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Randy Gibbons
Participant
August 11, 2025
Answered

Use grid for an EPUB export?

  • August 11, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 290 views

I am publishing a print and an ebook version of a book about music. I have occasion to present analytical representations of song lyrics - example attached. I know nothing about InDesign, but that is the tool my book designer is using. She/we are having difficulty getting the alignment to come out right in the EPUB file InDesign exports. I have looked at the html and stylesheet in the EPUB file (using Calibre), and I can see she is flailing. I believe if someone were doing this for a web page, they would use a CSS grid layout. My understanding is that InDesign has equivalent grid functionality, and my instinct is that is what we should be using, but the designer doesn't seem familiar with the grid functionality in InDesign, at least for this purpose. I am posting this to ask what would be the appropriate tool/functionality in InDesign to get the alignment right in the EPUB output. (Feel free to answer using InDesign specific terminology, as I will be passing this on to her anyway.)

Correct answer Mike Witherell

Randy,

Honestly, I don't quite see the grid of it. It looks like paragraph styles to me. Why and when does a grid become necessary?

2 replies

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Mike WitherellCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
August 12, 2025

Randy,

Honestly, I don't quite see the grid of it. It looks like paragraph styles to me. Why and when does a grid become necessary?

Mike Witherell
Randy Gibbons
Participant
August 12, 2025

Thanks! I'll pass this on.

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 12, 2025

Maybe try a Table?

Mike Witherell
Randy Gibbons
Participant
August 12, 2025

Thank you, Mike. Any elaboration? Is a grid layout at least feasible? (By the way, I'm not invested in how it's done, only in the end result.) Grid vs. table?