[Framers] ePub

[Scott Prentice]

Hi Doug...

I assume you're using the EPUB export in FM? The FM version will affect 
the output significantly, newer versions much better than older. As Rick 
points out, the formatting is controlled by CSS. There are many reasons 
that formatting in your source may now end up as expected in the EPUB. I 
haven't looked at the EPUB output from FM 2019 yet, but I think it's the 
same as it was in FM 2017 (I hear that RH 2019 has a new engine though 
.. need to test that).

One of the big problems with EPUB output from FM (and most tools), is 
that the underlying HTML/CSS is not terribly clean. There's likely a lot 
of hard-coded styling (@style attributes on HTML elements) .. when it 
should be purely @class attribute driven so it's easier to control. 
You'll also see differences in the rendering of pages depending on the 
EPUB reader you're using.

You can look at the HTML/CSS markup by extracting the files from within 
the EPUB. Just change the file extension to ".zip" and use your favorite 
archive tool. In theory you can make edits and zip it back up, but this 
may create an invalid EPUB (the order of files in the archive is 
important, and most archive tools don't let you define that order). If 
you're serious about EPUB, you should get a copy of Oxygen XML Editor. 
It lets you open EPUBs, make edits and save back to the EPUB (properly). 
And since it's an XML editor (and EPUBs are mostly XML), it's a really 
nice tool for making global edits to the files.

EPUB can be really cool .. but the tools and readers are lacking in 
proper support. Keep it simple and you'll have better results. Also tell 
your end users which readers you "support" so they don't try using some 
reader that will make the EPUB looks really bad.

Cheers,
...scott


On 10/15/18 8:22 AM, Doug wrote:
> I've been experimenting with publishing to the ePub format.  it looks nice,
> but the images in my document lose their borders during the process.  I've
> managed to make a single image retain its border, but none of the others.
> Even if I set up another image the same way, the border vanishes when I
> publish to ePub.
>
> Ideas?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Doug
> _______________________________________________
>
> This message is from the Framers mailing list
>
> Send messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Visit the list's homepage at  http://www.frameusers.com
> Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/
> Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com
> Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com
>