How to make Epub look good?

Question

I would like to design an ebook in InDesign but I am struggling with the formatting. The book it looks bad in epub format. I did research and I understand that flowing text will not be perfect because it will be adjusted by the user.

But how can I keep the basics like a line break after the paragraphs?

How to make the contents page look good besides just the blue links?

Are iPad dimensions the way to start designing or it does not matter what size I will start with because it will reflow anyway?

It will be published on Kindle and other publishing pages online. If it is not possible to do anything about the styling is it even worth to do it in InDesign?

Answer 1

Add this css to Indesign (this should be a text file but I'm not going to go through it and add four spaces to each line)

/* This document has been created with Marked.app http://markedapp.com, Copyright 2011 Brett Terpstra

Please leave this notice in place, along with any additional credits below.

Title: Manuscript Author: Brett Terpstra Description: Courier, Double-spaced */ body { -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; font: normal 1em/2.5em "Courier", monospace; margin: 4em 1in 1in 4em; width: auto; }

html > body { font-size: 12pt; }

h1 { text-align: center; font-size: 2.2857em; margin: .6563em 0; }

h2 { font-size: 1.7143em; margin: .875em 0; }

h3 { text-align: center; font-size: 1.5em; margin: 1em 0; }

h4 { font-size: 1.2857em; margin: 1.1667em 0; }

h5 { font-size: 1.15em; margin: 1.3em 0; }

h6 { font-size: 1em; margin: 1.5em 0; }

body, p, td, div { color: #111111; font-family: "Courier", monospace; word-wrap: break-word; }

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; }

a { color: #0d6ea1; text-decoration: none; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; -moz-transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; -o-transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; -ms-transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; } a:hover { color: #3593d9; }

.footnote { color: #0d6ea1; font-size: .8em; vertical-align: super; }

wrapper img {

max-width: 100%; height: auto; }

dd { margin-bottom: 1em; }

li > p:first-child { margin: 0; }

ul ul, ul ol { margin-bottom: .4em; }

caption, col, colgroup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr { border-spacing: 0; }

table { border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); border-collapse: collapse; display: table; empty-cells: hide; margin: -1px 0 23px; padding: 0; table-layout: fixed; }

caption { display: table-caption; font-weight: 700; }

col { display: table-column; }

colgroup { display: table-column-group; }

tbody { display: table-row-group; }

tfoot { display: table-footer-group; }

thead { display: table-header-group; }

td, th { display: table-cell; }

tr { display: table-row; }

table th, table td { padding: 0 1em; }

table thead { background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15); border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15); border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); }

table tbody { background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); }

table tfoot { background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15); border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15); border-top: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); }

figure { display: inline-block; position: relative; margin: 1em 0 2em; }

figcaption { font-style: italic; text-align: center; background: white; color: #666666; position: absolute; left: 0; bottom: -24px; width: 98%; padding: 1%; -webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; -moz-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; -o-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; -ms-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; }

figure:hover > figcaption { /* background: rgba(0,0,0,1) */ }

.poetry pre { display: block; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, serif !important; font-style: italic; margin-left: 1em; } .poetry pre code { font-family: Georgia, Garamond, serif !important; word-break: break-all; word-break: break-word; /* Non standard for webkit */ -webkit-hyphens: auto; -moz-hyphens: auto; hyphens: auto; white-space: pre-wrap; }

blockquote p { text-indent: 0; font-style: italic; }

sup, sub, a.footnote { font-size: 1.4ex; height: 0; line-height: 1; position: relative; vertical-align: super; }

sub { vertical-align: sub; top: -1px; }

blockquote+p { margin: 0; text-indent: 0; }

h2+p { margin: 0; text-indent: 0; }

p, h5 { margin: 0; text-indent: 1.5em; }

dt, th { font-weight: 700; }

table tr:nth-child(odd), table th:nth-child(odd), table td:nth-child(odd) { background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.06); }

table tr:nth-child(even), table td:nth-child(even) { background: rgba(200, 200, 200, 0.25); }

@media print { body { overflow: auto; }

img, pre, blockquote, table, figure { page-break-inside: avoid; }

p { page-break-inside: auto; }

#wrapper { background: white; color: #303030; padding: 10px; position: relative; text-indent: 0; } } @media screen { .inverted { background: #252a2a; } .inverted #wrapper { background: #252a2a; } .inverted hr { border-color: #333f40 !important; } .inverted p, .inverted td, .inverted li, .inverted h1, .inverted h2, .inverted h3, .inverted h4, .inverted h5, .inverted h6, .inverted pre, .inverted code, .inverted th, .inverted .math, .inverted caption, .inverted dt, .inverted dd { color: #eeeeee; } .inverted table { background: none; } .inverted table tr:nth-child(odd), .inverted table td:nth-child(odd) { background: none; } .inverted a { color: #acd1d5; }

::selection { background: rgba(157, 193, 200, 0.5); }

h1::selection { background-color: rgba(45, 156, 208, 0.3); }

h2::selection { background-color: rgba(90, 182, 224, 0.3); }

h3::selection, h4::selection, h5::selection, h6::selection, li::selection, ol::selection { background-color: rgba(133, 201, 232, 0.3); }

code::selection { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); color: #eee; }

code span::selection { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7) !important; color: #eee !important; }

a::selection { background-color: rgba(255, 230, 102, 0.2); }

.inverted a::selection { background-color: rgba(255, 230, 102, 0.6); }

td::selection, th::selection, caption::selection { background-color: rgba(180, 237, 95, 0.5); } }

Answer 2

The main advantage of Indesign is that it lets you publish a print version which can also be exported to an ebook format.

For ebook design you must deal with the limitations of reading systems --especially that of Kindle.

As a first step, it might help to have direct access to the devices you want to design for which you can use for testing. For me, I use a 3 year old Kindle, a recent iphone, an older iPad, an android tablet (and various reading software on these devices).

I have used CSS media queries to adapt my style sheets to various dimensions. If you are trying to use a design-heavy book, you may find it easier just to declare that this ebook is best viewed on a tablet like the iPad (or certain dimensions).

Another option is to create a fixed layout ebook (Check the Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines for information about that).

Formatting a picture-heavy book can pose challenges. Try to make it as simple as possible.

I have avoided InDesign for various reasons, but I know that many ID fans hang out here. http://epubsecrets.com/ You might find this listing of available fonts for each device to be useful: