> getting the PDF just right was important to me.
i respect that. how were you generating the .pdf?
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> Since the user can set the font and text size
> the idea of page size goes pretty much out the window.
what pagesize did your .pdf have? that's what i meant.
if you put each section on its own e-book screen, and make the sections small enough to fit on one _screen,_ or two, or three, they'll also fit on one/two _pages._
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> Using CSS page-break doesn't quite help,
> since it presumes what has come before
> and how it fit on the page.
i'm not sure i understand.
so -- for the sake of others reading this thread -- let me explain further. when you create the e-book, if you segment the book into small-enough sections, it'll generally work, across almost all situations, no matter how the person has configured the fontsize. so there, a "screen-break" comes before each section, and before-and-after images you want to fill a screen.
conversely, for the .pdf, you _know_ the pagesize, and the fontsize as well, so you know where pagebreaks are, and you add/delete/change until you get what you want.
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> What's needed is orphan/widow control
> and "keep with next" so that, for examples,
> related sections can be rendered on one page
> or the next but not split across pages.
it would be nice if the programs had enough smarts to do this automatically; until then, you do it manually.
but you don't need indesign to do it; you really don't.
i'd be happy to show you how i'd do your book, if you'd be interested in seeing it, if you send me a copy of it.
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> In practice, though, I found I needed to
> aim for some sort of highest common factor
> across popular devices, keep test-viewing
> the results, and drop anything too clever.
that is the approach that is needed these days, yes.
-bowerbird