Inspiring

Answered

Character style issue when exporting to epub

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
August 13, 2022
3 replies
8364 views

Im designing a book that have over 120+ pages, and Im using both pargraph and character style, my problem is when I export the book to epub, the word that I use the character style on (bold, color, italic) when exporting it does not have spcae before the word or affter, Im using ITC Avant Garde Gothic Std‭ ‬font which is an open font, I tried different font and it has the same issue, if you can guide me, I dont want to outline the text as I need the search option feature for the word to be open.

attached an example from indesign and epub.

if you can kindly advise on this issue.

BR

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Marwa Alz

Oh, I didn't see the INDD file up there. 😛

Done; my copy of ID really doesn't like the file and took so long to load it I thought it had locked up. But the export is fine in Calibre Reader and faulty in Thorium.

I'd say the issue is in your INDD file setup, probably caused by the MEL components of your installation. I have no hands-on experience with that version, but it's probably the right direction to look for a fix.

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solved the issue by switching the pargraph style compser, I wanted to update you, thank you

James Gifford—NitroPress

Brainiac

Both of the above. It is almost certainly the reader itself.

If this is a reflowable EPUB (which it should be; fixed-page is obsolete except for special uses), and you're using the Adobe viewer, the problem is very likely ADE. There are, unfortunately, a lot of noncompliant EPUB readers out there and Adobe's is one of the least reliable.

Thorium should show the book correctly in all respects, although it may have font-size issues; a reasonably good but not flawless alternative is Calibre (just the reader, not the tool package). Kindle Previewer is a little clumsy to use as a reader but it can give a fairly clean proofing of EPUB books as well.

However, specifying/embedding fonts is poor EPUB practice. You are better off using the reader-based generic fonts as there are many issues, on top of the above ones, with embedding fonts in EPUB files and forcing readers to use them reliably.

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derekwatson

Community Expert

I am getting a weird issue with grep style when exporting to ePub. All quotes in the book are in italics, set by anything within quote marks. It seems to be random as not happening everywhere but in many cases, the final work appears in a smaller type size. All is fine in ID file and when exported to PDF.

Derek Watson

James Gifford—NitroPress

Brainiac

First question: in what EPUB reader? As this discussion already notes, they vary considerably and are often the cause of such systematic glitches.

A first fix for these things is often the "purge" — export the document to IDML, then open that and re-save as an INDD file under a new name. Try the EPUB export from that. This process purges old data that piles up in docs, and can fix all kinds of little broken formatting and structure issues.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Look like Adobe Digital Editions which is a hot mess. Try Thorium or the Books app on Mac/iOS/iPadOS.

M

Marwa AlzAuthor

Inspiring

yes im viewing it in book app on mac, same issue

Derek Cross

Community Expert

Presumably this is a Reflowable ePub (not a FXL ePub)?

How are you viewing the ePub?

What happens when you change the font to a generic sans serif font?

M

Marwa AlzAuthor

Inspiring

I exported the book as fixed layout epub, Im viewing the epub from iBook, regarding the font I change it to helvitica but same result.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Brainiac

I see no errors, using Calibre reader:

But I do in Thorium:

And IceCream Reader (one I don't like very much for a variety of reasons) shows another variation of the error:

...and Adobe Digital Editions renders it exactly this same way.

I really don't know what to make of this. I am suspecting it's your fonts, but I'm going to experiment a little more with your file at a more technical level to see if I can isolate it.

This is, in all, an example of why I don't like FXL EPUB very much. It works, more or less faultlessly, 9 times out of 10, but is prone to bizarre faults across the spectrum of readers.

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Okay, I am stumped. It appears to be a very deep rendering issue unique to your installation, but I can't see why.

There is nothing unusual or faulty in the CSS of the export. None of the span styles (CSS equivalent of character styles) contain any spacing elements at all.

Deleting the embedded fonts (and thus making it use my system versions of Avant Garde) has no effect.

The XHTML code for the page is the usual complex mess, with each group of words having an extensive position definition wrapped around it. For some reason, some readers execute this properly, and others don't. It's the variation that completely stumps me.

It is, however, something deep in this export code, and it's peculiar to your setup, if not unique.

It occurs to me that you may be using a Middle East Languages setup, and that's part of what's causing the odd positioning. I'm hazy on how this works, but you might switch this document to the basic composer and not the MEL/world one. That might be what's confusing the EPUB structure, which often has problems with RTL languages and the like. (Someone with more experience on the RLT/MEL setup and the variant composers could probably be more specific, here, but maybe that's enough of a pointer for you to figure it out?)

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