Let Sigil’s Code and Preview Argue Usefully

Give each view a job

Sigil describes itself as an EPUB editor with Code View and Preview View, and its official project describes direct editing of EPUB syntax as a central feature. That pairing is valuable because an edition has two obligations at once. The markup must say what an element is; the reader must still be able to move through and understand it. Let code answer the first question and preview answer the second.

Choose one stubborn object rather than styling the whole book at once: a block quotation, a scene break, a poem, an image with a caption, or a note call. In Code View, inspect whether the structure distinguishes it from ordinary body prose. In Preview View, read the surrounding paragraphs at ordinary speed. If the visual result is attractive but the source makes no meaningful distinction, the edition has only decorated the problem. If the source is careful but the preview makes the object vanish, the reader still loses it.

Change structure before cosmetics

Start with headings, language declarations, lists, quotations, figure and caption relationships, and links. Then make the smallest CSS rule that carries the distinction. Sigil’s feature list includes a multi-level heading-based table-of-contents generator, metadata editing, regular-expression find and replace, import of EPUB and HTML resources, and checkpoints. Those capabilities support a disciplined sequence: establish a repeatable structure, then use the tool to discover where the pattern is missing.

A global replacement can be especially persuasive because it is quick. Use it only after sampling several results, and make a checkpoint first. Search for a class name, inspect the first, middle, and last occurrence, then change one occurrence by hand. If the book’s different uses genuinely share one structure, expand the operation. If they do not, the variations are editorial information, not noise to be flattened.

Use preview as a reading interruption

Preview is where a production decision has to meet the page. Check a chapter at the beginning, a middle location, and the end; then resize the window and use the generated contents. Ask concrete questions. Does a chapter label still look like a chapter label? Does a scene break remain legible without a fixed page? Does a link return to the expected place? Are a caption and its image still companions? This is our practical reading method, not a capability guaranteed by Sigil.

When preview and code disagree, do not assume preview is the authority. A local rendering can conceal a semantic error, and a correct source can be unsettled by a too-specific rule. Record the disagreement, validate separately, and test in the intended reading environment before release.

Leave a handoff another editor can read

Keep a short change note naming the files, classes, or headings altered; the reader-facing effect intended; and the checks still open. Sigil can make a structured edition easier to work on, but it cannot decide whether a visual convention carries the book’s meaning. That decision remains with the editor who has read the passage.