Is there a way to transfer the layout/CSS data from one epub to another?

[GnRFan79]

I got a copy of the Great Gatsby from Project Gutenberg and when I send this via email to my Kindle the layout looks great.

I’ve got some other epub files that when I transfer to my kindle in the same way via email the layout isn’t as good.

I presume this is because of the layout/CSS settings in the respective epub files.

Is there a way to transfer the CSS/layout data between two epub files?

[JSWolf]

Transferring the CSS from one ePub to another won't work unless both ePub use the exact same classes. And I doubt you'd find to random ePub using the same classes. Also, there may be some classes in the HTML that are not in the transferred CSS. So really, it's not going to work.

The solution is to hand edit each ePub.

[pdurrant]

Yes and no and yes.

Yes, you could use Sigil to copy the CSS files from one ePub to another.

No, that won't help, because the effect that the CSS has on the layout depends on how CSS is used in the HTML.

Of course, if you're prepared to also edit the use of the CSS in the HTML (using Sigil) you could. But you might not consider it to be worth the effort.

I'd recommend looking at calibre's options for conversion to ePub. They also work on converting ePub -> ePub to re-write some of the styling.

[GnRFan79]

Is there a way, say using Calibre’s epub > epub functionality, to remove all of the formatting from an epub, effectively reverting the epub back to absolute basics/default formatting?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by GnRFan79

Is there a way, say using Calibre’s epub > epub functionality, to remove all of the formatting from an epub, effectively reverting the epub back to absolute basics/default formatting?

I suggest asking in the calibre forum. The Conversion sub-forum would probably be the best place. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/fo...play.php?f=235

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by GnRFan79

Is there a way, say using Calibre’s epub > epub functionality, to remove all of the formatting from an epub, effectively reverting the epub back to absolute basics/default formatting?

In calibre's editor f you delete all of the css in the stylesheet.css file that will do that, although the .xhtml or .html files will have all of the class= stuff still, but after removing the css that will all be ignored. Corner cases would be if they have css in the .xhtml/.html files. Another one that I occasionally bump into is the .xhtml/.html files use divs instead of ps for paragraphs. Also annoying is when they use p tags instead of h tags for the chapter titles but after this stuff the chapter headings are just plain.

After deleting the css from the stylesheet.css you can add your own there, which shouldn't use any classes except for default size bold and italic which you copied and saved from the original css. Here's what I use (compressed to save screen space):

body{font-size:100%;border:0;margin:0;padding:0;width:auto;}
body *{line-height:inherit;}
p{font-size:100%;margin:0;padding:0;border:0;text-indent:2em;}
a{color:inherit;text-decoration:none;}
h1,h2,h3,h4{text-align:center;}
.italic{font-style:italic;}
.bold{font-weight:bold;}
img{max-width:100%;border:none;}

For the bold and italic I search the original css for classes that have the font size at 100% or 1em and copy the class name and add them to my .italic or .bold. For example it would say .italic, .calibre8{...} if the original css had italic for the calibre8 class.

I'm doing this for my kobo, so I use calibre to convert from the amazon format to epub, and have calibre's settings to set the font size to 1em or 100%. Occasionally I start with an epub so I do an epub to epub conversion. On the kobo the above css gives a ragged right layout, which is what I want.


My objective with all this folderol is to have a consistent line spacing and font size and ragged right. So every time I open a new book I don't need to adjust any of the sliders. The end result isn't pretty but with novels there rarely is any fancy formatting that matters.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by GnRFan79

Is there a way, say using Calibre’s epub > epub functionality, to remove all of the formatting from an epub, effectively reverting the epub back to absolute basics/default formatting?

Not the epub => epub functionality, but using calibre's editor, you could remove any CSS stylesheets and inline styles.

[JSWolf]

An ePub with no CSS is going to look awful. You are best to learn HTML/CSS so you can edit the CSS so the eBooks looks how you like.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

An ePub with no CSS is going to look awful. You are best to learn HTML/CSS so you can edit the CSS so the eBooks looks how you like.

Yeah. For example, this would nuke all the special margins of chapter headings, diary/letter entries, between sections and so on. The result would just be a plain text file, not a book

I have consistent font size and line spacing in all my books, without nuking the existing css.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah. For example, this would nuke all the special margins of chapter headings, diary/letter entries, between sections and so on. The result would just be a plain text file, not a book

I have consistent font size and line spacing in all my books, without nuking the existing css.

On the kobo it turns out surprisingly well when you nuke all of the css. The paragraphs are ragged right, no indentation, and a blank line between them. Those are easily fixed with some css on the p tag. For the kinds of books that I get there are few if any diary/letter entries, and even if there are they are typically in italics. The headings formatted with p tags turn out plain with no bold and 1em but they're just 1 line and then a bunch of pages so I can overlook them being funky; if authors/formatters would use h tags they'd look fine.

I've had to get aggressive in ripping out the css because I download probably at least 1 book a day on average from ereaderiq. Trying to do a nice job like you do takes too much time, since most of these free books don't engage me so I stop and move on to the next one.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hobnail

On the kobo it turns out surprisingly well when you nuke all of the css. The paragraphs are ragged right, no indentation, and a blank line between them. Those are easily fixed with some css on the p tag. For the kinds of books that I get there are few if any diary/letter entries, and even if there are they are typically in italics. The headings formatted with p tags turn out plain with no bold and 1em but they're just 1 line and then a bunch of pages so I can overlook them being funky; if authors/formatters would use h tags they'd look fine.

I've had to get aggressive in ripping out the css because I download probably at least 1 book a day on average from ereaderiq. Trying to do a nice job like you do takes too much time, since most of these free books don't engage me so I stop and move on to the next one.

But that's CSS and not no CSS. So why rip out the CSS when it's actually not too difficult to fix the existing CSS?