Does page-break-inside:avoid work in azw3 files?

[AlexBell]

I've just uploaded A House to Let by various authors in ePub and mobi formats. The ebook was made in ePub format and converted to mobi+azw3 with calibre.

The book contains a chapter with a long poem. I have set up each verse in a div with page-break-inside:avoid, and that works as expected in the ePub version on a Sony T3, Kobo Touch, and iPad mini with iBooks and with Bluefire. That is, the verses stay intact and don't break.

But in the Kindle version the verses do break - page-break-inside:avoid makes no difference at all.

Am I doing something wrong? Or is calibre not converting that part of the ePub properly? Or do azw3 files not obey that markup?

Would the verses stay intact if I converted the ePub file with one of the Amazon programs?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I've just uploaded A House to Let by various authors in ePub and mobi formats. The ebook was made in ePub format and converted to mobi+azw3 with calibre.

The book contains a chapter with a long poem. I have set up each verse in a div with page-break-inside:avoid, and that works as expected in the ePub version on a Sony T3, Kobo Touch, and iPad mini with iBooks and with Bluefire. That is, the verses stay intact and don't break.

But in the Kindle version the verses do break - page-break-inside:avoid makes no difference at all.

Am I doing something wrong? Or is calibre not converting that part of the ePub properly? Or do azw3 files not obey that markup?

I have no idea what an AZW3 file does or does not do. Am I given to understand that you create a MOBI (kf7) and an AZW3 file (Kf8) as separate entities, with Calibre, is that right? Obviously, the MOBI won't obey any PBI:avoid formatting.

Would the verses stay intact if I converted the ePub file with one of the Amazon programs?

No, not really. Alex, I know you know this. Poor guy, why is it always you that labors over poetry like this? Tell the authors that that's simply the way it is on Amazon. Trust me, thousands of authors bemoan the very same issue with it comes to captions, about which I read here on MR near-daily. {shrug}. We work with captioned material all the time, and sure, it can make you bonkers, but getting ulcers over widowed captions makes more sense (somewhat) than getting ulcers over a verse breaking across pages.

Good luck!!

Hitch

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I have no idea what an AZW3 file does or does not do. Am I given to understand that you create a MOBI (kf7) and an AZW3 file (Kf8) as separate entities, with Calibre, is that right? Obviously, the MOBI won't obey any PBI:avoid formatting.

Hitch

Thanks, Hitch, that's most helpful.

calibre can convert ePub to 'Amazon' files and produce either azw3, or only mobi, or a 'both' version which contains azw3 (equivalent to KF8, so far as I know) and the old mobi (equivalent to KF7, so far as I know). I use the 'both' option, so that people using early generation Kindles will read the KF7 version, and later versions read the azw3 version. My Kindle Touch is about a year old, and reads the azw3 version. The real value of your response to me is that even the later Kindles can't handle page-break-inside:avoid.

The forty or fifty verse poem looks just awful on my Kindle Touch. So after I've calmed down a bit I'll probably withdraw the 'mobi' version from the MobileRead library. The author has been dead for over a century, so I don't think she'll mind.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Thanks, Hitch, that's most helpful.

calibre can convert ePub to 'Amazon' files and produce either azw3, or only mobi, or a 'both' version which contains azw3 (equivalent to KF8, so far as I know) and the old mobi (equivalent to KF7, so far as I know). I use the 'both' option, so that people using early generation Kindles will read the KF7 version, and later versions read the azw3 version. My Kindle Touch is about a year old, and reads the azw3 version. The real value of your response to me is that even the later Kindles can't handle page-break-inside:avoid.

The forty or fifty verse poem looks just awful on my Kindle Touch. So after I've calmed down a bit I'll probably withdraw the 'mobi' version from the MobileRead library. The author has been dead for over a century, so I don't think she'll mind.

Alex:

I think you're over-thinking it. If you simply leave the ePUB up there, for those that have Kindles, they'll email it to the device, or Calibre-ize it, anyway, and obtain the same result you already have now. Why take it down? Those of us that read on Kindles already know that the verses will break, and they certainly shan't hold it against you--nor shall the author!!

I understand the Mobi versus AZW3 thing in theory, from Calibre, but as I don't use it, I wanted to be clear that I can only address "regular" MOBI KF7 and KF8 formatting capabilities. For all I know, Kovid put something different in there. Thus, as I don't know about that, I wanted to clarify that I couldn't comment about that formatting mechanism/CSS capabilites.

Hitch

[AlexBell]

Thanks again, Hitch.

I think I'll compromise: I'll leave the A House to Let Kindle file in the library, but won't make a Kindle version of Seven Poor Travellers which contains two long poems.