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guardaroba
guardaroba
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InDesign CS6 EPub export: Possible to avoid object styles?

Jun 28, 2012 12:00 PM

Tags: #cs6 #epub

After upgrading to CS6 I've been having issues with the new EPub export command. After expanding the EPUB file that was created I noticed all of the achored objects had been given their own, unique DIV classes in the default CSS file (ie the one now named after the INDD file) that included a bunch of formatting that I didn't want carried over from the print layout.

 

I gather this is being called a new 'feature', but there doesn't seem to be a way to disable it. I thought the whole point of being able to use your own CSS file was to make a clean break from the styles applied in the print layout? I tried deleting the entire default CSS file and recompressing the EPUB and this actually seems to work (although I'm not sure why it does, since I would have thought that the unique class names wouldn't match with any defined in my basic CSS file?), although I'd prefer to avoid having to break the files open in the first place.

 

Or am I missing something?

 

Thanks!

1224 Views   6 Replies   Latest reply: guardaroba, Jun 29, 2012 12:14 PM
 
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  • Steve Werner
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    1. Steve Werner,
    Jun 28, 2012 12:04 PM   in reply to guardaroba
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    In the CS6 EPUB Export dialog box, on the Advanced Panel > CSS Options, try unchecking Include Style Definitions, Preserve Local Overrides and Include Embeddable Fonts. Then select your own CSS file.

     
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  • Bob Levine
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    2. Bob Levine,
    Jun 28, 2012 12:05 PM   in reply to guardaroba
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    I would guess that the reason it appears to work is because the classes are ignored.

     

     

     

    Bob

     
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  • guardaroba
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    3. guardaroba,
    Jun 28, 2012 12:08 PM   in reply to Steve Werner
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    Thanks for the reply.

     

    I meant to mention that I'm exporting with all of those options unchecked...

     
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  • guardaroba
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    4. guardaroba,
    Jun 29, 2012 11:34 AM   in reply to guardaroba
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    It seems to happen with HTML export as well. If I create a new file and create a single text box filled with placeholder text and then export it as HTML with all of the CSS options turned off (Include style definitions, Preserve local overrides, and Include fonts) and tell it to use an existing CSS file it -still- includes a second CSS file created by InDesign.

     

    Unless I'm missing something it seems to be impossible to get InDesign to export using an external CSS file and -only- an external CSS file, without trying to add extra code to match some elements of the page layout. This should really be available as an option, shouldn't it? What's the point of writing your own CSS if it's always appended?

     

    Thanks!

     
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  • Steve Werner
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    5. Steve Werner,
    Jun 29, 2012 11:50 AM   in reply to guardaroba
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    Ron Bilodeau who creates EPUB files for O'Reilly wrote a piece about EPUB from CS6 in the newest issue of InDesign Magazine. Perhaps what he says will be useful to you:

     

    "In the Advanced tab of the EPUB Export Options dialog box there is now an option

    to include multiple CSS stylesheets, in addition to the CSS that InDesign generates (Figure 3).

     

    "Initially, I was annoyed by this change, because Adobe removed the option to ignore the InDesign-generated CSS and only use a custom external CSS. I write my own custom EPUB CSS and therefore wanted to use that instead of what InDesign generates. But it didn’t take me long to realize that this new solution is pretty elegant. By default, any custom stylesheet attributes will override matching elements from the InDesign-generated CSS. This means that you have ultimate control over what is displayed. If you’re happy with how some of the InDesign-generated CSS works in your EPUB file, then simply leave those elements alone and let them do their job. For other elements that you’re not happy with, you can simply override them with your custom CSS. If you prefer to not write your own EPUB CSS, simply export your EPUB file without choosing any additional CSS file(s) and let InDesign do all the work."

     
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  • guardaroba
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    6. guardaroba,
    Jun 29, 2012 12:14 PM   in reply to Steve Werner
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    That's interesting, thanks for passing it along! Obviously I need to start reading IDM

     

    I personally think there still ought to be an option to tell ID not to create any CSS. That way you wouldn't have to worry about making sure to override the ID-generated elements and could be certain of clean CSS.

     

    Basically I wish all these exciting new export features had been made entirely and explicitly optional. Then we'd just need to be able to save export settings (please Adobe!) and we'd be able to have ID do as much or as little as desired every time, on a case-by-case basis.

     

    Again, thanks for the response.

     
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