There are several reasons to generate a clean EPUB.
Consistency. Consistent styles to maintain the same look and feel across platforms.
Simplicity. With fewer interactions between CSS styles, changes are easier to implement and track.
Human readable. Easy to find chapters, sections and styles.
Convertible. Simple styles lend to consistent conversions between formats. Creates Microsoft Word documents with fewer embedded Styles.
Of course, there are disadvantages.
Investment. Generating documents requires time and effort. However, since the the styles are reusable, the level of effort for future releases is reduced.
Technical knowledge. This requires more than a passing familiarity with Markdown, XHTML, CSS, and Calibre. However, there is pleny of documentation available online to help.
While the disadvantages can dissuade people from experimenting with this capability, I found it simplified my eBook submission process. I can target Draft2Digital, Google Play, and Amazon Kindle, using one EPUB, and maintain advanced formatting like realistic text messaging throughout.
This tutorial focuses on features Calibre offers to make EPUB management easier. These tips and tricks may prove invaluable for debugging an eBook in the future.
Designers can implement CSS styles that creates realistic Text message conversations. These elements reflow automatically, maintaining a consistent look and feel across devices.
The challenge in designing eBooks are the unknowns. It’s impossible to know what devices your readers will use and these uncertainties stack up. Some of these elements are:
Fonts can be embedded into an EPUB to control the look and feel. However, there is no guarantee that Amazon, Apple, Google, or Kobo will not strip them out in favour of their own. E.g., Bookerly on Kindle platforms.
It’s important that an EPUB reflow its content to adjust to changes in any of the above elements. A book that reflows ensures a quality reading experience for the reader.
To start the process, add the following CSS style to your EPUB‘s stylesheet. This document is normally named stylesheet.css in a Calibre generated eBook.
Instead of using pt, or px to define the dimensions, we use em. This type of measurement is relative, enabling the document to adjust automatically when the user changes fonts or size.
The next step is to go through every chapter and find the first paragraph. While the converted document’s formatting will differ from this example, it will look similar to this:
Default Code
<body>
<h1 class="blockFirstTop">THE VAN HELSING INCURSION</h1>
<h2 class="blockFirstChapter">CHAPTER 1</h2>
<p class="blockSubtitle">THEY’RE MAGICALLY DELICIOUS</p>
<p>Clara had been lying flat against the snow-covered ground
since the witching hour. The sky was taking on red hues,
and the moon would soon secede its dominion over the
celestial plain.</p>
<p>She maintained a low heart rate while her movements were
kept to an absolute minimum. Freshly fallen snow had
accumulated during the night, all of which helped to
conceal her position.</p>
Output
Screenshot of an EBook with no drop character
For a drop character the first letter of the paragraph must be wrapped in a SPAN with the class defined. Once the changes are made, the preview panel will update the look and feel.
For a consistent display of drop characters, consider:
Remove the first quotation mark prior to wrapping the character; and
Remove additional formatting like bold or italics.
Adjusted Code
<body>
<h1 class="blockFirstTop">THE VAN HELSING INCURSION</h1>
<h2 class="blockFirstChapter">CHAPTER 1</h2>
<p class="blockSubtitle">THEY’RE MAGICALLY DELICIOUS</p>
<p><span class="dropCharacter">C</span>lara had been
lying flat against the snow-covered ground since the
witching hour. The sky was taking on red hues, and the
moon would soon secede its dominion over the celestial
plain.</p>
<p>She maintained a low heart rate while her movements were
kept to an absolute minimum. Freshly fallen snow had
accumulated during the night, all of which helped to
conceal her position.</p>
Output
Screenshot of an EBook with a visible drop character
That’s it!
Note
The look and feel may change based on the rendering engine. Viewing it on Google Play Books may have a a different reading experience Apple iBooks, or Rakuten Kobo.
Since 7 Mar 2016, Google Docs permits users to export directly to the EPUB format. This feature is purportedly reliable in exporting hyperlinked chapter index.
Google Docs now exports to EPUB on thestack.com
Some articles state that Google Docs will import from Microsoft Word and generate a viable working product. So given Google Docs‘ collaborative capabilities and this export feature, this may prove to be an invaluable tool for drafts and early beta releases.
I am curious as to how this compares with Calibre generated documents. Normally, I export to HTML from Google Docs to create mine and that has worked well in the past.
