Can I create image subfolders?

[SigilBear]

I'm working on a book that's going to feature a few hundred images, and I would like to organize them into folders. So I was surprised to discover that you apparently can't create folders in the Images folder.

I created an epub with Sigil, cracked it open with eCanCrusher, and copied several folders filled with images into it. When I put my epub back together, all the images had vanished except Cover.jpg, which wasn't in a subfolder.

So can anyone confirm that folders aren't allowed, or, if they are, explain how I can create them?

Thanks!

[Toxaris]

They are allowed in the ePUB specification. In fact, the images folder is not dictated by the specifications either. It is good practice since it keeps things clear and separated. However, since having a few hundred images in an ePUB is rare, usually one folder is enough. Sigil does not support multiple folders in an ePUB. In fact, if you have subfolders in your images folder, upon opening in Sigil they will be merged in one folder and all the references to them will be adjusted so everything will keep on working.

If you create additional folders and move images to them (like you did with eCanCrusher), everything should be working fine, as long as you also adapt the references to the image. After all, the image is at another location so the links must be updated to reflect that change.

Now, I believe that the editor in Calibre does support multiple folders. I am not sure though, as I do not use the Calibre editor for several reasons myself. Call it personal preference. From what I heard, it is also a good editor.

[DiapDealer]

Yes. Sigil currently demands full control of the directory structure within an epub archive. Any epub saved with Sigil will be altered to comply with those structural requirements. There is hope that that will change in the future, but it's not practical right now.

Calibre's editor will allow you to define your own internal structure if such a thing is important to you. Just don't make any edits with Sigil after you've created the internal structure you desire.

[SigilBear]

Thanks for the tips. I decided to just rename my images and put them all in one folder for this project. My second book will have far more images, so I'll take a look at Calibre when I start that project.

[Turtle91]

Just remember that it doesn't matter to the ePub if they are all in one folder or not. You are simply linking to a location...the ePub doesn't care where it is. This is only for your personal organization while you are working on the book.

Cheers,

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Just remember that it doesn't matter to the ePub if they are all in one folder or not. You are simply linking to a location...the ePub doesn't care where it is. This is only for your personal organization while you are working on the book.

It is helpful in cases where you have multiple books in one, so you could organize something along the lines of:

../Book01/Chap01.xhtml
../Book01/Chap02.xhtml
../Book01/Images/WeirdImages.jpg
[...]
../Book04/Chap01.xhtml
../Book04/Chap02.xhtml
../Book04/Images/MoreWeirdImages.jpg

and it is helpful when you try to digitize websites (blog posts, articles, etc. etc.) so that you could keep ~ the original file structure. Makes it a hell of a lot easier when doing code comparisons.

Definitely something that would be helpful when you get large/image-heavy books floating around.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Calibre's editor will allow you to define your own internal structure if such a thing is important to you. Just don't make any edits with Sigil after you've created the internal structure you desire.

I haven't tested it in years, but last I remember, Sigil would just overwrite files that were in different folders but the same name. So:

../Book01/Images/WeirdImages.jpg
../Book04/Images/WeirdImages.jpg

Sigil would just force both into:

../Images/WeirdImages.jpg

and one would go poof.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

I haven't tested it in years, but last I remember, Sigil would just overwrite files that were in different folders but the same name. So:

../Book01/Images/WeirdImages.jpg
../Book04/Images/WeirdImages.jpg

Sigil would just force both into:

../Images/WeirdImages.jpg

and one would go poof.

That's why I said don't edit with Sigil once you have a multi-level structure you're happy with.

In my opinion, different folders or no, having duplicate filenames in the same epub archive is just a bad, bad idea. So is having multiple books, for that matter. Omnibi make no sense to me, personally, with regard to ebooks.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

In my opinion, different folders or no, having duplicate filenames in the same epub archive is just a bad, bad idea.

Again, I don't recall... but if I remember it just overwrote... no warning or anything.

Would probably be better to have a popup that warns you of conflict (and maybe a basic rename that appends "-##" to the image).

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

So is having multiple books, for that matter. Omnibi make no sense to me, personally, with regard to ebooks.

For the most part I agree with the omnibuses(?)... but one of the latest books I converted was 400+ pages of various chapters/essays of an economist's work, organized by topic instead:

• Chapter 2: Action and Value
  
  • Human Action
    
    • 1. Ends and Means
      
    • 2. The Scale of Value
      
    • 3. The Scale of Needs
      
  • Theory and History
    
    • 1. Judgments of Value and Propositions of Existence
      
    • 2. Valuation and Action
      
    • 3. The Subjectivity of Valuation
      
    • 4. The Logical and Syntactical Structure of Judgments of Value
      
• [...]
• Chapter 17: Economic Progress
  
  • Economic Policy
    
    • “Foreign Investment”
  • Human Action
    
    • 9. Entrepreneurial Profits and Losses in a Progressing Economy

Something like that would have been quite helpful... Then I could have had a structure along these lines:

..\##-NewChapterTitle\OldBookTitle\##-OldChapters.xhtml

Heh, that one was definitely pretty horrible to try to code compare to make sure I didn't botch anything when adding/deleting entire subchapters. :P

[KevinH]

The latest version of Sigil should quietly force all file names to be unique in opening an epub. If it doesn't, please file a bug report with a test case.

KevinH

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by KevinH

The latest version of Sigil should quietly force all file names to be unique in opening an epub. If it doesn't, please file a bug report with a test case.

Fantastic to hear.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

Again, I don't recall... but if I remember it just overwrote... no warning or anything.

This might have happened in older Sigil versions, but this problem was fixed in Sigil 0.9.7. (For details and a test case see my post.)

Originally Posted by KevinH

The latest version of Sigil should quietly force all file names to be unique in opening an epub.

This appears to be working, however, the lack of case sensitivity in Windows might prevent Sigil users from noticing file name problems, unless they check the epub with flightcrew or epubcheck.

But I'm guessing that this is a Windows Qt problem, that you can't do anything about.