Metadata Editor in 0.9.5

[MacEachaidh]

I've allowed my copy of Sigil to update to 0.9.5, but I'm finding the new Metadata Editor quite difficult to work with. By which I mean, it works fine, but I find it much harder to make sense of than the previous versions, so no doubt the shortcoming is mine. ;-)

Is there a way to keep the updated version of Sigil, but roll the Editor interface back to how it used to look?

[KevinH]

Hi,
No, the old metadata editor was broken. It would not allow dates to be set properly and confusingly treated an element like an attribute (creator vs contributor) and even worse shoehorned incorrect values into fixed table columns, and was not flexible enough to work with epub3 metadata nor able to be even easily modified to do so.

Exactly what issues (other than simple change in general) are you having issues with? You can choose which metadata elements to add in a very similar way to the old interface. It already sets the language for you, and allows you to easily fill in a title. It allows users to edit the fields in a similar way too so adding additional metadata works the same way as the old interface.

If you have trouble with setting or doing something specific with metadata, just ask.
Sorry but, Sigil will not be moving back to something that fundamentally broken nor offering it as an option.

KevinH

[MacEachaidh]

Hi Kevin,
Many thanks for such a full and speedy reply. Much appreciated.

I hadn't had enough experience yet with the Editor to have noticed the flaws, so thanks for pointing them out. But I liked the layout and delineation of the previous interface; I like dialogs that help guide your eyeline, whereas I find the new Editor's interface less helpful in that respect. I have to keep actively re-scanning its data to find the piece I'm looking for, which makes it feel cumbersome, even though all the data is there to hand -- subjective, I realise, but that's my personal experience.

No doubt I'll get the hang of it. ;-)

[KevinH]

The only real difference is the old editor used separate input fields for title, language, and, first author, and then table cells (with fixed columns) for everything else.

The new approach uses a tree view instead of a table view to show what attributes belong to what elements, and no longer uses separate input fields at the top since under epub3 you can have multiple titles, multiple authors, and even multiple languages.

The tree view allows both epub2 and epub3 to use almost identical approaches, prevents the shoehorning into a fixed table, allows flexible dates and etc. There really wasn't another approach that worked for both in a similar way as epub3 metadata is much more flexible.

Hope you get used to it.

KevinH

[theducks]

Originally Posted by KevinH

The only real difference is the old editor used separate input fields for title, language, and, first author, and then table cells (with fixed columns) for everything else.

The new approach uses a tree view instead of a table view to show what attributes belong to what elements, and no longer uses separate input fields at the top since under epub3 you can have multiple titles, multiple authors, and even multiple languages.

The tree view allows both epub2 and epub3 to use almost identical approaches, prevents the shoehorning into a fixed table, allows flexible dates and etc. There really wasn't another approach that worked for both in a similar way as epub3 metadata is much more flexible.

Hope you get used to it.

KevinH

There is one other main difference.

A tick mark if the identifier is assigned.
I would love to see some sort of highlight (bold) if the intensifier has been used. Currently, the best way is to open the OPF: Guide section

[BetterRed]

The same approach (tree) is also used for embedded metadata in some PDF and image metadata editors. Seems to be a common approach.

BR

[dragon reader]

Not sure if anyone has noticed this yet but the (9.5 version of Sigil) metadata editor does not recognize the added items that Calibre throws in when converting from Amazon Azw3 to Epub such as Book Producer or other items that may exist

[KevinH]

Hi,
What identifier are you talkng about? Are you asking about the main dc:identifier whose id is provided in the package tag, or some additional identifiers?

If the first, then Sigil always ensures that identifier is created when saved no matter what.

If you are talking about id attributes, they will always be modified to be unique when the opf is created.

KevinH

Originally Posted by theducks

There is one other main difference.

A tick mark if the identifier is assigned.
I would love to see some sort of highlight (bold) if the intensifier has been used. Currently, the best way is to open the OPF: Guide section

[KevinH]

The Book Producer (bkp) Marc Relator code should be recognizable and usable for both dc:creator and dc:contributor. I.e. the following should work to add a Book producer

<dc:contributor opf:role="bkp">Your Name Here</dc:contributor>

Sigil's metaeditor also recognizes arbitrary meta tags with name/content attributes.

If that isn't working, then please let me know and I will try to fix it.

KevinH

Originally Posted by dragon reader

Not sure if anyone has noticed this yet but the (9.5 version of Sigil) metadata editor does not recognize the added items that Calibre throws in when converting from Amazon Azw3 to Epub such as Book Producer or other items that may exist

[dragon reader]

I'm talking about the <dc:identifier opf:scheme="MOBI-ASIN">; <dc:identifier opf:scheme="calibre">; <meta content="2016-05-05T17:15:37.835000+00:00" name="calibre:timestamp" />; <dc:date>2016-05-03T07:00:00+00:00</dc:date>; name="calibre:title_sort" />; <dc:contributor opf:role="bkp">calibre (2.56.0) [http://calibre-ebook.com]</dc:contributor>; this stuff when you get books from other people. Windows 10; 64 system.

[dragon reader]

I forgot to include the <metadata xmlns:calibre="http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/2009/metadata" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" junk that is also there. You never know if it is needed and can easily break the epub if you change or delete it.

[MacEachaidh]

dragon reader, such items seem to be showing up for me. For instance, the MOBI-ASIN value shows up as a <dc:identifier> entry, and it's "opf:scheme" notation shows if you use the arrow to its left to expand the listing.

(Can't comment on the Calibre items, since I don't use Calibre.)

[BetterRed]

@dragon reader - it seems OK to me,



That was after a Embed Metadata in calibre.

I don't have any AZW3's to convert. IIRC conversion doesn't inject the custom column values, only the DC and calibre standard column values (Author Sort, Title Sort, Series etc)

Added : suggestion: a button to expand/collapse all the nodes

BR

[KevinH]

Wow - do people really want all of that inside their opf? It seems to me, most of that should be kept in an external database and not part of the book opf, but to each his own.

Seems to work in my tests as well.

Are you sure you are using the latest version of Sigil?

KevinH

[DiapDealer]

Perhaps he's thinking of the commented-out metadata in the OPF from KindleUnpack (though there's no risk in "breaking" an epub by removing that)?