

After saving the edits, I check the book in the viewer and if all looks well, I'll run the page count plugin. The existence of page count in the relevant custom column means the book has been edited and checked.

And only when I've done this with all my new purchases I connect my Kobo and load the books (not necessarily all of them, those I want to read in the near future). Sometimes I may discover additional things I want to change while reading the book, but not that often.