Can't control image width

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by RonOnThePond

I will read your several prior posts a number of times to digest and apply what I can.

One more question: do you ever sleep?

Between reading books, eating etc. I'm a bit behind on editing.

[Quoth]

Yes, you can enclose the img in a <p or a <div, I work from importing a docx so automatically get enclosing <p's.

[jhowell]

It is unclear whether you are producing something for your own use or are working on something you intend to publish. If publishing you may want to ask for advice in the Workshop forum or in the Kindle Formats forum.

I don’t understand why are are even trying to limit the pixel width of an image. It seems to me that would punish those trying to read using small high resolution screens such as phones.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by jhowell

It is unclear whether you are producing something for your own use or are working on something you intend to publish. If publishing you may want to ask for advice in the Workshop forum or in the Kindle Formats forum.

I don’t understand why are are even trying to limit the pixel width of an image. It seems to me that would punish those trying to read using small high resolution screens such as phones.

Which is why I only set a percent. OK it may look too enlarged on a 14″ or 28″ screen, but it works on 3″ to 8″ screens. I only set specific px for small images, like a line art logo or a QR code. Also why I check images on a wide variety of screens. Retina type (HiDPI mode) displays usually use 2 x 2 pixels for each image pixel and use the extra resolution to improve text by turning off things like "cleartype".

[RonOnThePond]

jhowell, this is for self-publishing on Amazon. It's my second book, sort of a sequel to one I wrote 10 years ago. The topic is proton therapy for prostate cancer. The first one is in paperback and Kindle format. This new one is ready to go in paperback (I have the proof copy-looks good), and I was hoping to simultaneously offer a Kindle edition. That hope is fading fast. I was targeting January (this month) for the release. Two days to go? Not likely.

For simplicity, and for better or worse, I am strictly using Amazon KDP. I am aware of the tradeoffs. Thank you for the suggestion to explore other forums. I think initially my issues seemed to be Calibre Editor ones, but I will explore other avenues, too.

As for limiting the width of images, here is one reason: At the end of some chapters I have (in print) boxed text succinctly summarizing the takeaway from the chapter. As a reader, I found it highly distracting to inevitably see some of these boxes split over two pages (digital version). I gave it a good try with page-break-inside: avoid, etc, but nothing worked. So as a hail Mary, I converted these boxes into jpg images to ensure they could not be split, and that works well enough, and they look fine. But on a wide screen like a tablet in landscape position, I want to prevent these boxed-text-images from spanning the entire width (basically, the whole screen), jumping out in huge format, like splashing water in your face. They need to be restricted to a natural width for that situation. Full width on a phone is fine. Maybe 60-80% on a Kindle looks good. But 100% on a wide tablet is a bad experience. There are other situations with different reasons to limit the image width, but these text-box images is the most concerning one.

I hope that clarifies my situation. Thank you again for your help.

Ron

[theducks]

The Calibre Editor (and many others) is just a tool like a saw and hammer.
You need to know how to measure, cut and what the local building codes are.

Amazon has their building codes. EPUB has theirs. Some overlap.
Some you don't use because you want to publish for both and KISS takes front seat over optimum.

In this case: Workshop is where you really want to be. Calibre and Sigil... Are just tools. You need advice on how to build, not use the tool.

[RonOnThePond]

I understand the tool analogy very well, and it's a good one. If I were starting this project over, I would have a lot more insight into the question of available tools. I think I went to Calibre because I used it ten years ago, and the process seemed easy enough.

My main priority right now is to get this book out there. As I said, the paperback edition is 100% ready to go. The Kindle edition ideally would be released simultaneously, and quite frankly, it looks about 95% fine on multiple devices. But that last 5%, mostly relating to handling the images, is not unimportant, so I'm hanging in there to try to make it workable. There isn't enough time to start over with a better, more appropriate approach because quite frankly, it is already about a year overdue. About a year ago I had to suddenly back-burner all projects so I could devote full-time attention to helping my 99-year old mother rearrange her life, and only now is my head back above water. So one way or another, I'm on the final runway to publishing this. I'd just like to get a handle on sizing these images, and then hopefully it will be acceptable to release along with the paperback.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by RonOnThePond

But on a wide screen like a tablet in landscape position, I want to prevent these boxed-text-images from spanning the entire width (basically, the whole screen), jumping out in huge format, like splashing water in your face. They need to be restricted to a natural width for that situation. Full width on a phone is fine. Maybe 60-80% on a Kindle looks good. But 100% on a wide tablet is a bad experience. There are other situations with different reasons to limit the image width, but these text-box images is the most concerning one.

I hope that clarifies my situation. Thank you again for your help.

Ron

People will not use a tablet in Landscape mode to read an ebook. They might to read a PDF or other content where what they want to read is too small.

If your image text box is taller than wider, then something like height: 25% and width: auto will work, and be fine in landscape.

But most people would rather have the text box as text and split rather than as an image. Also if it's a summary, then start it near the beginning of a new page/new HTML file. Put a heading outside the box and and with conversion from docx to epub, that can be automatic.

Text boxes as graphics are terrible. Usability, because user font, margin and line space control is lost. Only works well on one size screen for one level of vision / user font size selection. Also you need the entire text as alt in the HTML for screen readers.

[Quoth]

Don't try to replicate print in an ebook. Forget about print if you did one, and style / format / layout as simple as possible for the content. If you must box text, then only after a heading that creates new HTML file/page break. Only use small text box (maybe then increase Widows and Orphans to 4 and only have 4 lines in a txt box).
Don't obsess about a text box breaking across two pages if it can't be at the start of a page.

[RonOnThePond]

Don't try to replicate print in an ebook.

Don't obsess

Best advice yet. Contemplating the implications of this now …

[jhowell]

Converting text to images is a horrible idea. It prevents control of font and size, dictionary lookup, and notes/highlighting. And it is bad for accessibility.

Also Kindles have some very specific formatting quirks. max-width is simply ignored for images. That used to be fairly well documented but Amazon has dumbed down their publishing guidelines in recent years. Now a lot of detailed information is only available by asking experienced e-book formatters.

In my opinion your desire to keep a block of text all on one page is leading you down a bad path. Trying to force your desired formatting is only going to cause problems for your readers. Keep it simple for e-books.

(Added: I was a little late with this comment. Basically I agree with what Quoth wrote above.)