Links in Kindle 2

[hkdorama]

Is there a way to remove underlining links in Kindle 2? It would really be great if the links are not underlined by e.g. the background of the link is of a different shade of grey. I tried text-decoration: none; on the a:link tag but it does not seem to work...

[bear4hunter]

If you use Mobipocket Creator and HTML to create the mobi-files, you can use this:
<p><mbp:nu>www.google.com</p>
nu = no underline, it prevents the link from being underlined.
But keep in mind, that if not underlined, you cannot tell links from plain text apart!

[hkdorama]

Thank you for your answer, it works!

I am not using Mobipocket Creator since I am on Mac. The way I do it is like this:
1. First I make epub for iBooks.
2. Then I adjust the files for Kindle.
3. Make a new epub. (After I add the <mbp:nu> into my files, the epub does not validate anymore, but I guess that is okay )
4. Convert it to mobi using KindleGen.

[bear4hunter]

Glad I could be of help.
mbp:nu is not genuine HTML, any mobi-creating software should indeed be able to interpret it.

[vamsundar]

Hi,
I have checked this, but it is not working for me. can you please help, what you did?

[bear4hunter]

What software do you use? What device? It's not genuine HTML, so it doesn't work if you view the file with IE or Firefox or the like.

[erobin76]

Hi there!
I have the same problem, but I cannot make too much use of the above mentioned HTML code...
What exactly do I need to do in Mobipocket Reader to remove the hyperlinks and/or the underlining to when I transfer the PDF into an ebook and put it on kindle, whole paragraphs are not underlined?
Thanks a lot!
r.

[tooolbox13]

On Kindle 2, to remove the underline from a hyperlinked word, try the following:

A word in this <a href="http://www.google.com"><font color="white" size="0">.</font></a>sentence is linked.

I actually have an even better way of doing this that I devised, but I'm jealous to give out how :P

I literally spent 10 hours researching the net and testing this myself (MOBI file format, not sure about the capabilities of ePub). Text-decoration and all that jazz just does not work on a hyperlink in a MOBI file. There's almost no information on this that can be found via Google.

My specific use is hyperlinking words to a glossary in the back of a book. If anyone else needs to do this and is interested in removing the underlines from the words, let me know.

[HarryT]

The purpose of this forum is to share our knowledge, not to boast about how we know about better ways to do things, but we're going to keep them secret.

In this particular case, though, there is a standard, documented, Mobi way to achieve the desired result: the <mbp:nu> tag, hence it's rather a moot point.

[DiapDealer]

I agree with Harry. There's already a documented way (in this very thread) that does the trick. If you have different way, share it or don't bother bringing it up. The "neener, neener" approach really isn't constructive at all.

[tooolbox13]

I apologize for my behavior there, I don't usually act that way. Of course the point of a forum is to share knowledge and I always appreciate the knowledge that is on a forum. I suppose I didn't really expect an answer from anyone, as this thread has been neglected for so long. I'll refrain from being quite so snarky and gleeful in the future.

Now, on the <mbp:nu> tag, I did not find that to work at all. I am using Calibre to convert an HTML file into a MOBI, specifically. I tried using the <mpb:nu> tag in several different ways, to no avail. I also used a python script to break apart my MOBI file and view the HTML, and there were <u> tags around the link. I removed the <u> tags, and used Kindlegen to rebuild into MOBI, but no luck, the underline was still there.

While you can use CSS to remove the underline from a link in an HTML file and it displays correctly in a browser such as Sarfari, when Calibre converts to MOBI it flattens the CSS into HTML tags, which leads me to believe that MOBI doesn't really support CSS, although I could be wrong I suppose.

I work with a publisher and we had 3 or 4 different eBook conversion companies tell us that the underlines could not be removed from hyperlinks in a MOBI file. Annoyed by this, I took to the Internet and personal testing. This is one of the only threads that Google turns up on the subject, and I did not find the <mbp:nu> tag to work.

If anyone has a specific example of how <mbp:nu> has been made to work with a MOBI file on a hyperlink, including what tools were used to accomplish this, please post it here. The exact source HTML file would be helpful.

