Tech: ebook rtf and/or html

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: Artful Codger
Date: 20 May 12 - 07:02 PM

Just to set the matter straight: not all common e-book formats are HTML-family-based. Popular exceptions are PDF and PostScript. ePub format is just a wrapper (albeit XML-based) for a number of different standard formats, not just those related to HTML; the RTF format that Kat suppressed is an example of a very common non-HTML format used in ePub books. (Ostensibly, any format you can describe by a MIME type can be wrapped as an ePub book, though in practice, only a limited number of formats are widely supported by popular reader applications.)

Although the trend in e-book formats is toward XML, providers like Amazon, Sony, Adobe and B&N are still intent on making them proprietary (restricted to their own reader devices--and unreliable support for older format versions), which is why I avoid proprietary formats for anything I might want to keep beyond the first read. Complicating the matter further are the un-unified Digital Rights Management schemes imposed to prevent piracy. Consider any "purchase" of a proprietary e-book to be a limited-term loan only.

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: Tootler
Date: 20 May 12 - 03:37 PM

I have been experimenting with converting files for Kindle starting with .html files and converting them to .mobi using Calibre.

I have found that, for the Kindle at least,

<div style="text-align: center"> </div> works fine to centre text. "text-align: right" will right justify OK as well.

Embedding the style data inside a <p> </p> or a <hx> </hx> tag works as well.

I don't know about other eBook formats but I understand that all the common eBook formats are in fact based on html.

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Nov 11 - 10:44 AM

Well, now I don't feel such an idiot. Just found this on BookBrewer's website:

Unfortunately, centering text is currently not supported in eBooks. Spacing the text over is not recommended, as what looks centered in one eReader device (like an iPad, Kindle, Cruz, etc) may not look centered in the next eReader. This is because each eReader has a different sized screen, and so one may have more characters displayed from left to right than the next.

Sorry for the bother, folks! Thanks all the same,

kat

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Nov 11 - 12:30 AM

Tried it, Bert. In the rtf it shows centered, but in the VIEW same thing...it's left justified. I am about to give up. I will write to them and tell them I think their system has a glitch or something.

Thanks a bunch to you all,

kat

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: Bert
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 09:02 PM

Have you tried Sigil?

It gives the following code when you center the text

<p style="text-align: center;"> Your text goes here <p>

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 06:59 PM

Thanks, but so far nothing has worked. < center > was the first thing I tried, without the spaces, of course.:-) And the "pre" did make it look typewritten, which isn't bad, but it did not center it. Nor did the "align" tag work.

When I go to the title page on the website and look at it in rtf I get just what I want:

WindWords of Wyoming
Brief essays, stories, and poems on
Nature, Spirituality, Animals & People
by Kat LaFrance

© 2011 by Kathleen L. LaFrance
© 2004 cover photo by Kathleen L. LaFrance
(taken atop Boysen Peak, Wyoming)
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form without the written permission
of the author.
First e-Book Edition<

Contact the author at:
[e-mail]

BUT, when I go to their VIEW, it shows it as flush on the left. So, I go back into EDIT, "disable rtf" and enter "center" again, along with proper line breaks, etc., leaving in their formatting as the rest is how I want it.

It shows up as centered in their rtf EDIT mode, but in VIEW, it again is flush left. I have deleted all of their html and started from scratch using simple "center," "br," and "p" but something, as Jon said above, seems to be removing the html.

BookBrewer is a simple site to use. You just enter each chapter of your book using copy & paste; they then turn it into an e-Book. I've tried their "paste from WORD" function and still no centering. It seems curious to me that even in their rtf menu bar there is nothing for centering or justifying, so maybe it's something they don't allow. I know they format the eBooks to satisfy Amazon, Borders, and a few others which can be significant. The rest of my book looks fine, it's just this one thing hanging up publication. Maybe it's not that important to have the title centered on an ebook?

Anywho, thanks a bunch. I know I've forgotten a lot of the html I've learned here, but this one has me flummoxed. It seems so simple.

kat

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 04:42 PM

Center is deprecated although I have yet to hear of a browser dropping support.

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 04:27 PM

Right, Jon, my mistake. I had actually taken a glance at your source code but not really paid attention. (To be precise, you used <div align=center> - maybe resulting from a transatlantic translation software ;-)).

<center> is easiest. Kat, note that no leading spaces are required, and they are in fact useless, as you probably observed. Is your problem solved now? If not, please tell us more precisely what you are doing, since I do not know how BookBrewer works technically.

Bert, if you are serious about PRE: it usually produces an appearance as if typewritten, not everyones taste in songbooks. If you want it "dirty" - ok; not for Kat though.

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: Bert
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 02:37 PM

I have found that Sigil is a bit temperamental when converting html tags, but the PRE tag seems to work for me.

I just get my stuff looking right in Notepad and save it as a .html file.

Expect a dirty song book before the year is out.

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 01:07 PM

actually I used <div align=centre> </div>

So that's two methods you could try, kat. if you haven't done so already. You could also try inline css styles ie,

style="text-align:center;"

instead of align=center

It sounds as if the web site is removing some HTML though and if it is something like that, I don't know what it's allowed codes are.

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 12:38 PM

kat, I think Bert is pulling your leg, since that is probably not what you really want. In fact I do not know what exactly you want, but it might be <center>...</center>, as used by Jon.

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 10:13 AM

Faster and more thorough answers from you folks, Jon.

Bert I'll try that.

Thanks, you guys!

kat

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 09:27 AM

WindWords of Wyoming
Brief essays, stories, and poems on
Nature, Spirituality, Animals & People

by Kat LaFrance

---
I'd have thought this one a question for the website, kat.

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: Bert
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 09:14 AM

Try <pre>

  
  
  
                        
  
                       WindWords of Wyoming
  
  
  

</pre>

Subject: RE: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 08:22 AM

So far as I recall there is no "justify" command in html for plain text. (it's been a while since I've done much with it so I could have just remembered wrong - although I never forget, of course....)

You might consider putting the text you want centered into a table cell, where you can "center" it in the cell using an "align" tag?

You probably could use a frame or text box, but those cause difficulties when you move between formats (as in/out of your word processor) so I sort of dislike seeing them used excessively in html that I have to manipulate.

(There are others here better practiced at it than I am, so you might want to wait for a better suggestion.)

John

Subject: Tech: ebook rtf and/or html
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Oct 11 - 04:19 PM

I disable rich text format at BookBrewer.com where I am finishing up loading WindWords of Wyoming in order to offer it as an e-book. I do that so that I can enter my own html to center the title page info. The rest of the book is fine. Every time I *fix* the title page AND save, it reverts back to left adjust instead of center. I don't know how to post their html to show you what it is doing, but when I look at it, the center tag has been removed. I've also noticed they do not have a center function in their icons for rtf, yet I was able to use it on other pages with poems. This is what I keep getting. What I want is the title and author centered. Any suggestions> Thanks!

 

WindWords of Wyoming
Brief essays, stories, and poems on
Nature, Spirituality, Animals & People

by Kat LaFrance

 

 

 

 

© 2011 by Kathleen L. LaFrance
© 2004 cover photo by Kathleen L. LaFrance
(taken atop Boysen Peak, Wyoming)
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form without the written permission
of the author.
First e-Book Edition

 

Contact the author at:
[e-mail]
http://www.katlafrance.com