Images and footnotes

[Nikoz]

I'm happy with my Libra 2, but it's missing important features that my old Paperwhite used to have:
- Zoom in on images: most images are too small to see properly so I'd love to be able to zoom in on them with a touch of the finger, like with the kindle. I've read that this may be activated by using kepub instead of epub, but this would require removing all my books and then sending them back as kepubs and I'd lose my reading stats, and I'd prefer not to have to deal with another format. Why would this be only available for the kepub format, and not epub? Also, I sometimes read pdfs and this would not work with them.
- Footnotes: My kindle had pop-up footnotes (or, in some cases, a touch on the number brought me to the footnote section), but the Kobo takes the touch on the number as a regular touch and turns the page.

Did I miss something to activate or use properly either of these functions? Can I install a hack or something to do it? How do you deal with images and footnotes?

[MGlitch]

Image zoom will only work with kepub. I don’t believe there’s any hack or patch to change this as it’s part of the renderer used for epub.

Footnotes should pop up, but if I recall they have to be coded in a certain way, and once again I believe this is kepub only. As to what the coding in the CSS is I don’t know. I tend toward fiction so I don’t encounter footnotes often.

[JSWolf]

You do not have to resend all of your eBooks as KePub. You would only need to send the ones that have images you may want to zoom. The ones without images are good as ePub.

As for PDF, don't. It just doesn't work well. A 7" screen is too small for most PDF.

[Ashjuk]

As others have said, the answer to the footnote problem is to convert the book to KePub.

I found that with books as regular ePubs the footnotes do not work well - it's difficult to accurately tap on the link.

[Tawn]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As for PDF, don't. It just doesn't work well. A 7" screen is too small for most PDF.

I've done them in landscape mode after trimming the margins with k2pdfopt. Still far from ideal, but usable (at least for those I've tried) for an occasional one. OTOH if you need to zoom, the experience is hideous.

[BookCat]

While I always kepub books that have images, I have found that footnotes work okay with epubs. I have one particular novel in which, when the superscript number is tapped, takes you to the relevant footnote at the back of the book, then if you tap near the bottom of the screen there's the option to go back to the page originally being read.
The book is epub.

This isn't as convenient as kindle's pop-up, but I sometimes find this fiddly - having to scroll to read all the text in the footnote.

[Nikoz]

Well, I can't say I'm surprised by the answers, unfortunately. I feel like those are important functions that should just work regardless of the format.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As for PDF, don't. It just doesn't work well. A 7" screen is too small for most PDF.

I have many pdfs that are readable to my eyes (they weren't with the Paperwhite - probably a combination of bigger screen, better resolution and adjustable margins), except that images are too small and I'd need to zoom in like it was possible to do with the Kindle.

Originally Posted by BookCat

While I always kepub books that have images, I have found that footnotes work okay with epubs. I have one particular novel in which, when the superscript number is tapped, takes you to the relevant footnote at the back of the book, then if you tap near the bottom of the screen there's the option to go back to the page originally being read.
The book is epub.

This isn't as convenient as kindle's pop-up, but I sometimes find this fiddly - having to scroll to read all the text in the footnote.

Really? That'd be good enough for me. I've never figured out what on the Kindle made footnotes work one way or the other (with some books I had the pop-ups, with others the move to the end of the book), but on the Kobo all I've ever managed to do by tapping the number is turn the page.

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

I found that with books as regular ePubs the footnotes do not work well - it's difficult to accurately tap on the link.

Do you mean that it's supposed to work on epubs, and I just need to find to exact point to tap?

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I tend toward fiction so I don’t encounter footnotes often.

This tells me you probably haven't read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Nikoz

This tells me you probably haven't read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Or the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by Nikoz

This tells me you probably haven't read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

I haven’t read the ebook version! I can’t imagine navigating all those tasty footnotes on an eReader. I have to admit that footnotes are a clunky fit for either platform (I own Kobos and Kindles). Early days, I guess. Personally, I’d love to see eReaders dynamically reflow the text so that footnotes are on the relevant pages. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a good example of that. I’ve read it three times, and I wouldn’t have wanted to flip to the end of the chapter or book for the footnotes.

Kobo’s emphasis is to have books purchased from their store work the best on their eReaders. They give them perks to make Kobos competitive. There are several features I wish they’d support on side-loaded epubs.

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by Nikoz

Do you mean that it's supposed to work on epubs, and I just need to find to exact point to tap?

Yes.

I had a problem getting footnotes to work in regular ePubs - which I discussed here a few weeks ago - and it seems the problem is screen accuracy, and being able to tap the exact spot. If you could find the right place to tap (sightly to the left of the link it appears) then they worked as expected.

I have no idea why converting then to KePub makes the tapping of the link easier. I have to say I prefer the way the footnotes now appear in a pop-up, rather than being taken to the footnote section.

[JSWolf]

The problem is that the footnote links are too small. But it's actually very easy to convert them to [1] at regular size.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Cootey

I haven’t read the ebook version! I can’t imagine navigating all those tasty footnotes on an eReader. I have to admit that footnotes are a clunky fit for either platform (I own Kobos and Kindles). Early days, I guess. Personally, I’d love to see eReaders dynamically reflow the text so that footnotes are on the relevant pages. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a good example of that. I’ve read it three times, and I wouldn’t have wanted to flip to the end of the chapter or book for the footnotes.

Kobo’s emphasis is to have books purchased from their store work the best on their eReaders. They give them perks to make Kobos competitive. There are several features I wish they’d support on side-loaded epubs.

I've read the Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ebook and some Discworld ebooks, and I thought navigation was easy enough. Some of the discworld ebooks were on Sony ereaders and the rest were on Kobo ereaders. I agree that reading epubs with footnotes/endnotes on Kobos is a pain due to it being hard to tap in the correct spot, but using kepub on Kobos I have no complaints.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that the footnote links are too small. But it's actually very easy to convert them to [1] at regular size.

We also put a word or two as part of the link and a link back, so if two places use the same note we'll repeat it so the back link on the note returns properly. This works on any ereader (epub, mobi KF7 or azw3/FK8) that supports links inside the book. Obviously the non-touch Kindles need the nav-buttons and I did test one ancient LCD based epub reader that didn't support links at all!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

We also put a word or two as part of the link and a link back, so if two places use the same note we'll repeat it so the back link on the note returns properly. This works on any ereader (epub, mobi KF7 or azw3/FK8) that supports links inside the book. Obviously the non-touch Kindles need the nav-buttons and I did test one ancient LCD based epub reader that didn't support links at all!

That is a good idea. to use the work in front of the footnote marker.

word[1] that would be very easy to touch.

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by Quoth

We also put a word or two as part of the link and a link back, so if two places use the same note we'll repeat it so the back link on the note returns properly. This works on any ereader (epub, mobi KF7 or azw3/FK8) that supports links inside the book. Obviously the non-touch Kindles need the nav-buttons and I did test one ancient LCD based epub reader that didn't support links at all!

To be honest I had not thought of doing that, but it's a very good suggestion.

Saying that, I actually prefer the way the footnotes are handled as pop-ups in KePubs.