MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Epub and cover images, question about file storage

wallcraft · 11-12-2008, 02:01 AM

Cover images are one of the weak spots of ePub. The practical implementations of OEB 1.0 included cover images, but they were not part of the standard. For example, LIT uses a guide item of type "other.ms-coverimage-standard" in the OPF file to indicate a cover image.

MobiPocket says (here) that cover images are included in IDPF 2.0 using the syntax:

Code:

  <metadata> <meta name="cover" content="my-cover-image" /> </metadata>
  ...
  <manifest> <item href="MyCoverImage.jpg" id="my-cover-image" media-type="image/jpeg" /> </manifest>

However, I have never seen this used in any actual ePub (and my guess is that ADE won't display such a cover image).

Instead, the image is usually placed inside an XML wrapper and placed as the first item in the spine. I don't know if Calibre is automatically adding cover images to ePubs from a LIT if they only occurred in the guide. There can be similar issues with recent MOBI files, which typically don't have the cover image embedded in the normal reading flow but rather selectable via a guide item.

11-12-2008, 02:01 AM	#3
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,977 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	Cover images are one of the weak spots of ePub. The practical implementations of OEB 1.0 included cover images, but they were not part of the standard. For example, LIT uses a guide item of type "other.ms-coverimage-standard" in the OPF file to indicate a cover image. MobiPocket says (here) that cover images are included in IDPF 2.0 using the syntax: Code: <metadata> <meta name="cover" content="my-cover-image" /> </metadata> ... <manifest> <item href="MyCoverImage.jpg" id="my-cover-image" media-type="image/jpeg" /> </manifest> However, I have never seen this used in any actual ePub (and my guess is that ADE won't display such a cover image). Instead, the image is usually placed inside an XML wrapper and placed as the first item in the spine. I don't know if Calibre is automatically adding cover images to ePubs from a LIT if they only occurred in the guide. There can be similar issues with recent MOBI files, which typically don't have the cover image embedded in the normal reading flow but rather selectable via a guide item.