RE: Re: Re: Newbie question on making-editing ebooks

Thanks, Raechel. I appreciate your time to respond. 
 

---In [email protected], <eggplant@...> wrote:

 I use Notepad ++ to create the XHTML, CSS and other files necessary for the ePub.  I do some of the initial formatting in Word because my authors send me their manuscripts in .RTF format and that is the program I have on hand.  I learned how to create the ePub and what the various files (content.opf, toc.ncx, etc.) from the book EPUB Straight to the Point (http://www.elizabethcastro.com/epub/ http://www.elizabethcastro.com/epub/).
 
 

 I also rely heavily on the advice laid out in here: http://guidohenkel.com/2010/12/take-pride-in-your-ebook-formatting/ http://guidohenkel.com/2010/12/take-pride-in-your-ebook-formatting/ which you might find helpful.
 

 Raechel

 

 On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 8:16 PM, <jrswebhome@... mailto:jrswebhome@...> wrote:
   I have had a chance to review the Smashwords guide this afternoon.
 

 Does everyone use Word or Open Office to create ebooks?
 

 I had just never thought about how manuscripts are created.
 I just thought I would flow the text into some HTML document and then insert styles and CSS. Guess that's a beginner's thought.
 

 I do see Smashword's insistence upon stripping everything out, then going back into simplifying the format and styles. Also the insistence upon either a block paragraph style or paragraph indent, but not both.
 

---In [email protected] mailto:[email protected], <[email protected] mailto:[email protected]> wrote:
 
 On 04/11/2013 16:59, jrswebhome@... mailto:jrswebhome@... wrote: ���� If I look in the coding of an ebook converted to a Calibre ebook, I see "Calibre" named headings, etc. Are you sure it is not a Calibre ebook after the conversion? Why would all the headings change names if it is not a conversion?
 To understand further, patience please:
 1. Calibre is only used to convert between different ebook formats?
 2. The coding within ebooks is html and css?
 3. What is the difference in html and css?
 Just trying to understand how to change the insides from such ugly designs. 
 
 
 
 John,
 
 If you leave the css to Calibre [or Sigil or other converters] it will use its own progam name; but there is no such thing as a calibre ebook - it converts between formats - there is���� drop down list showing how many formats���� there are. 
 2... yes, html and css are the major coding needs for users, and the core of making ebooks. 
 3... html is the code,while css is the shaping of that code. e.g The Book might be <heading1> in html, and the size and colour and case [capitals, lower case or usually mixed] in css.
 
 I recommend Mark Coker's guide [free] on Smashwords to explain the process as your first step to understanding. Changing appearance should be done in Sigil. Later you might develop more skill [depending on how much of this you do] and use more specialised programs. Generally ebooks should be designed simply. You may not be able to achieve what you want. Coker's book will show something of how to do it and what those limitations are.
 
 Joseph Harris
 
 

 
 
 

 



 

-- 
 Raechel Henderson
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