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virtual_ink · 07-03-2011, 09:38 AM

Charleski, thanks very much for the detailed reply! Yes, my post in the other thread was the long-winded version of what I have reposted (I feared I was waffling, as I'm prone to do).

1. Do you really want to burden down your ToC with all those entries?
I was basing the idea on a few things, lack of knowledge being one. Firstly I'm using the ToC in Liz Castro's 'EPUB Straight to the Point' as a guide. But as this is an instructional manual, perhaps its not the right model for a novel?

Secondly, iBookstore were rejecting some books I submitted as they did not include 'all subsections' in the ToC. However, iBookstore may have been looking at content, not front-matter. It's hard to know, as I haven't been able to set up the reporting ticket system to get their rejection notifications, I'm trying to decipher the very minimal rejection notices I can obtain.

2. Do you plan to include an xhtml page laying out the contents as well?
Yes. I am under the impression that some readers may have their ToC display switched off, and/or some devices don't show them by default. I thought it might be best to include a page for the table of contents (with active links) to cover both bases.

3. It's possible to hack this by defining a style that will only be used to signal page-breaks
I had experimented with a similar idea, yours is much cleaner - thanks for the tip! I realise this isn't best practice, but I'll keep it in mind as a fall back. I'm suddenly in the deep end with deadlines mounting. That said, I'm happy to do some post-processing. I could easily delete the empty "break" line from each file with a find and replace.

I've been using TextWrangler (and Notepad++ on the PC) and becoming somewhat familar with some of the code. I haven't had much luck with Sigil yet, as I've been importing InDesign generated ePubs, and it seems to delete the toc.ncx, and not let me build a new one. I'm not sure what the deal is there.

4. there's still no alternative to learning xhtml and css (which is incredibly easy and you can do in a day)
Sounds like something I want to do. I'm trying to throw myself right into this. Any recommended learning resources?

Out of interest, would you care to elaborate on your disillusionment with InDesign (I mean - I think its way behind where it should be, and I'm a newbie, so I'd love to hear an experienced person's PoV - perhaps this is something you've elaborated on elsewhere?)?

And lastly, thanks once again for the reply, I really appreciate making contact with people via these forums.

07-03-2011, 09:38 AM	#3
virtual_ink Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: iPad2, Kindle	Charleski, thanks very much for the detailed reply! Yes, my post in the other thread was the long-winded version of what I have reposted (I feared I was waffling, as I'm prone to do). 1. Do you really want to burden down your ToC with all those entries? I was basing the idea on a few things, lack of knowledge being one. Firstly I'm using the ToC in Liz Castro's 'EPUB Straight to the Point' as a guide. But as this is an instructional manual, perhaps its not the right model for a novel? Secondly, iBookstore were rejecting some books I submitted as they did not include 'all subsections' in the ToC. However, iBookstore may have been looking at content, not front-matter. It's hard to know, as I haven't been able to set up the reporting ticket system to get their rejection notifications, I'm trying to decipher the very minimal rejection notices I can obtain. 2. Do you plan to include an xhtml page laying out the contents as well? Yes. I am under the impression that some readers may have their ToC display switched off, and/or some devices don't show them by default. I thought it might be best to include a page for the table of contents (with active links) to cover both bases. 3. It's possible to hack this by defining a style that will only be used to signal page-breaks I had experimented with a similar idea, yours is much cleaner - thanks for the tip! I realise this isn't best practice, but I'll keep it in mind as a fall back. I'm suddenly in the deep end with deadlines mounting. That said, I'm happy to do some post-processing. I could easily delete the empty "break" line from each file with a find and replace. I've been using TextWrangler (and Notepad++ on the PC) and becoming somewhat familar with some of the code. I haven't had much luck with Sigil yet, as I've been importing InDesign generated ePubs, and it seems to delete the toc.ncx, and not let me build a new one. I'm not sure what the deal is there. 4. there's still no alternative to learning xhtml and css (which is incredibly easy and you can do in a day) Sounds like something I want to do. I'm trying to throw myself right into this. Any recommended learning resources? Out of interest, would you care to elaborate on your disillusionment with InDesign (I mean - I think its way behind where it should be, and I'm a newbie, so I'd love to hear an experienced person's PoV - perhaps this is something you've elaborated on elsewhere?)? And lastly, thanks once again for the reply, I really appreciate making contact with people via these forums.