A footnote in a blockquote gets formatted in epub with indentation, as if the footnote were itself a blockquote.
What is the solution?
macos: Version 15.1 (24B83)
scriviner: 3.3.6
compile: ebook, yes I have changed it
I have checked in Kindle Previewer 3, apple books and Calibre. Same result in all: footnotes from blockquotes are indented.
I have replied to your email with a screenshot since apparently I canât attach images here.
Unfortunately, Iâm not seeing that reply with your screenshots in the Help queue.
When you sent them, did you send the email to scrivener-mac@literatureandlatte.com? If so, could you please try re-sending them?
Itâs possible that the image sizes could be a factor as well. If theyâre on the larger size, you could have your Mac compress them to a ZIP before attaching them.
Iâve also adjusted your forum privileges so you can post screenshots here.
Maybe Iâm missing something basic hereâŠ
From the image you posted of a Kindle preview, Iâm seeing six footnotes, of which #1, #3, and #6 are indented (is this the undesired operation?) while #2, #4, and #5 are not. Visually I cannot see what has been tagged as a blockquote. Which footnotes are rendered properly and which are not?
Forgive me for being silly, but what have you blockquoted? Would it not be simpler to use a different formatting mode to render a similar result? My understanding was that a blockquote was designed to quote a substantial block of text, and by definition is rendered inside an overriding indent to set the block. In fact the first time I saw the tag as an option (many, many moons ago when I was learning WordPerfect 5.1), it changed the font and rendered all of the letters as Large or small capitals to further set it apart from the base text.
As far as I can remember, the BLOCKQUOTE tag works on the paragraph it is triggered in, as a unit. It does not work on a selection of text like BOLD or ITALICS or other style guides. I suspect this is the issue here, the RTF interrupter is dealing with conflicting instructions. It if is the RTF interpreter then it might not be something that the L&L gang can easily fix.
Many thanks for thinking about this. I simplified the case for support, who asked for the project file, and the context can be easily seen in the pdf version shown below. The footnotes are citations, the first for the material in a blockquote, the second for material in a âno styleâ section. The first footnote is indented in the epub version, as you see in previous screenshot.
Just a quick suggestion, but turn the ruler on, and then set the BLOCKQUOTE indent even more than the new paragraph indent. I think it would visually flow better in the transition between the end of the blockquote and the next paragraph.
Well, there is also problem with the PDF output - see Incorrect PDF formatting for paragraph following blockquote - #4 by ds.
I had seen that, and in fact that is what is leading me to wonder if it is an RTF interpreter issue.
Experiment: Instead of generating a PDF directly from Scrivener, what happens if you were to compile to a DOCX file, and then load that file into Word or LibreOffice and use that tool to export as a PDF? Does it look correct in the other editor or just like the error your seeing in the PDF you export from Scrivener.
PDFs are useful for a lot of things, but sometimes Iâve run into issues where the PDF conversion injects errors base on what method one creates the PDF by, and I have to wonder if it is by design in order to steer everyone towards Adobeâs first party tools.
I thought my original epub footnote problems were over (Incorrect epub formatting of footnote in blockquote), butâŠ
The compiler is unfortunately making a dogâs meal of the footnotes again. Not only is it back to using blockquote in the footnote itself, but it is overwriting lines in the notes and getting the font size of footnotes wrong. Same problem evident in Kindle Previewer, calibre, apple books and sigil.
