I managed to waste a good half-day yesterday fighting the point-size references in WORD-created “filtered html”. Here are a few things that apparently do not work:
1. Processing the WORD doc file via KDP’s online upload-to-publish process (instead of the WORD-produced html file) produces a result that works on the previewer in the Paperwhite setting, but deletes all the footnotes and footnote references. There is the text… stripped of all footnotes. It behaves perfectly…changes size and font face in the previewer as is supposed to happen. Unfortunately saving the result…even as a draft…erases the active, approved version, so even with quickly re-uploading the original version, the title is down for 12 hours while they re-check it.
2. Converting the doc file with a program I found on line,Word Reader, produces an html file stripped of the footnotes, just the same as uploading the doc file to Kindle.
3. Any editing of the WORD-produced html file in WORD’s html view gets erased when you save it and view the result…at least in WORD. I carefully deleted about 150 font references…WORD kindly doubles the file size by sticking all of them in just in case you want to go back to doc format…as well as manually changing every reference in the html to pt (9.0pt, say) to the equivalent em measure (say .7 em). It was all lost, apparently, when I saved it or at least when WORD opened it…quite a waste of my time.
4. A free online service that produces simple html for web pages (I forget the name) did just that…the html had only the simple marks that I see when I prepare blogs such as this in WordPress…when I click the HTML view tab I see the information looking just like that result. Unfortunately the service also strips out what must be vital bits that identify the file as an html file and the Kindle previewer/generator produces am E-book which is a lovely picture of the html file with all the html marks showing up as characters in the text rather than as directions for formatting!
5. I think I can prove the issue is not specifically with the KF8 format since the previewer allows font size changes for the Kindle DX emulation, which, the software admits, is KF8 format rather than MOBI format used by the basic Kindle readers That reinforces my suspicion that the flaw must be in the previewer’s Paperwhite setting…but of course Kindle software developers admit nothing. It reminds me of a go-around with WORD some 20 or 30 years ago where I had no end of trouble creating a multi-file document and finally, when I was able to pinpoint the trouble and PROVE it was not due to any of the obvious mistakes, being told that, Yes, that is a flaw and no date has been set for a fix.
I can’t keep burning time on this before I have solid proof that the flaw is present on the actual physical Paperwhite device…which I won’t have until after Christmas.
I am having trouble with the paperwhite in kindle previewer too. My html file is perfect on everything but that – there is nothing but an ‘internal error’ when I try to view my file in Kindle paperwhite format on kindle previewer. I have removed the font sizes and changed them to 100% and this worked once and I thought I was good to go, but the second time I previewed it, it hasn’t worked since. grrrrrrr.
I finally removed all the fonts and that worked! Since Kindle wants to control the font face via the reader’s choice, the system fights any effort in the html to specify a font. The size (in ems not points for some reason) is OK, but cut out all the font face designations in the html.