And now, on to the method that I discovered. It's not as ideal as simply removing the underline from a hyperlink, as it has some drawbacks (one of which I still need to solve, and that people could help me with). But, it does actually work on Kindle 2, Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire (the three devices I've tested it on thus far).

The simple description is that a special space character is placed directly in front of the linked word, and this space character is a hyperlink. Because this character is adjacent to the word you want to link, the Kindle software recognizes it as part of the word and when the word is navigated to or tapped, it will take the user to the glossary. Here's a sample:

Some <a href="http://www.google.com">&#x200B;</a>word here is linked!

x200B is the specific Unicode character that works on both Kindle 2 and Kindle Fire. Other, similar characters work on one or the other. I think x200B is a zero-width space or something. I first tried zero-width non-breaking space, which works on the Fire, but displays as a box on the Kindle 2.

There are two drawbacks to this method: one, and I have not tested this quite yet, but I believe if you read the MOBI on a computer and try to click on the word with a mouse, it will not link you. That's hypothesis, and I will test it today, but I believe that to be the case. It is only because the Kindle software "looks" at the word for hyperlinks when it is highlighted (5-way-button-style) or touched that enables the user to navigate with it. When I display that code in Safari I cannot click the link because it takes up no space.

The second drawback seems to be on the Kindle 2, and possibly the newer kindles with 5-way-buttons. For some reason when the cursor skips over the word immediately after the linked one. In the above example, the user of the Kindle would be prevented from looking up or highlighting the word "here". I'm fairly sure this is related to my workaround method, although I don't understand why the kindle software that detects different words would do that...there is a space between the words, after all. I plan on doing some testing to see how two spaces behaves, or an additional zero-width space, etc.

Anyway, I guess it would be helpful if someone could save me a lot of time and grief by posting up a working example of how to use <mbp:nu> on a hyperlink, in a MOBI, tested on the Kindle. This would render my discovery null and void, but the simple handling is actually far more ideal and preferable.

Thanks,
Matt

Edit: I did a bit more research. Is it perhaps the fact that <mbp:nu> only works with the Mobipocket Creator software? (I am using a Mac, and hence Calibre, since Creator is not available on the Mac.) I can't really find much of any documentation for this on the web... In any case, I'll try the Creator software somehow.

[pholy]

(I am using a Mac, and hence Calibre, since Creator is not available on the Mac.)

Ah, but you could use KindleGen, which is available for the Mac, pdurrant has created some useful AppleScripts for use with KindleGen. You can find them here bt searching.

[HarryT]

The Mobi developer info, what there is of it, is at:

http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/articl...eFolder=prcgen

[tooolbox13]

Originally Posted by pholy

Ah, but you could use KindleGen, which is available for the Mac, pdurrant has created some useful AppleScripts for use with KindleGen. You can find them here bt searching.

I have tried using Kindlegen as well, it retains the underline on the links just like Calibre (unless I am missing something).

I reviewed the documentation on the Mobipocket file format, and apparently <mbp:nu> is supposed to remove underlines, independent of what program is used to generate the MOBI file--it is a file spec, after all. But no dice.

Once again, I am interested if anyone has managed to use <mbp:nu> or any other technique to accomplish underline removal on hyperlinks, and I would be very interested in sample code.

Also, if any random good soul happens to have a Kindle 1 and would be able to test the zero-width space method on their Kindle 1, I would appreciate it. I have access to Kindle 2, 3, Touch and Fire, but no Kindle 1...even the conversion company I'm using doesn't have one. I suppose it's not that big a deal since the first iteration doesn't exactly have the preponderance of possession percentage, but it doesn't pain me to be prepared. (Ehe... )

[DiapDealer]

I have tried using Kindlegen as well, it retains the underline on the links just like Calibre (unless I am missing something).

The <mbp:nu> tag works as expected for me with kindlegen.

<p><a href="whatever.html"><mbp:nu>Link text</a></p>

Creates a link with no underline. Just verified it with kindlegen 1.2 build 33307