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shellbhawaii, on 01 February 2011 - 08:51 PM, said:
OK, I'm back, but don't cringe!!
I am now an expert at that CSS stuff to make my Section Text appear just right!
But, now it's the Section Separator that is a bugaboo.
As for space between various elements, be that between Chapter and subhead, or between scenes, I presumed I could insert a "Section Separator."
But, whether I create my own, or use one that seems to magically appear in my style menu sometimes, it doesn't translate in Kindle.
I see these breaks of space when I read various Kindle books, so I know they can happen, but what do I do to achieve this?
Any advice is welcome.
In advance of receiving the answer, I wanted to pose two directions I've thought of, but am not sure how to execute:
1. Add some CSS code for a new style into my main css. But, first, what would the code be? And, second, if I do that (as you'd suggested at one point for my first line indent), where/how do I assign that style where I want it? The headings are available to assign when creating the book and assigning styles. How does the new style get applied?
2. If the only option is a manual entry at each point I want the scene break (<br/><br/>), do I go into the individual chapter html files and insert it? And, if so, do I need to do anything special to have these revised html files "speak" to the opf file that I use to generate my new mobi file? Or does the css file already have the "link" in it, as long as my html files stay in the same directory as before?
I"m trying to "talk the talk," but am having difficulty walking the walk!
Thanks.
I am now an expert at that CSS stuff to make my Section Text appear just right!
But, now it's the Section Separator that is a bugaboo.
As for space between various elements, be that between Chapter and subhead, or between scenes, I presumed I could insert a "Section Separator."
But, whether I create my own, or use one that seems to magically appear in my style menu sometimes, it doesn't translate in Kindle.
I see these breaks of space when I read various Kindle books, so I know they can happen, but what do I do to achieve this?
Any advice is welcome.
In advance of receiving the answer, I wanted to pose two directions I've thought of, but am not sure how to execute:
1. Add some CSS code for a new style into my main css. But, first, what would the code be? And, second, if I do that (as you'd suggested at one point for my first line indent), where/how do I assign that style where I want it? The headings are available to assign when creating the book and assigning styles. How does the new style get applied?
2. If the only option is a manual entry at each point I want the scene break (<br/><br/>), do I go into the individual chapter html files and insert it? And, if so, do I need to do anything special to have these revised html files "speak" to the opf file that I use to generate my new mobi file? Or does the css file already have the "link" in it, as long as my html files stay in the same directory as before?
I"m trying to "talk the talk," but am having difficulty walking the walk!
Thanks.
Your first approach is the best one. The "margin-bottom" CSS property controls the space at the bottom of a block of markup (e.g. a paragraph).
Storyist provides hooks for customization by marking up the exported text with class names for the text style in your manuscript. So, for example, if you had some text with the style named "Quote", the exporter would mark up the HTML like this
<p class="quote">...</p>
so you can add a style to your CSS file like this:
.quote {
...
}
(Notice the dot before the style name.)
Now that you've taken the plunge, there is actually quite a bit of customization you can do (provided you're willing to test it on the various Kindle versions).
If you want to do a bunch of this (or work on websites), I recommend a tool called CSSEdit. It will
* Let you change CSS properties using more familiar controls (so you don't have to remember the CSS property names).
* Preview your CSS changes with your actual book.
-Steve
