D is for 'deep breath' and 'dunces.' But WTH is this for....?

[YouMeWe]

 

*deep breath*

Got a love letter from Zon this morning:

"Error Category: Formatting-Others; Comments: We've noticed that your book's source file has a forced background color in all <P> tags; this means that customers who use Kindle tablets will be unable to read the text when selecting a dark background color.

To resolve this, please remove all background-color:#ffffff" from source code.  For more information, please see the Kindle Publishing Guidelines seciton 9.3.2 .

This will not affect the availability of your book. After you've made the correction, please upload your revised content through the Book Content section of your KDP Bookshelf. If you have further questions, please reply directly to this email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can."

  WTH is #ffffff" and where do I find it??

Please bear in mind: I'm a total numbnut when it comes to all things remotely techie, so you will need to speak to me like I'm a child ... still in the womb. *Imagine 'dribbling' emoji here*

[Lysmata Debelius]

How did you format the ebook? Did you upload a word document direct to Amazon, or follow some other workflow?

[Tom Wood]

#ffffff is the hexadecimal color code for white, a color coding system that is typically used for websites. (Also RGB: 255, 255, 255) What they are saying is that the background color of all your paragraphs is set to the color white, instead of transparent (or, no color set at all). An ebook is essentially a self-contained website, and uses the same methods for coding the layout. One of those methods is Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) where things like the background colors are set. Which means that the formatting software that you used to create the ebook has a background color setting of #ffffff for the paragraphs.

How that got in there is something you either need to know how to set in the ebook-producing software, or be able to edit in the CSS.

[YouMeWe]

How did you format the ebook? Did you upload a word document direct to Amazon, or follow some other workflow?

Word document straight to Amazon.  This particular book is 4 years old, but I used the same format for all my books. Not sure why they've poked me for one, but I'm guessing they'll all be the same.

[YouMeWe]

#ffffff is the hexadecimal color code for white, a color coding system that is typically used for websites. (Also RGB: 255, 255, 255) What they are saying is that the background color of all your paragraphs is set to the color white, instead of transparent (or, no color set at all). An ebook is essentially a self-contained website, and uses the same methods for coding the layout. One of those methods is Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) where things like the background colors are set. Which means that the formatting software that you used to create the ebook has a background color setting of #ffffff for the paragraphs.

How that got in there is something you either need to know how to set in the ebook-producing software, or be able to edit in the CSS.

  I have no idea what you just said.

[TimothyEllis]

Are you using the styles?

Most people set the normal style for black type. Could you have set the background there for white as well? Just guessing.

[Tom Wood]

LOL  Well, you did ask a specific question!

Since you're using Word, open that document then go to Page Layout>Page Color and see if the color white is selected. If so, set it to 'No Color'.

[YouMeWe]

Are you using the styles?

Most people set the normal style for black type. Could you have set the background there for white as well? Just guessing.

Not intentionally using styles, but when I click inside a chapter the styles header is showing as 'normal'. Can't see any colour/background options around there. 

[Lysmata Debelius]

Are you using the styles?

Most people set the normal style for black type. Could you have set the background there for white as well? Just guessing.

Not intentionally using styles, but when I click inside a chapter the styles header is showing as 'normal'. Can't see any colour/background options around there. 

It will definitely be worth reworking your document using only styles. There might be other problems you don't know about yet.  http://www.myebook.co.za/files/smashwords-style-guide.pdf <-- this is a step by step guide to how to prepare a word document so you won't get problems when it gets turned into an ebook.

It's not difficult to do, just fiddly and a bit of a pain. But once you've done it, you'll know how to set up a book next time and you'll never have to go through the pain and frustration again.

[YouMeWe]

LOL  Well, you did ask a specific question!

Since you're using Word, open that document then go to Page Layout>Page Color and see if the color white is selected. If so, set it to 'No Color'.

Ha! I did!

I can't find a 'Page Color' under Layout, but I found one under Design. When I click it, it brings up a box of colours titled 'Theme Colors'. It's showing a bigger 'No Color' box. I can't put a tick in it or anything.

[YouMeWe]

Are you using the styles?

Most people set the normal style for black type. Could you have set the background there for white as well? Just guessing.

Not intentionally using styles, but when I click inside a chapter the styles header is showing as 'normal'. Can't see any colour/background options around there. 

It will definitely be worth reworking your document using only styles. There might be other problems you don't know about yet.  http://www.myebook.co.za/files/smashwords-style-guide.pdf <-- this is a step by step guide to how to prepare a word document so you won't get problems when it gets turned into an ebook.

It's not difficult to do, just fiddly and a bit of a pain. But once you've done it, you'll know how to set up a book next time and you'll never have to go through the pain and frustration again.

Thanks for this. There will definitely be more problems. Every one of my books has been 'written over' the last one ... that's how technically challenged I am. When I found something that worked (or so I thought) I stuck with it. Thought I'd cracked it. Now, a fair few sales later, I have a rising sense of anxiety ... and a busy weekend ahead! 

[Lysmata Debelius]

Hang in there!
You are not alone. I know that panicked feeling.
Please ask for help if you need it. Happy to help.

[YouMeWe]

Hang in there!
You are not alone. I know that panicked feeling.
Please ask for help if you need it. Happy to help.

Thank you. I  must say, usually I'd seriously stress about something like this. It 's truly a testament to Tim that I felt confident enough/ safe enough to expose my techtarded mindmash here. Tis a big thing for me. 

Thanks all for your kind help. 

[YouMeWe]

Are you using the styles?

Most people set the normal style for black type. Could you have set the background there for white as well? Just guessing.

Not intentionally using styles, but when I click inside a chapter the styles header is showing as 'normal'. Can't see any colour/background options around there. 

It will definitely be worth reworking your document using only styles. There might be other problems you don't know about yet.  http://www.myebook.co.za/files/smashwords-style-guide.pdf <-- this is a step by step guide to how to prepare a word document so you won't get problems when it gets turned into an ebook.

It's not difficult to do, just fiddly and a bit of a pain. But once you've done it, you'll know how to set up a book next time and you'll never have to go through the pain and frustration again.

Back to say thanks for the style guide, Lysmata. It was a God send! I'm going to ask Tim if it can be pinned somewhere.

It took me a whole week to sort the problem, but I did it. The masochist in me chose the nuclear 'strip all formatting and start from scratch' option. Twill never stress me again! Gotta be worth a ... 

[TimothyEllis]

Someone needs to post it in a new thread for it to get stickied.

[Lysmata Debelius]

Will do

[Lysmata Debelius]

Back to say thanks for the style guide, Lysmata. It was a God send! I'm going to ask Tim if it can be pinned somewhere.

It took me a whole week to sort the problem, but I did it. The masochist in me chose the nuclear 'strip all formatting and start from scratch' option. Twill never stress me again! Gotta be worth a ... 

I'm so pleased it was useful! I've included it in the writer's resources post now, I hope that Tim will sticky it in the "Quil and Feather" pub   https://writersanctum.com/index.php?reportsent;topic=1091.msg17625#msg17625