.epub format - Page 4

jbenny · 10-20-2007, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickbogaty

In the .epub spec is the following which you correctly reference:

--
The first file in the ZIP Container MUST be a file by the ASCII name of ‘mimetype’ which holds the MIME type for the ZIP Container (i.e., “application/epub+zip” as an ASCII string; no padding, white-space or case change). The file MUST be neither compressed nor encrypted and there MUST NOT be an extra field in its ZIP header.

Nick

I find it interesting that of the five epub ebooks that I just downloaded from the Digital Editions site, four of them DO NOT contain the required "mimetype" file. Nevertheless, they display fine in Digital Editions and no errors are reported. Perhaps Adobe needs to check just how compliant Digital Editions is with the spec. If a REQUIRED component is missing, the software should at least make note of it somehow.

One of the five ebooks did show an error when viewing the book info, but no details were given. That one ebook was not displaying a cover page, so that was probably where the error was. I haven't looked at the source yet.

jbenny · 10-20-2007, 09:04 AM

While on the subject of software that handles epub, I tried the Lector plugin for Firefox on an epub that I am building by hand. Since Lector is using Firefox to render the XHTML, things display just fine. There are three problems, however. One is a missing feature - no display of TOC, which is a real PITA. The second is a usability issue - you sometimes have to hit [PG-DN] twice to move to the next chapter. The third is a real nuisance - if you want to delete or modify an epub that you just displayed in Lector, you have to close Firefox completely, not just the tab that was viewing the epub. This last one is a lot of trouble when you are creating an epub and trying to check formatting and such.

Hadrien · 10-20-2007, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbenny

While on the subject of software that handles epub, I tried the Lector plugin for Firefox on an epub that I am building by hand. Since Lector is using Firefox to render the XHTML, things display just fine. There are three problems, however. One is a missing feature - no display of TOC, which is a real PITA. The second is a usability issue - you sometimes have to hit [PG-DN] twice to move to the next chapter. The third is a real nuisance - if you want to delete or modify an epub that you just displayed in Lector, you have to close Firefox completely, not just the tab that was viewing the epub. This last one is a lot of trouble when you are creating an epub and trying to check formatting and such.

Have you tried your files on FBReader with your Nokia N800 too ?

Lector works pretty fine on my desktop and with the files that we generate on Feedbooks, but we really need some validation tool for epub (and quickly).
The second usability issue must be linked to the fact that you're using separate .xml files for every chapter.

nickbogaty · 10-20-2007, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbenny

I find it interesting that of the five epub ebooks that I just downloaded from the Digital Editions site, four of them DO NOT contain the required "mimetype" file. Nevertheless, they display fine in Digital Editions and no errors are reported. Perhaps Adobe needs to check just how compliant Digital Editions is with the spec. If a REQUIRED component is missing, the software should at least make note of it somehow.

One of the five ebooks did show an error when viewing the book info, but no details were given. That one ebook was not displaying a cover page, so that was probably where the error was. I haven't looked at the source yet.

I believe the issue here is simply the eBooks Adobe posted on the Digital Editions site in May or so were created prior to the completion (but in anticipation of...based on draft specs) of the IDPF specs (OPS, OPF & OCF). As a result, there are inconsistencies because the specs changed a bit based on public review etc. I realize that this causes confusion aka your note above and I'll ask the Adobe folks responsible to post valid .epub files in place of the existing.

-Nick

Hadrien · 10-20-2007, 11:18 AM

Anything new concerning hyphenation nick ? I'd really like to enable hyphenation on all of the books available on Feedbooks, not just for those using FBReader.

jbenny · 10-20-2007, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Have you tried your files on FBReader with your Nokia N800 too ?

Lector works pretty fine on my desktop and with the files that we generate on Feedbooks, but we really need some validation tool for epub (and quickly).
The second usability issue must be linked to the fact that you're using separate .xml files for every chapter.

I haven't tried the Nokia yet, but the epub displays on the Windows version of FBReader OK, considering the lack of CSS. There is a related display issue, which I have reported to the author.

As for Lector making me hit [PG-DN] twice, yes, the chapters are in separate files. However, DE pages the same epub properly, without extra keypresses.

kovidgoyal · 10-20-2007, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Anything new concerning hyphenation nick ? I'd really like to enable hyphenation on all of the books available on Feedbooks, not just for those using FBReader.

Interesting epub reader software doesn't auto-hyphenate?

jbenny · 10-20-2007, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickbogaty

I believe the issue here is simply the eBooks Adobe posted on the Digital Editions site in May or so were created prior to the completion (but in anticipation of...based on draft specs) of the IDPF specs (OPS, OPF & OCF). As a result, there are inconsistencies because the specs changed a bit based on public review etc. I realize that this causes confusion aka your note above and I'll ask the Adobe folks responsible to post valid .epub files in place of the existing.

-Nick

Posting compliant files would certainly help. I'm still wondering what the proper behavior of epub readers should be, when required elements are either missing or malformed? Shouldn't DE and other readers inform the user somehow that there is a problem? DE does show a warning message about some issues, as I have already seen. It just doesn't tell you what those issues are.

jbenny · 10-20-2007, 09:15 PM

Not to pick on Digital Editions, but I noticed a problem in trying to center some images. The following works OK in DE.

<div align="center"><img src= ... /></div>

-----

Using this: <div class="img"><img src= ... /></div>

And this in a stylesheet: div.img { align: center; }

Works OK in DE.