Here is a screenshot from sigil:
Maybe the CSS files will help:
default:
/* Default paragraph formatting */
p { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; text-indent: 1.5rem; }
/* Separators */
.separator { }
/* Styles */
.attribution { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: right; }
blockquote { margin: 1rem 0rem 1rem 0rem; }
blockquote p { margin: 0.08rem 0rem 0.08rem 0rem; text-indent: 0.94rem; font-size: 0.83rem; }
.body { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; text-indent: 1.5rem; }
.bordered-title { margin: 0rem 0rem 0.83rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.33rem; font-weight: normal; }
.caption { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; font-size: 0.83rem; }
figcaption { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; font-size: 0.83rem; }
caption { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; font-size: 0.83rem; caption-side: bottom; }
.chapter-number { margin: 0rem 0rem 1.67rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.67rem; font-weight: normal; }
pre > code { white-space: pre-wrap; -webkit-hyphens: none; hyphens: none; }
code { font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; }
.footnotes { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; }
.heading-1 { margin: 0rem 0rem 1.33rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.33rem; font-weight: normal; }
.heading-2 { margin: 0.67rem 0rem 0.67rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.08rem; font-weight: normal; }
.page-title { margin: 0rem 0rem 1rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.17rem; font-weight: normal; }
.section-number { margin: 0rem 0rem 1.33rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.33rem; font-weight: normal; }
.sub-heading { margin: 0.67rem 0rem 0.67rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.08rem; font-weight: normal; }
.subtitle { margin: 0rem 0rem 1.33rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.33rem; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; }
.title { margin: 0rem 0rem 0.83rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; text-align: center; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.33rem; font-weight: normal; }
/* Footnotes */
a.fn-marker { font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: super; line-height: 1em; text-decoration: none; }
a.fn-label { text-decoration: none; }
/* Page padding */
.part-number-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.part-number-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.part-title-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.chapter-heading-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.chapter-title-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.chapter-title-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.chapter-title-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.heading-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.heading-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.chapter-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.titled-chapter-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
.titled-chapter-page-padding { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 6rem; }
/* Tables */
/* Reset all potential built-in rendering assumptions so we have full control. */
table, table * {
border: none;
padding: 0em 0em 0em 0em;
margin: 0em 0em 0em 0em;
}
table {
/* Will centre tables on iBooks and others, but annoyingly, not ADE-based devices, which ignore auto margins. */
margin: 1em auto 1em auto;
border-spacing: 0em;
border: solid #000;
border-width: 0pt 0pt 1pt 1pt;
}
table caption {
margin-top: 0.25em;
caption-side: bottom;
text-align: center;
}
/* Insert a little padding within cells, mainly horizontal, to keep tables from being cramped to the content width of each cell. */
th, td {
padding: 0.25em 0.35em;
border: solid #000;
border-width: 1pt 1pt 0pt 0pt;
}
/* Avoid text indents in paragraphs inside cells. */
td p { margin: 0rem 0rem 0rem 0rem; text-indent: 0rem; }
/* Images */
img { display: block; margin: 1rem auto 1rem auto; }
img + figcaption { margin-top: -0.75rem; }
/* Numbered lists */
/* 1. a. i. ... */
/* Level Two */
ol ol {
list-style-type: lower-alpha;
}
/* Level Three */
ol ol ol {
list-style-type: lower-roman;
}
/* Level Four */
ol ol ol ol {
list-style-type: decimal;
}
/* Level Five */
ol ol ol ol ol {
list-style-type: lower-alpha;
}
/* Level Six */
ol ol ol ol ol ol {
list-style-type: lower-roman;
}
/* Level Seven */
ol ol ol ol ol ol ol {
list-style-type: decimal;
}
/* Bullets */
/* Bullets, and then it's Dashes all the way down. */
ul ul {
list-style: none;
display: block;
text-indent: -0.6em;
}
ul ul li:before {
content: 'â ';
}
/* Table of contents navigation */
nav#toc ol { list-style: none; padding: 0em; text-align: center; line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.5rem; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; }
nav#toc ol li:before { content: none; }
/* Small-caps */
.small-caps { font-variant: small-caps; }
custom (appended)
/* Amend title to have lines above and below. */
.bordered-title { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; border-top: 1px solid black; padding-top: 12px; border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding-bottom: 12px; }
/* When a subtitle appears below a title, move it down a little so that it's not too close to the border. */
.bordered-title + .subtitle { padding-top: 16px; }
/* Override block quotes to indent at either side and override top and bottom spacing. */
blockquote {
margin-top: 0rem;
margin-bottom: 0rem;
margin-left: 2rem;
margin-right: 2rem;
}
.attribution { margin-left: 2rem; margin-right: 2rem; }
/* Move the quote attribution up a little when below a quote because otherwise the quote's bottom margin will leave a big gap between quote and attribution. */
blockquote + .attribution { margin-top: -0.5rem; }
/* Keep figures and captions together if possible. Also ensure images are centered. */
figure { page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: center; }
blockquote > .footnotes { margin-left: -2rem; }
blockquote .footnotes:first-child { margin-top: -1rem; }
blockquote .footnotes:last-child { margin-bottom: -1rem; }
The CSS adjustments for the margins on the blockquote footnotes donât match the numbers currently being for the blockquotes. Looking at the CSS presented for the blockquotes, you currently have:
blockquote { margin: 1rem 0rem 1rem 0rem; }
blockquote p { margin: 0.08rem 0rem 0.08rem 0rem; text-indent: 0.94rem; font-size: 0.83rem; }
but then further down you also have
/* Override block quotes to indent at either side and override top and bottom spacing. */
blockquote {
margin-top: 0rem;
margin-bottom: 0rem;
margin-left: 2rem;
margin-right: 2rem;
}
The second overrides the first for any properties defined in both, so the final blockquote margins are 0 on top and bottom, and 2rem on the left and right. Since you already have a 0 margin for the top and bottom of all blockquotes, you donât need need these lines:
blockquote .footnotes:first-child { margin-top: -1rem; }
blockquote .footnotes:last-child { margin-bottom: -1rem; }
Those are both there to counteract the 1rem top and bottom margins that are in the default stylesheet so that blockquotes in the footnote section would be spaced the same as other paragraphs, without that extra top/bottom padding. In the original, it would be saying 1 - 1 = 0. Now youâve got 0 - 1 = -1, creating negative line spacing thatâs causing lines to overlap.
