Free epub creation tool: eCub

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by llasram

Definitely incorrect is that your guide/reference[@type="cover"] @href should refer to "Cover.xhtml" instead of the cover raster image. The OPS states that "each reference must have an href attribute referring to an OPS Content Document included in the manifest."

I’m not sure the @id="Cover" itemref should be @linear="no". AdobeDE ignores the @linear attribute when rendering the linear reading-order, but another system could use it and consider the first page of the first @linear="yes" content-stream as the "cover." Certainly all the books I’ve looked at have the cover as (an implied) @linear="yes".

Well, I hoped the link in the guide could be directly to the image file... at least epubcheck didn't complain about that, but it did complain if I did the same in the <spine> (and that's why I added the xhtml wrapper, with just the case change in the id attribute ).

As for the linear="no", that's what the mobipocket document recommends. I sort of hope that complying systems would honour the <meta name="cover"> element and ignore the linear="no" element in the spine, while others would do the opposite.

You might try making the content of Cover.xhtml be an SVG encapsulation of the cover image, which will allow the image to fill the first whole "page" in SVG-supporting reading systems (which according to the spec should be all of them, but hey...). Check out the Adobe EPUB Best Practices Guide for an example.

I may try that, thanks. But I'm not sure I'd want small cover images to be stretched to fill the whole page, if that's what it does...

[JSWolf]

Is there a possibility that eCub is going to be made to follow the standards for mobile DE so the ePub it generates will be fully compatible?

[llasram]

Originally Posted by Jellby

As for the linear="no", that's what the mobipocket document recommends. I sort of hope that complying systems would honour the <meta name="cover"> element and ignore the linear="no" element in the spine, while others would do the opposite.

Hmm. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Mobipocket is the one in the wrong here. The the Mobipocket pages gives the following result to marking the HTML cover as @linear="no" (and following their other syntax): "This makes sure that the user reading the book normally from the beginning does not see the cover twice."

What that means it that they are deforming the linear content flow by pre-inserting the cover, which is incorrect. I can see the usefulness of having a "cover image" for things like generating a cover thumbnail, but they shouldn't be randomly inserting it into the document flow. Shenanigans, I say!

[Falbe Publishing]

I'll check out this tool when I get a chance. Thanks.

[Julian Smart]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is there a possibility that eCub is going to be made to follow the standards for mobile DE so the ePub it generates will be fully compatible?

Hi,

I'll definitely try to make it standards-compliant within the scope of the tool (i.e. given it's not a fancy HTML editor).

Forgive my ignorance but what's mobile DE?

Thanks,

Julian

[Julian Smart]

Originally Posted by Julian Smart

Hi,

I'll definitely try to make it standards-compliant within the scope of the tool (i.e. given it's not a fancy HTML editor).

Forgive my ignorance but what's mobile DE?

Thanks,

Julian

Ah, mobile Digital Editions? I can only see the Sony Reader being mentioned as supported by Digital Editions on the Adobe site, but I'll keep an eye on PR505 and other readers' requirements - in the next release of eCub I'll add integration of the epubpreflight checker so it'll be apparent if (some) constraints have been violated.

Julian

[Timoleon]

Hi Julian,

Thanks for your software! Two questions, however:

1) Using your wizard, jpeg images used for the cover don't seem to scale properly on the first page (cover page?) of the book (way too big!); however, the thumbnails look fine on the library page, and the text itself is fine.

2) I used the Sony Library to add the epub to my PR505, but the reader refuses to open it and gives a generic error message.

Any ideas on what it going awry?

Thanks,
Tim

[Julian Smart]

Originally Posted by Timoleon

Hi Julian,

Thanks for your software! Two questions, however:

1) Using your wizard, jpeg images used for the cover don't seem to scale properly on the first page (cover page?) of the book (way too big!); however, the thumbnails look fine on the library page, and the text itself is fine.

2) I used the Sony Library to add the epub to my PR505, but the reader refuses to open it and gives a generic error message.

Any ideas on what it going awry?

Thanks,
Tim

Hi Tim,

1) All I'm doing in the cover page is scaling the image width to 100% (this can be switched off from the Project Properties/Options page). Perhaps there's a better way of scaling the image?

2) Sorry, alas I don't know what the PR505 issue could be - I don't yet have a Sony Reader (holding out for the new version!) If I did have one then I'd probably start with a simple .epub that worked with the PR505 and gradually replace files with the ones generated by eCub... it's possible I'm doing something wrong with the OPF, but files work OK with MobiPocket and Digital Editions, and epubchecker gives it the OK too. Mysterious...

Julian

[igorsk]

You can also check the book info dialog in Digital Editions - if it shows any warnings, the book will likely be not readable on Sony Reader.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Julian Smart

2) Sorry, alas I don't know what the PR505 issue could be - I don't yet have a Sony Reader (holding out for the new version!) If I did have one then I'd probably start with a simple .epub that worked with the PR505 and gradually replace files with the ones generated by eCub... it's possible I'm doing something wrong with the OPF, but files work OK with MobiPocket and Digital Editions, and epubchecker gives it the OK too. Mysterious...

Julian

I believe you can install eBook Library software and test epub there?(for Sony Reader PRS-505 issues)

[llasram]

Originally Posted by Julian Smart

2) Sorry, alas I don't know what the PR505 issue could be - I don't yet have a Sony Reader (holding out for the new version!)

The issue the OP described is almost certainly a result of having a single XHTML markup stream greater than 100k compressed / 300k uncompressed.

[Julian Smart]

Hi,

Just to say I've uploaded a new version of the eCub epub creation tool, with finer control of metadata and a few other small features and bug fixes.

Download eCub 1.04 from here:

http://www.juliansmart.com/ecub

Regards,

Julian

[Julian Smart]

Hi,

I've added WAV/MP3 creation from HTML content using the free eSpeak text-to-speech generator and LAME MP3 encoder. See:

http://www.juliansmart.com/ecub

Obviously it's not going to beat a human reader, but it may be useful in some circumstances, for example if you want to read a document while you're on the move. It's a bit of fun anyway...

Regards,

Julian

[nalioth]

Hello

I am trying to get ecub to output mobipocket format ebooks, but get this error:

The mobigen command was empty. MobiPocket file not generated.

I have mobigen_linux in /usr/local/bin and symlinked as mobigen to /usr/bin and /usr/share/ecub [with the ecub binary].

Any ideas?

ETA: Well, nothing like showing yourself an idiot with your 2nd post

I've been spoiled by the *nix command line, but finally had a look at the prefs. After telling it where to look, it works fine now.

Thank you, Mr. Smart for ecub.

[gwynevans]

One for Julian: Have you considered having eCub be able to create a project file & sources from an ePub file?