Mapping book features to HTML elements and classes
For ebook-friendly consistency across typesetting and ebook production, it’s important that you use exactly the same terms for intended book features, InDesign style names and HTML/CSS classes.
To get there, map your current in-house terms for book features to HTML elements and classes in a three-column table, like the example below.
For each book feature, you’re aiming for a style/class name that describes its purpose, and not it’s appearance. And all lowercase with no spaces or special characters.
In-house term for feature |
HTML element* |
HTML class/InDesign style name |
Topic head |
h1 |
topic-head |
A-head/Unit heading |
h2 |
unit-head |
B-head |
h3 |
unit-subhead |
Box heading |
p |
objectives-head |
List of objectives |
ul |
objectives-list |
Let’s talk about … heading |
p |
talk-about-head |
Let’s talk about … text |
p |
talk-about-text |
Body text |
p |
body-text |
Bullets in body text |
ul |
body-text-list |
Numbered list in body text |
ol |
body-text-list |
*Note: anything that would appear in a table of contents should have an HTML heading tag from h1 to h6.