The appended blockquote style is also setting a 2rem margin on the right and left. Your current declaration for the footnotes within the blockquote counteracts that for the left margin but not for the right, so youâll want to add that as well:
blockquote > .footnotes { margin-left: -2rem; margin-right: -2rem; }
Your current stylesheet also reduces the font size for paragraphs in the blockquote to 0.83rem; you can set the footnotes in blockquotes to the normal size by adding font-size: 1rem; to the blockquote > .footnotes declaration:
blockquote > .footnotes { margin-left: -2rem; margin-right: -2rem; font-size: 1rem; }
Or you might rather just create a separate footnotes line in the appended CSS so that the font setting will apply to all footnotes, in case you want to alter it later and be sure it applies to the notes in and out of blockquotes. For that, leave the font-size out of the blockquotes > .footnotes line and instead create an additional line:
.footnotes { font-size: 1rem; }
Just note in either case that if you change the footnote size via a style in Scrivenerâs compile format designer, that change would go into the default CSS and youâd need to remove your font-size addition in the appended CSS to avoid it overriding the change in the default.
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Iâm beginning to understand that I canât expect to get a good ebook out of my book without descending into the innards of epub. If I remove the blockquote around a footnote in sigil - for example:
<blockquote>
<p class="footnotes"><a href="body6.xhtml#fn1" class="fn-label" id="fn1">1.</a> Anahareo [Gertrude Bernard] (2014). <em>Devil in Deerskins: My Life with Grey Owl</em> (Edited and with an Afterword by Sophie McCall ed.). Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. p. 148.</p>
</blockquote>
everything falls into place without any further fuss. The footnotes are properly formatted and the editor font is retained.
Surely this is the root cause of the formatting problem and wonât be properly fixed until the compiler is changed to stop generating this construction.
May I ask if this bug has been âformallyâ recognised and a bug fix planned? When can I expect a bug fix release?
Some of this code was added as a fix for Epub blockquote format: How do I control the fomatting? - #9 by AmberV.
It seems to me we are trying to fix something that oughtnât to be broken. See my previous reply to this post, which crossed with yours.
Yes, the CSS adjustment is just to workaround the issue with the ePub conversion thatâs causing the footnotes applied to text within blockquotes to be placed in blockquote elements themselves. Rather than making the stylesheet adjustments, you could, as you did, dig into the epub after compile and delete all the <blockquote> elements from the footnotes XHTML page and solve the problem. The stylesheet tweak is just an option that might let you make the change one time in the compiler and then not need to edit the file each time afterward.
The bug was filed when you reported it earlier, but I canât give an estimate on when a fix will be available. Epubs are created by way of MutliMarkdown conversion to XHTML, and I donât know how difficult it may be to adjust how the conversion is handled or correct after the fact. Hopefully it will be a simple matter to strip the unwanted blockquote elements and weâll have a fix out before long; in the meanwhile, with Sigil or Calibre you should be able to do a find/replace to strip them quickly from your own epub.
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Many thanks for the suggestion and the heads up about the bug fix!
Iâm trying to understand the process youâre describing. Am I right in thinking that after compiling I am to open the epub file in, say, Sigil, and do a search and replace in the Notes file?
Iâm sure you would agree this is not an efficient process and Iâm looking forward to a bug fix release!
Right, the two options are
- to set up the stylesheet workaround, so that the blockquote elements remain in the notes but donât affect the formatting at all because the text styling fixes it all to look the same; or
- to leave the stylesheet alone (not make specific changes to workaround the look of the footnotes in blockquotes) and instead use a tool like Sigil to edit the footnotes.xhtml of the epub after compile to remove the blockquote elements.
The first option doesnât need to be redone each time you compile, but if you make further tweaks to the appearance of blockquotes or footnotes generally, you might need to also make those changes to the added lines that affect the footnotes in blockquotes. The second you would do each time but would be the same find/replace procedure on the same file, so you might be able to create a macro to make it faster if youâre really doing it frequently.
Using the Regex mode in Sigilâs find/replace, you can search for <\/?blockquote> and replace it with nothing, searching only the current file (with footnotes.xhtml selected as the current file!). That will remove both the opening <blockquote> and the closing </blockquote> tags.
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Compiling with the new release, I find that the blockquotes are gone from the footnotes! Many, many thanks for this fix!!!
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