Mobipocket Creator will convert properly formatted HTML perfectly, but there's no documentation that will spell out all the possible mistakes that might exist in the source document. For example if there are tabs in the document and style sheet paragraph formatting they will create indents in unexpected places.

Can you open the AbiWord in Open Office and use OO to convert to HTML?

What exactly is the extra markup in the AbiWord conversion?

 

Mobipocket Creator will convert properly formatted HTML perfectly, but there's no documentation that will spell out all the possible mistakes that might exist in the source document. For example if there are tabs in the document and style sheet paragraph formatting they will create indents in unexpected places.

Can you open the AbiWord in Open Office and use OO to convert to HTML?

What exactly is the extra markup in the AbiWord conversion?

I'm not really looking for all possible mistakes. Simply what commands it recognizes. Are you saying all current HTML 4.01 code is formatted properly?

I switched to AbiWord because I found Open Office to be even more of a mess. But that might be my own bias against Open Office. It would be a d*mn pain to have to write it all in HTML (especially the ampersands for paragraphs) but I have found it works better for me than saving as a PDF.

Looking at it more closely, it seems that it has to re-code the alignment, font and size for each paragraph. It also seems like it entered more text directions that it should have. The

mark. There's also some language XML in the troubled area that isn't there in sections that are exactly the same format. I'm not sure why as there's nothing about the sections where it did that, than any other section. But they seem to be the root of the problem.

Well thanks for the response. I guess I will just have to be extremely careful.

 

Sorry, I don't completely understand your post.

I think the original Mobi/Kindle format is based on HTML 3.2. The new Kindle 8 format supports HTML 5.

 

I appreciate you reading the response. Okay, let me try again. This will probably be quite detailed and boring. I truly apologize for it. My problem is that html shows up in browsers differently than the the Kindle Touch. I was asking if there was a list or document that indicates when Mobipocket or KT will render something differently than a web browser will. What follows is an example. I don't expect you to answer it--I'm not sure there's anything to respond to! But I'm posting it to try and clarify what my concern was.

Paragraphs
In AbiWord, I typed a line of text. I hit the enter key to go to the next line. In the HTML it looked like this:

This is simply a line of text. At the end I will hit enter key.

I did not indent this line of text (by pressing spacebar) in AbiWord. When I open up the file in browsers (Chrome, IE) the line is flush against the left side of the page. However, after converting it via Mobipocket to PRC then putting it on the Kindle Touch, the line is indented! I assume this is something Mobipocket or maybe Kindle Touch does automatically with the start of a new paragraph.

This is another line of a text. At the end I will hit enter key twice.

This is another line of text.

Hitting the "enter" key between lines of text gives me new paragraphs in HTML showing up as

each time. Once again it shows up in the browsers as a blank line between texts. However, after converting it via Mobipocket to PRC and putting it on KT, there is NO blank line space between the lines. Even if I hit enter twice or three times, there are no blank lines between paragraphs. I can see the advantages of this when writing.

Now I will use ctrl+enter twice.

This is a new line of text.

The only way I have figured out to get a blank line between lines of text to show up in KT is to use the ctrl+enter (the
tag). To create a blank of line of space between blocks or lines of text and get them to show up on KT, I have to do double line breaks (

). When I go to the a new line in this way, the line is not indented, the line is also flush against the left side. The HTML reveals why: It's not a new paragraph!

 

There is nothing to do with an ampersand in paragraph formatting in HTML. Just a

tag.

Kindle automatically indents paragraphs if no special formatting is specified. That is just the default way Kindle displays the text.

Empty paragraphs do not take up space in HTML. You might try putting a non-breaking space in between the start and stop paragraph tags, e.g.

.

 

There is nothing to do with an ampersand in paragraph formatting in HTML. Just a

tag.

Kindle automatically indents paragraphs if no special formatting is specified. That is just the default way Kindle displays the text.

Empty paragraphs do not take up space in HTML. You might try putting a non-breaking space in between the start and stop paragraph tags, e.g.

.

This last is true, I should have remembered that. However when you use use the

tag, browsers will place a blank line before the new paragraph. That's interesting idea about placing a space between the paragraph tags. I might try that. Thanks! Just discussing it has helped me realize what is going on with the paragraphs issue.

 

I think I get it now.

Kindle/Mobi formatted documents are PRC/MOBI files, not HTML and they don't in any way resemble raw HTML files as displayed in any browser.

Mobipocket Creator and the early Kindles expect formatted paragraphs with set margins, instructions for line spacing and for new lines. Extra CR/LFs will be handled based upon where they appear and what the style sheet says. Alignment will be assumed left unless otherwise specified in the style sheet.

I could explain this in more detail if you were using a familiar word processor but I've never heard of AbiWord before now.

 

Mobipocket Creator and the early Kindles expect formatted paragraphs with set margins, instructions for line spacing and for new lines. Extra CR/LFs will be handled based upon where they appear and what the style sheet says. Alignment will be assumed left unless otherwise specified in the style sheet.

Not true. Mobipocket expects minimal formatting of paragraphs, no reference to margins, etc. The reading device is supposed to interpret things like paragraph styling, line spacing, etc.

Mobipocket format does not directly support CSS at all, only basic HTML for conversion. Some conversion tools attempt to interpret CSS in such a way that they change the HTML used in the Mobipocket conversion to use what the CSS says, though.

 

Not true. Mobipocket expects minimal formatting of paragraphs, no reference to margins, etc. The reading device is supposed to interpret things like paragraph styling, line spacing, etc.

Read what I said before you start attacking. I said: "Mobipocket Creator and the early Kindles..."

 

I wasn't attacking, just clarifying.

Mobipocket Creator hasn't changed in years. It never expected special paragraph formatting, etc.

Edited to add: By the way, I have a K1 and a K3, and use the K1 all the time.

 

I wasn't attacking, just clarifying.

Mobipocket Creator hasn't changed in years. It never expected special paragraph formatting, etc.

Edited to add: By the way, I have a K1 and a K3, and use the K1 all the time.

Unless I'm mistaken Mobipocket Creator's main function was to import Word files, convert them to HTML and then format the HTML file as a PRC or MOBI files that could be displayed on various smart phones.

Perhaps you'll agree that the majority of errors in the Mobipocket eBooks, such as those the OP mentioned, were a result of incorrect paragraph formatting in the original Word DOC. I suspect that the OP's issues are with the AbiWord file. That's where I was trying to go.

 

I wouldn't say that was its main function, no.  It does other conversions just as well.  And, Mobipocket Creator was around before there were smart phones at all.

I do agree that the original document is normally the cause of most conversion problems.

 

Now I remember why I stopped trying to help people.

 

Sorry things got a little testy there. For the record, AbiWord is a stripped down word processor. Unfortunately, Mobipocket Creator can't convert it or Open Office's .doc files so I have to save them as HTML.

The issue might very well be related to the CSS used by AbiWord. I'll see what happens if I remove the embedding of the CSS style sheet.

Thanks to you both.