Quote:
Originally Posted by frode frank
Hi guys. I’ve searched the net for some time now trying to figure out the TOC, but I can’t find the information I need. I have both a toc.ncx file and a toc in the metadata.opf file. My questions are as follows:
• Which of theme are actually used by the e-reader(s), and how?
• Do all platforms use them the same way?
• Do they have to be identical?
• Can I have a page in the book that is not listed in the TOC?
And on a side note:
• Can I force a chapter to always start on the right page in landscape mode (with a blank page on the left)?
Hopefully someone can help me out.
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Most, if not all, EPUB readers use the NCX file to display a TOC to the user. You can also include an inline HTML table of contents as part of the book content if you wish - it isn't necessary for these two tables of contents to be the same. So while it generally isn't necessary to provide an inline TOC for EPUB books, depending on the nature of the book and your own preferences as an author you might choose to use the NCX file to provide a detailed TOC, and include a "summary" inline TOC that only lists the chapter headings, for example, and doesn't include second level entries (sub-sections within chapters, for example).
The NCX file is used to define the navigation points within the book. These are most usually section and chapter headings, but could easily also include sub-headings, key illustrations - whatever the author feels is worth including in the table of contents. Most EPUB readers will use the content of the NCX file to do two things:
a. Create and present a table of contents to the user, so that they can get an overview of the content of the book, and so that they can jump straight to a particular section or chapter in the book.
b. Enable "skip to previous/next navigation point" functionality when that is available in the ereader device or application.
I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say
"a toc in the metadata.opf file". There are various sections in the OPF file, but none of them is a TOC, as such.
MANIFEST : This section should be a list of all of the files contained in the EPUB. They don't need to be listed in any particular order - they simply identify each file, and specify the mimetype for that file.
SPINE : This section lists the files that contain the book content, in the order in which they should be presented by the EPUB reader. This simply ensures that the EPUB reader presents the content files in the correct reading sequence.
GUIDE : This section identifies the presence and location of key predefined elements in the book (such as cover image, "start reading" point, inline (HTML) table of contents) so that the EPUB reader device or application can provide the user with access to these elements via its own "Go To..." menu.
Can I have a page in the book that is not listed in the TOC?
I'm not sure what you're asking here, since the nature of a table of contents is such that only key locations/pages are listed in the TOC (start of section, start of chapter, etc) - most of the pages in a book aren't specifically listed in a TOC.
Can I force a chapter to always start on the right page in landscape mode (with a blank page on the left)?
I don't know of any way to do this, no. You can ensure that a chapter always starts on a new "page" (i.e. starts at the top of the screen rather than simply following straight on from the end of the previous chapter), but I don't know of any way of forcing it to display on the right when the ereader is set to display two pages side by side.
Hope that's helped to clarify some of these issues for you. I'd also second Toxaris' recommendation of
the EPUB tutorial on Jedisaber.com - it provides a good overview of how the different bits of an EPUB fit together.