Vertically Center Text for Reflowable ePUB3

Mahmoud,

First you'll need the CSS for the paragraph style that will be used to vertically center the line of type. This style cannot be used anywhere else in the InD doc. To do this, don't apply the edits that I mentioned in the earlier post just yet (from March 28). Instead, export to reflowable ePUB and then crack open the file. Navigate to the CSS file. The name should be something like idGeneratedStyles.css. Open this up with a text/html editor and look for this paragraph style name. It will be a class name so it will start with a period mark, for example, my style is title-byline so in the CSS it will appear as .title-byline. Copy all of the declarations listed in this class name to a blank text file. Then enclose these in a new class name. I called mine .vertCenter.

example:

.vertCenter{

  font-family:"Myriad Pro", sans-serif;

  font-size:1.167em;

  font-style:normal;

  font-variant:normal;

  font-weight:normal;

  line-height:1.2;

margin: 50vh 0 0 0;  /* vh stands for viewport height*/

-webkit-transform: translateY(-50%);

transform: translateY(-50%);

  color:#222222;

  orphans:1;

  page-break-after:auto;

  page-break-before:auto;

  text-align:center;

  text-decoration:none;

  text-indent:0;

  text-transform:none;

  widows:1;

}

Take out any references to the margin properties and replace that with what I wrote above (in orange). Save this file with a descriptive name. Mine is called xtra.css. Switch back to InDesign and open the same paragraph style and click Export Tagging. Add the class name, .vertCenter to the Class field (under Export Tagging). Uncheck Emit CSS. Now export to Reflowable ePUB. When the Export Options window opens, click the CSS tab and click Add Style Sheet. Navigate to your xtra.css file (or whatever you named it). Click Ok to complete the export. Proof your ePUB to confirm the CSS is working correctly. I've tested it on iBooks, Readium, and Kobo. The idea is to ensure your type is vertically centered, based on the size or your veiwport (a.k.a screen, monitor, etc). Let me know if it works for you.

Guys, I found this CSS code which works really well. It will center the line of type vertically, based on the size of the viewport, which is what I needed. In my example above, I created a paragraph style for the first line of type (book title). Then I went into the Export Tagging tab,unchecked Emit CSS and entered a CSS class name. Finally I created a separate CSS file with the same class name that contains all of the font information, including the code below. Upon exporting, I made sure to include this css file.

margin: 50vh 0 0 0;  /* vh stands for viewport height*/

-webkit-transform: translateY(-50%);

transform: translateY(-50%);

I've proofed it on an iPhone 6s+, iPad and MS Surface Book (using Readium) and it works consistently.

Hi DC,

No, it will only center the text horizontally, but the text will appear at the very top of the page, whereas I want it to occupy the middle.