Using <p> instead of <div>

[goderic]

I am fairly familiar with HTML but only looking into epub format tonight.

I started a book in Kindle Create which produced some problematic code and I have switched over to Sigil to clean it up.

I noticed two things right away.

First, every single content block had it's own class and id and every chapter had it's own style sheet. I am not sure if that is just an artifact of Kindle create or is something set by the epub format.

I created a single style sheet with styles used throughout the book and streamlined all those redundant classes. Hope that won't cause any problems... would it?

Second, simple paragraphs seem to use <div class="class-01"> instead of a simple <p> tag. Is there a reason for that, or could I just use <p>?

I tried googling the answer but just got a lot of unhelpful results.

Thank you so much

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by goderic

First, every single content block had it's own class and id and every chapter had it's own style sheet. I am not sure if that is just an artifact of Kindle create or is something set by the epub format.

That seems an overkill and poor design to have a new class and id for every block and stylesheet for every chapter.

Originally Posted by goderic

I created a single style sheet with styles used throughout the book and streamlined all those redundant classes. Hope that won't cause any problems... would it?

It is the better way to do it, and won't cause any problems if done right.

Originally Posted by goderic

Second, simple paragraphs seem to use <div class="class-01"> instead of a simple <p> tag. Is there a reason for that, or could I just use <p>?

Just use the <p> tag. My css code for the <p> tag is ...
p {
display: block;
margin-top: 0;
margin-bottom: 0;
text-indent: 1em;
}

You will soon discover
1. many epub editors may not have a complete understanding of the coding process, and try to compensate by adding redundant code. I prefer simple and clean code.

2. ereaders are not built the same, and what may work on one ereader may not work on another ereader or app.

If you are just starting off, these sites may be useful to you...
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/...ng-punctuation
https://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp

[KevinH]

Except for fixed layout epubs. Then each block will have their own class (with position info) and each chapter would get its own stylesheet (typically).

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Except for epub fixed layout epubs.

Oh, right.
I've never worked with fixed layout, so have no idea of their requirements.
Thanks.

[goderic]

That is very helpful, @Karellen. Thank you as well, @KevinH

I will continue to clean up the code from and structure it more like a simple webpage.

I am building this ebook for a Kindle submission — reflowable, not print replica. Does that make any difference?

Thank you so much