[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by graycyn

Somewhere I seem to have read or otherwise gotten the idea that if you have an HTML ToC, an NCX ToC and a NAV ToC (if epub3itizing), that they should all match up.

No. They could, but they don't have to match.

For example, I've worked on books laid out like this:

HTML TOC:

• Chapter 1 by Author 1
  
  • Paragraph summary of Chapter 1
• Chapter 2 by Author 2
  
  • Paragraph summary of Chapter 2
• Chapter 3 by Author 1
  
  • Paragraph summary of Chapter 3

TOC.NCX:

• Chapter 1
  
  • 1.1
    
  • 1.2
    
  • 1.3
    
• Chapter 2
  
  • 2.1
    
  • 2.2
    
• Chapter 3
  
  • 3.1
    
  • 3.2
    

Originally Posted by graycyn

But I feel like the HTML ToC is generally redundant in ebook fiction and I usually leave it out.

If you plan on converting to Kindle, you need to include the HTML TOC.

If you are going straight EPUB, you could probably leave it out... but it would be good practice to include the HTML TOC anyway.

You are allowing the user to choose whichever way they prefer navigating. Some might prefer to jump to the HTML TOC, then click on a chapter. Others might prefer the EPUB2 TOC.NCX (or EPUB3 NAV). And others may be using one for Accessibility reasons.

It is also a good idea to include the HTML TOC just in case there is a device or some reading program that doesn't support the NAV or TOC.NCX. Better to include all the options:

• TOC NAV (EPUB3)
• TOC NCX (EPUB2 + EPUB3 [Backwards Compatibility])
• HTML TOC (All [even those reading in non-EPUB formats/readers])

Originally Posted by graycyn

But now I'm doing a book where the ToC and LoI are both illustrated, so I can't leave it out. What I want to know is if I restrict the HTML ToC to *just* what is present in the print book, i.e. chapters only, will that cause any problems?

The HTML TOC being limited to the upper layer of chapters won't effect anything... but I also have no idea what you mean by them being "illustrated".

If you mean something like:

<a href="../Chapter1.xhtml"><img alt="Chapter 1" src="../Image/Chapter1Banner.png" /></a>

where images are wrapped as links, I would highly recommend against that.

Originally Posted by graycyn

The NCX and NAV would be full ToC with links for everything, cover, half title (yep, also illustrated, gotta include it), copyright, author and artist info pages, bibliography, etc.

... there is no need to include the frontmatter/backmatter in the TOCs.

It gets brought up every so often, and the topic I always recall is one back in 2013 about Frontispieces: Ebook Layout - Frontispiece sequence

And in 2014, there was another topic where similar discussion happened: Problems with Covers on eBooks & Kindle.

I also recall Hitch writing some fantastic posts on the topic. Front/Backmatter discussion always seem to come up when people complain about Kindle's "Start Reading Location". Amazon has the real heuristics of actual readers, and they probably found out that the vast majority of readers just skip right by it all and want to jump straight to Chapter 1 of the book.