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KB0042: Can I edit the HTML and CSS directly?

The short answer is 'kind of'. Jutoh will never support direct editing of all the generated HTML and CSS, except via a third-party application such as Sigil. This is because it would be impossible for Jutoh to reconcile your edits with Jutoh's internal representation; in other words, there is a one-way conversion to the target format, and there is no possibility of perfect conversion from the target to the original project. And if Jutoh allowed you to make arbitrary edits to the target format, they would be overwritten the next time you hit the Compile button.

In most cases, you don't need to edit the HTML - you can correct the underlying problem from within Jutoh. When customers ask why they can't edit HTML, in almost every case they need to correct a problem in their project instead, for example in a document or in the metadata.

When correcting problems that EpubCheck warns about, for example, you can use the Jutoh Epub viewer to examine the HTML, either by double-clicking on the EpubCheck error, or by using Book | Examine (F6). You can relate the HTML you see here to the original content in Jutoh, and correct that in the Jutoh editor.

Having said all that, there are several features in Jutoh that let you customise the generated HTML and CSS.

  1. You can enter some HTML code and format it with the "HTML" paragraph style to have that code sent directly to the ebook. Or, format a range of text with the "HTML Text" character style.

  2. To customise CSS, select a style in the Styles page of the Project Properties dialog and click Properties; then check "Use custom CSS" and enter the CSS for this style. To add global CSS, edit the properties for the style sheet (the third button at the top of the Styles page). You can also add extra styles per section in the Document Properties.

  3. You can add further CSS properties to individual styles, paragraphs and objects via the Advanced tab of the relevant property dialog.

  4. You can add an HTML object that inserts raw HTML: use Format | Insert | HTML Object or the Objects tab of the Formatting Palette (Jutoh Plus only).

  5. You can use the various HTML tags supported by the Objects tab of the Formatting Palette, such as form, input, select, and so on.

  6. You can use the HTML template system in Jutoh Plus to replace some or all of the HTML that Jutoh generates. You can specify a template for the whole project, or per document, or a combination; and you can embed and edit arbitrary JavaScript and CSS files that are referenced by the custom HTML templates. You can even specify what templates and embedded code files should be used for specific configurations, letting you create variations of your ebook suited to different target capabilities and audiences.


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