Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book Software > Calibre

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 12-04-2010, 07:15 AM   #1
siebert
Developer
siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 155
Karma: 280
Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: Kindle 3 (Keyboard) 3G / iPad 9 WiFi / Google Pixel 6a (Android)
How to improve navigation in EPUB from recipes?

Hi,

in my opinion the navigation elements calibre currently adds into EPUBs created by recipes need some improvents.

In the current code the texts are hard coded and can't be changed from recipes (at least without major effort and code duplication).

But it doesn't make much sense to me to use english words for navigation links of non-english content. If a recipe could define the navigation elements, it could use words from the same language as the content.

An even better solution might be to add the translations to calibre once and let the recipe only select the correct language.


Another issue I face is that the current bottom navigation line is too long when displayed on my android phone, so it is split into two lines which is rather ugly and I'd like to use shorter words or symbols so the navigation fits one line.

But this is something which might not best handled by the recipe but the output device description (unfortunatly I have no idea what it currently can do and if it is used during recipe execution).


Another way to fix both language and size issues would be to use icons instead of words for the navigation. But I don't know whether this would be supported by all (if any) EPUB readers or not. And we would need someone who creates good images for the icons.


So I'd like to get some input on how to best solve these issues. I would volunteer to implement the changes if a good concept is found and the implementation isn't too complicated.

Ciao,
Steffen
siebert is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-04-2010, 01:30 PM   #2
kovidgoyal
creator of calibre
kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
kovidgoyal's Avatar
 
Posts: 43,776
Karma: 22666666
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Device: Various
I committed a fix to use the calibre interface language when generating the navbars.

IMO using images is not a good idea, as it is a lot less usable for new users who often wont realize what the images mean.
kovidgoyal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2010, 04:55 PM   #3
siebert
Developer
siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 155
Karma: 280
Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: Kindle 3 (Keyboard) 3G / iPad 9 WiFi / Google Pixel 6a (Android)
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal View Post
I committed a fix to use the calibre interface language when generating the navbars.
Thanks, that's great!

I've noticed that some navigation texts are now in german, but some are still in english. I suspect that the translations are missing.

I've also noticed that the last article in the last feed contains a "Next" link, which would point to the next feed index page, but as it is already the last feed, that page doesn't exist so the link is broken, which leads to unexpected results if the link is followed (many ebook readers open a browser window).

Is this a known bug? Unfortunatly I couldn't find an easy way to fix it.

Quote:
IMO using images is not a good idea, as it is a lot less usable for new users who often wont realize what the images mean.
A good icon should be self-explanatory, but I admit it's not easy to create good icons. If someone provides them, it would be the best solution if the user could select whether to use icons or text.

Ciao,
Steffen
siebert is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2010, 04:57 PM   #4
kovidgoyal
creator of calibre
kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
kovidgoyal's Avatar
 
Posts: 43,776
Karma: 22666666
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Device: Various
Quote:
Originally Posted by siebert View Post
Is this a known bug? Unfortunatly I couldn't find an easy way to fix it.
Yes, it is a known bug and it hasn't been fixed because it has no easy fix
kovidgoyal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2010, 04:35 AM   #5
siebert
Developer
siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.siebert has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 155
Karma: 280
Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: Kindle 3 (Keyboard) 3G / iPad 9 WiFi / Google Pixel 6a (Android)
If it's not easy to remove the bogus link, could you at least create a page with some dummy content (or even better some information about calibre) so the link points to an existing target?

Ciao,
Steffen
siebert is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2010, 08:21 AM   #6
Manichean
Wizard
Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.
 
Manichean's Avatar
 
Posts: 3,130
Karma: 91256
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Germany
Device: Cybook Gen3
Quote:
Originally Posted by siebert View Post
I've noticed that some navigation texts are now in german, but some are still in english. I suspect that the translations are missing.
The german translation is, as of this moment, 100% finished, there were no strings that belonged to recipe navigation. That doesn't have to mean anything, maybe Kovid just hasn't updated the translations yet.
Manichean is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2010, 10:48 AM   #7
kovidgoyal
creator of calibre
kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
kovidgoyal's Avatar
 
Posts: 43,776
Karma: 22666666
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Device: Various
New translation strings typically appear two releases after they were introduced into the source code. That is because they are uploaded to Launchpad on the first release after they were introduced (and then, assuming they are translated in the next week) the translations are added to calibre in teh next release process.
kovidgoyal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2010, 04:58 AM   #8
Manichean
Wizard
Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.Manichean is the 'tall, dark, handsome stranger' all the fortune-tellers are referring to.
 
