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Originally Posted by RobertDDL
I consider EPUB to be a rather crappy format, with way too much unnecessary complexity. You cannot simply create an EPUB file from scratch with a text editor unless you are an expert, while this is easily done with HTML.
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On the other hand, converting is easy.
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Chapters have to be separate files, which makes no sense at all and is a major nuisance with editing.
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No they don't. It is customary however to do so for organizational purposes, as you seem somewhat unique in thinking one file is
easier.
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I suppose some of EPUB's annoying complexity is owed to its DRM capabilities, but, well, you know what I think about that 
Sure, I can parse an HTML file and insert a TOC at its top, but this TOC would not be accessible from within the text while I'm reading, as it is with EPUB or MOBI.
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No it isn't. The HTML ToC is just a page in the book, entirely independent of the navigation ToC.
The two can even be totally different, if you wish to amuse yourself and startle readers.
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It would be an easy task for the e-reader to parse the HTML file upon loading and create a TOC on the fly, but as far as I know, this isn't done. (On my PC, LibreOffice does it nicely enough, though there is a bug when I just open the HTML file -- when I create an empty document and import the HTML file, it works well.)
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Surely you meant "when libreoffice converts my HTML into a word document and injects a navigational ToC into the ZIP package containing the document resources".
Which come to think of it is what calibre does when it converts HTML, too.
Since you are determined to edit EPUB with a text editor, I challenge you to likewise try editing a word document using a text editor, before you compare EPUB to ODT.
Or just use an EPUB editor.
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I should have said "zipped HTML" -- it's a major advantage to have text, images and style sheet together in a single file. Since you already know about my paranoia, let me voice the suspicion that HTMLZ is shunned by the publishing industry because it doesn't offer DRM capabilities. It would still be nice to have it available, because it would be by far the easiest format to create and to edit, but there seems to be very little suport for it by any reading devices or software.
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Nothing stops HTMLZ from having DRM capabilities except lack of caring. It is a format without a cause, nothing but an unstructured EPUB.