-----

Using this: <img class="center" src= ... />

And this in a stylesheet: img.center {display:block; margin:auto; }

Does not work in DE, but does in Firefox.

-----

Am I mistaken, or aren't all three valid XHTML? If so, shouldn't Digital Editions display all three the same? The reason for preferring the third method is that it makes the XHTML code simpler and is less for me to type.

Hadrien · 10-20-2007, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Interesting epub reader software doesn't auto-hyphenate?

FBReader is the only reader software that auto-hyphenate. No auto hyphenation on Adobe DE...

kovidgoyal · 10-21-2007, 12:26 AM

My reader auto hyphenates it's really not that hard to implement. I don't understand why it isn't more widely implemented.

jbenny · 10-21-2007, 04:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbenny

Using this: <img class="center" src= ... />

And this in a stylesheet: img.center {display:block; margin:auto; }

Does not work in DE, but does in Firefox.

I figured out that the above is valid under XHTML 1.0 Transitional, but not XHTML 1.1. I'm still wading through the documentation at the IDPF site, but is XHTML 1.1 required for epub, or is this just a quirk with Digital Editions. For now, I've changed my source files to be 1.1 compliant, but this causes a small problem with FBreader. Don't you just love backwards compatibility?

jbenny · 10-21-2007, 04:42 AM

I've searched through the specs on the OPF 2.0 package, and don't seem to find a specified DOCTYPE. I was trying to use a third-party tool to validate an .opf file and it needs a DOCTYPE. I can use this tool to validate my XHTML files and my .ncx file, but not my .opf file.

If any of these questions seem stupid, please bear with me, as all this XML stuff is new to me. I'm trying to learn at least enough to deal with epub.

averyml · 11-07-2007, 03:57 PM

MishaS or jmurphy, have either of you modified the oeb2epub script to handle images in subdirectories? I set up a script to use it to go through my hundreds of .lit books and convert them, and then realized afterwards that over half of them do not work, and I think it may be for this reason...Unfortunately, I don't have the python skills to alter the script. Any help?

MishaS · 11-18-2007, 10:20 AM

Hi averyml

Quote:

Originally Posted by averyml

MishaS or jmurphy, have either of you modified the oeb2epub script to handle images in subdirectories? I set up a script to use it to go through my hundreds of .lit books and convert them, and then realized afterwards that over half of them do not work, and I think it may be for this reason...Unfortunately, I don't have the python skills to alter the script. Any help?

I checked the code and do not see how subdirectories get unprocessed

I'll look into it further...

On a related note, I put the script into a bzr repository which is available at Launchpad. If you'd like to browse through, use this link

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10-20-2007, 09:04 AM	#47
jbenny Addict Posts: 323 Karma: 358 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800	While on the subject of software that handles epub, I tried the Lector plugin for Firefox on an epub that I am building by hand. Since Lector is using Firefox to render the XHTML, things display just fine. There are three problems, however. One is a missing feature - no display of TOC, which is a real PITA. The second is a usability issue - you sometimes have to hit [PG-DN] twice to move to the next chapter. The third is a real nuisance - if you want to delete or modify an epub that you just displayed in Lector, you have to close Firefox completely, not just the tab that was viewing the epub. This last one is a lot of trouble when you are creating an epub and trying to check formatting and such.

10-20-2007, 11:18 AM	#50
Hadrien Feedbooks.com Co-Founder Posts: 2,263 Karma: 145123 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Paris, France Device: Sony PRS-t-1/350/300/500/505/600/700, Nexus S, iPad	Anything new concerning hyphenation nick ? I'd really like to enable hyphenation on all of the books available on Feedbooks, not just for those using FBReader.

10-20-2007, 09:15 PM	#54
jbenny Addict Posts: 323 Karma: 358 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800	Not to pick on Digital Editions, but I noticed a problem in trying to center some images. The following works OK in DE. <div align="center"><img src= ... /></div> ----- Using this: <div class="img"><img src= ... /></div> And this in a stylesheet: div.img { align: center; } Works OK in DE. ----- Using this: <img class="center" src= ... /> And this in a stylesheet: img.center {display:block; margin:auto; } Does not work in DE, but does in Firefox. ----- Am I mistaken, or aren't all three valid XHTML? If so, shouldn't Digital Editions display all three the same? The reason for preferring the third method is that it makes the XHTML code simpler and is less for me to type.

10-21-2007, 12:26 AM	#56
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	My reader auto hyphenates it's really not that hard to implement. I don't understand why it isn't more widely implemented.

10-21-2007, 04:42 AM	#58
jbenny Addict Posts: 323 Karma: 358 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800	I've searched through the specs on the OPF 2.0 package, and don't seem to find a specified DOCTYPE. I was trying to use a third-party tool to validate an .opf file and it needs a DOCTYPE. I can use this tool to validate my XHTML files and my .ncx file, but not my .opf file. If any of these questions seem stupid, please bear with me, as all this XML stuff is new to me. I'm trying to learn at least enough to deal with epub.

11-07-2007, 03:57 PM	#59
averyml Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: N800	MishaS or jmurphy, have either of you modified the oeb2epub script to handle images in subdirectories? I set up a script to use it to go through my hundreds of .lit books and convert them, and then realized afterwards that over half of them do not work, and I think it may be for this reason...Unfortunately, I don't have the python skills to alter the script. Any help?

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