Natasha Fondren

One of the problems with the new Kindle Format is backwards-compatibility. First problem was poetry and hanging indents, which Joshua Tallent solved most excellently: Backwards Compatible Poetry for KF8/Mobi

Next on my list were pull quotes. The old Kindle format never did pull quotes very well, but the new one will float them: very pretty. However… to be backwards compatible with the old mobi format, I had to lose the top and bottom border and use <hr> tags. (*shudders*) And then there’s that <hr> bottom/top margin problem, along with Kindle margin-bottom problem, as well.

I’d love thoughts and suggestions! Kindle markup is just ugly, sometimes.

I’m not 100% happy, but this is what I ended up with:

The Kindle Fire:

Old Kindle e-ink:

Kindle for PC:

Kindle for iPhone:

And the CSS:

/*Kindle Format 8*/
@media not amzn-mobi {
.pqg {
    float:right !important;
    width:40% !important;
    margin: 0;
    padding-right: .5em !important;
    padding-left: .5em !important;
    padding-top:0;
    padding-bottom:0;
    text-align: center;
    border: none;
    }
p.after {
    text-indent:2em;
    }
p.blockp {
    text-indent:0;
    text-align:left;
    margin-top:10px; }
}

/*Old Mobi*/
@media amzn-mobi {
.pqg {
    text-align: center;
    }
p.after {
    text-indent:2em;
    margin-top:30px;
    }
p.blockp {
    text-indent:0;
    text-align:left;
    margin-top:10px; }
}

And then the HTML:

<div class="pqg">
<hr class="nd"/>
<p class="blockp"><span class="gre"><i>God loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation.</i></span></p>
<p class="right"><span class="gre"><span class="smallcaps">&ndash; Ralph Waldo Emerson</span><span></p>
<hr class="nd"/>
</div>

<p class="after">

It’s the best I’ve come up with thus far. I can’t wait until the old devices are updated to support KF8, but I’m not real hopeful it will happen anytime soon.

What do you think? Suggestions?