Anchor positioning on screen in epubs made with Calibre

AColobus · 11-19-2016, 02:06 PM

(Sorry if this isn't a Calibre question - it seemed to me that it might be, but it could be a general epub issue. I wasn't able to find relevant information online to decide. As I'm using Calibre to convert HMTL to epub I chose here. Please feel free to move it to the most appropriate section)

I'm working on a book which has many inline anchors and links. In HTML, the target displays at the top of the screen. So for example, if I click the link to anchor Anchor06, I will get a view with Anchor06 as the very first line at the top of the page. This makes it immediately clear what the relevant content is from the clicked link, and that's my desired behaviour.

Having used Calibre to convert to epub, I'm getting a different result. In all reading options I've tested (Calibre viewer, my Kobo and an in-browser epub reader) the view simply shifts so that the target anchor is somewhere on the page. Occasionally it doesn't even seem to be on the displayed page, but on the next page.

Somewhat confusingly, in the Edit Book part of Calibre, it follows the HTML behaviour.

I don't know whether this behaviour of the epubs is normal epub behaviour, or is because I've done something wrong, or is a result of the Calibre conversion. I've only managed to find one ebook in my collection with similar inline links, but this shows the same behaviour, so I suspect the former.

As the book I'm creating is a parallel text, it's important that it's very clear to the reader exactly which sections correspond, which is why I'm concerned about this. But I'd also like to know what's happening in general.

Can anyone give me more information on what's happening, and let me know how to address it if possible?

I haven't included the conversion information because I suspect it isn't a conversion issue at all; I can provide it if it seems useful.

jhowell · 11-19-2016, 05:09 PM

Most EPUB reading software is page based. Each HTML file is rendered as a series of pages. Whether a page is reached by paging forward/backward or by following a link shouldn't affect the content on the page ideally.

kovidgoyal · 11-19-2016, 10:20 PM

That is how paged based displays work. You can switch to the browser-like scroll behavior in the calibre viewer by clicking the yellow scroll icon in the top right corner of the viewer.

AColobus · 11-20-2016, 04:47 AM

Ah, thank you, that's good to know, but also quite annoying.

Do you know if there's a way to get the browser-style scroll behaviour on ereaders? I suspect not... Otherwise I'll have to look for another solution for my bilingual ebook.

I was aiming to create parallel text-like behaviour by having a link at each sentence, where the reader could click to swap between languages. If they have to just swap pages and then manually scan the page to find the right corresponding sentence, even with a fragment number or something to mark them, I think it'll be much less intuitive and more disruptive to read

11-19-2016, 02:06 PM	#1
AColobus Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 71334 Join Date: Dec 2014 Device: Kobo Touch	Anchor positioning on screen in epubs made with Calibre (Sorry if this isn't a Calibre question - it seemed to me that it might be, but it could be a general epub issue. I wasn't able to find relevant information online to decide. As I'm using Calibre to convert HMTL to epub I chose here. Please feel free to move it to the most appropriate section) I'm working on a book which has many inline anchors and links. In HTML, the target displays at the top of the screen. So for example, if I click the link to anchor Anchor06, I will get a view with Anchor06 as the very first line at the top of the page. This makes it immediately clear what the relevant content is from the clicked link, and that's my desired behaviour. Having used Calibre to convert to epub, I'm getting a different result. In all reading options I've tested (Calibre viewer, my Kobo and an in-browser epub reader) the view simply shifts so that the target anchor is somewhere on the page. Occasionally it doesn't even seem to be on the displayed page, but on the next page. Somewhat confusingly, in the Edit Book part of Calibre, it follows the HTML behaviour. I don't know whether this behaviour of the epubs is normal epub behaviour, or is because I've done something wrong, or is a result of the Calibre conversion. I've only managed to find one ebook in my collection with similar inline links, but this shows the same behaviour, so I suspect the former. As the book I'm creating is a parallel text, it's important that it's very clear to the reader exactly which sections correspond, which is why I'm concerned about this. But I'd also like to know what's happening in general. Can anyone give me more information on what's happening, and let me know how to address it if possible? I haven't included the conversion information because I suspect it isn't a conversion issue at all; I can provide it if it seems useful.

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11-19-2016, 05:09 PM	#2
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,053 Karma: 91577715 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Charlottesville, VA Device: Kindles	Most EPUB reading software is page based. Each HTML file is rendered as a series of pages. Whether a page is reached by paging forward/backward or by following a link shouldn't affect the content on the page ideally.

11-19-2016, 10:20 PM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,251 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	That is how paged based displays work. You can switch to the browser-like scroll behavior in the calibre viewer by clicking the yellow scroll icon in the top right corner of the viewer.

11-20-2016, 04:47 AM	#4
AColobus Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 71334 Join Date: Dec 2014 Device: Kobo Touch	Ah, thank you, that's good to know, but also quite annoying. Do you know if there's a way to get the browser-style scroll behaviour on ereaders? I suspect not... Otherwise I'll have to look for another solution for my bilingual ebook. I was aiming to create parallel text-like behaviour by having a link at each sentence, where the reader could click to swap between languages. If they have to just swap pages and then manually scan the page to find the right corresponding sentence, even with a fragment number or something to mark them, I think it'll be much less intuitive and more disruptive to read

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