Manichean's Avatar
 
Posts: 3,130
Karma: 91256
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Germany
Device: Cybook Gen3
FWIW, the translation strings for recipe navigation just appeared in Launchpad. I plan to translate them sometime around the beginning of next week, if someone doesn't beat me to it.
Manichean is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2010, 08:56 AM   #9
janvanmaar
Addict
janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 219
Karma: 404
Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: Kindle 3G, Samsung SIII
I was wondering for a longer time already, are these links not redundant if there is the TOC navigation and typically also TOC keybord shortcuts (eg arrows on Kindle)? Do people use the links? (Talking just about my own Kindle experience - I am only using the TOC navigation and arrows on my device and as far as I can remember, the "original" news feeds from Amazon do not have the links either.)
janvanmaar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2010, 09:03 AM   #10
DoctorOhh
US Navy, Retired
DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
DoctorOhh's Avatar
 
Posts: 9,864
Karma: 13806776
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: North Carolina
Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Nexus 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by janvanmaar View Post
I was wondering for a longer time already, are these links not redundant if there is the TOC navigation and typically also TOC keybord shortcuts (eg arrows on Kindle)?
Not every epub reader has a navigable TOC menu from which to navigate, built into their the reader.

Quote:
Originally Posted by janvanmaar View Post
Do people use the links? (Talking just about my own Kindle experience
Epub news navigation and Kindle (Mobi) news navigation are different.

Quote:
Originally Posted by janvanmaar View Post
I am only using the TOC navigation and arrows on my device and as far as I can remember, the "original" news feeds from Amazon do not have the links either.)
I don't have a Kindle, but I believe you've hit on the difference between the two.

Last edited by DoctorOhh; 12-11-2010 at 09:07 AM.
DoctorOhh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2010, 09:10 AM   #11
janvanmaar
Addict
janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 219
Karma: 404
Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: Kindle 3G, Samsung SIII
I see. Thanks for explanation and sorry for confusing mobi and epub (I have only realized after your reply that the thread even has EPUB in its topic).
But perhaps a general option to disable the links creation could be still useful (in both worlds)
janvanmaar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2010, 10:13 AM   #12
janvanmaar
Addict
janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 219
Karma: 404
Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: Kindle 3G, Samsung SIII
Looking at the source code, I can see that a --no-inline-navbars option of ebook-convert is intended to disable the links creation - although it does not work at the moment (no such option error)
janvanmaar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2010, 10:52 AM   #13
kovidgoyal
creator of calibre
kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
kovidgoyal's Avatar
 
Posts: 43,776
Karma: 22666666
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Device: Various
The only EPUB reader I know of that has special UI for navigation of periodicals are the newer SONY models. Maybe when this becomes more widespread, it will be worth adding such an option, but certainly not now.
kovidgoyal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2010, 11:00 AM   #14
janvanmaar
Addict
janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.janvanmaar has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 219
Karma: 404
Join Date: Nov 2010
Device: Kindle 3G, Samsung SIII
I did not know that the UI navigation for epub readers is so bad the moment... I guess it would improve over time.

Anyway, is there perhaps a simple way to make the --no-inline-navbars option working from command line (ebook-convert)? It seems to be in the code?
janvanmaar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2010, 11:02 AM   #15
kovidgoyal
creator of calibre
kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
kovidgoyal's Avatar
 
Posts: 43,776
Karma: 22666666
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Device: Various
Why do you care? If you are generating MOBI, set the output profile to Kindle and the navbars wont be generated. If you are generating EPUB, it's not a good idea to leave the navbars out, as I already explained.
kovidgoyal is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
recipes and --no-default-epub-cover option m.tarenskeen Recipes 1 11-02-2010 12:06 PM
epub - force a 2nd pass to improve structure detection ? cybmole Calibre 10 10-08-2010 01:00 AM
Does splitting EPUB among more HTML files improve Performance? purcelljf ePub 2 10-01-2010 01:15 AM
Epub Revision - enhanced navigation support Nate the great ePub 2 04-09-2010 05:57 PM
Regexes to improve pdf to epub conversion ldolse Calibre 23 04-22-2009 04:00 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:43 PM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.