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Siobhan238776909b52
Participant
July 13, 2023
Question

Text alignment not working when exported to ePub

  • July 13, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 566 views

Hi everyone,

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

I am currently in the process of generating an ebook and the issue that I'm having is that any centred text doesn't seem to be carrying over when I then go to check it in Sigil.

 

I have had a pop-up in Sigil as well that has not cropped up before, which reads:

This EPUB has HTML files that are not well formed or are missing a DOCTYPE, html, head or body elements. Sigil can automatically fix these files although this may very rarely result in minor data loss in extreme circumstances.

 

Do you want to automatically fix the files?

 

I'm not too sure where I'm going wrong with the code to be generating this message. I've also tried reinstalling the Sigil app for an update to no avail. If it's of any relevance, I'm working on the 2020 Macbook Air.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    July 13, 2023

    There are many basic rules to follow and details to mind when setting up an ID document for EPUB. Here's an informal list of the important ones: https://nitrosyncretic.com/DPR/dpr_indesign_epub_basics.php .

     

    You don't say whether you are exporting to fixed layout or reflowable. Most fixes and control apply to the latter; there is next to nothing that can be done with FXL except get the export document correctly set up. But a single text flow is essential for both.

     

    Sigil is of little use or value when exporting to EPUB from tools like InDesign. It's more suited to the old model of "build a book" from component files, where many mistakes can be made and cross-editing them is a given. From InDesign, it's either get it right in the source or you won't get a useful/expected export, with very few instances of anything that can be "fixed" later.

    Willi Adelberger
    Community Expert
    Willi AdelbergerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 13, 2023
    1. Do you work with paragraph and object styles? You should do so.
    2. Do you work with a single text frame on a page or several text frames? Work with a single one.
    S
    Siobhan238776909b52Author
    Participant
    July 13, 2023

    Hi @Willi Adelberger 

     

    Thank you for your reply.

     

    To answer your questions:

    1. Do you work with paragraph and object styles? There are no objects in this example, but I have set up paragraph and character styles - please see example of a centred paragraph style. All centred paragraph styles I've created have been based on no pargraph style in particular with centre justify as the alignment.
    2. Do you work with a single text frame on a page or several text frames? I've only got one text frame per page, looking at the text threads they are all connected as they should be. The only exception is the first page (which covers copyright information) is on a seperate text thread.

     

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