Highlight multiple files and Add Semantics

[Zai24]

Hi,

I would like to know if selecting multiple html files in the left-hand pane and then using the Add Semantics tool will be supported in future releases of Sigil. Currently when I try to select multiple files and right-click in order to Add Semantics, nothing happens (the window does not pop up.)

The functionality I am suggesting would be incredibly useful for several chapters as it can sometimes be quite repetitive and time-consuming assigning semantics individually when many chapters are involved. It would also help to prevent errors in the long run.

I love Sigil - thank you to the developers and for taking the time to help me.

[KevinH]

Since there are only a couple of semantic tags like "Chapter" that would ever make sense being applied to multiple files at the same time, this feature request makes no sense for Sigil. That said, this would be a perfectly valid for a plugin. If no one else does it first, I will eventually create a plugin that generates a table of file names as rows and shows the current semantic and allows a person to change them. If Chapter is the only semantic that makes sense across multiple files then an even simpler plugin that sets the highlighted list of files in the browser to have the chapter semantic would be quite easy to do.

I am just tied up with the beta and other things at the moment. So hopefully someone else might produce the plugin.

[lumpynose]

I also noticed this. I've been making books that are a collection of an author's short stories. I don't know if it's a best practice but I've been making a separate xhtml title page for each short story. I've also combined novels in a series into single book (first removing the existing formatting).

I was wondering if the epub standard allows/disallows multiple files to have the titlepage or other semantics.

[KevinH]

That is a good question. I am not sure the epub spec thought much about omnibus editions. I doubt in epub2 guide this would work. It might work in epub3 nav landmarks.

Originally Posted by lumpynose

I also noticed this. I've been making books that are a collection of an author's short stories. I don't know if it's a best practice but I've been making a separate xhtml title page for each short story. I've also combined novels in a series into single book (first removing the existing formatting).

I was wondering if the epub standard allows/disallows multiple files to have the titlepage or other semantics.

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by KevinH

That is a good question. I am not sure the epub spec thought much about omnibus editions. I doubt in epub2 guide this would work. It might work in epub3 nav landmarks.

I'm scorning epub2 and only making epub3 books.

[DiapDealer]

I've always been curious how chapter semantics are useful from a practical standpoint? In short, what does a nav full of landmarks yelling "chapter right here!" actually gain someone? If it's tied into some sort accessibility feature, I'm in. Otherwise, I don't get it.

Genuinely curious, by the way. I'm not looking to pick a fight.

[najgori]

perhaps, useful to some google robot who is smart enough to read semantics & too dumb to read headings?
also don't get it

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I've always been curious how chapter semantics are useful from a practical standpoint? In short, what does a nav full of landmarks yelling "chapter right here!" actually gain someone? If it's tied into some sort accessibility feature, I'm in. Otherwise, I don't get it.

According to DAISY:

Originally Posted by DAISY

Arguably the biggest difference is in their primary applications. The epub:type attribute has evolved to facilitate reading system behaviors and to aid publisher workflows. Although it could be used to expose information to assistive technologies (AT), in practice it is not. The primary purpose of the role attribute, on the other hand, is to expose information to AT. Although it could be used to facilitate user agent behaviors, in practice it is not.

(Emphasis mine.)

I.e., epub:type attributes are apparently not that important for assistive technologies, however, they are required for the Access-Aide plugin, which will add role attributes.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

I.e., epub:type attributes are apparently not that important for assistive technologies, however, they are required for the Access-Aide plugin, which will add role attributes.

I'm down with that.

[KevinH]

Yes, since epub:type attributes are only epub specific (ie. available in the epub namespace prefix) and aria-roles are native to the html5 spec, aria roles are more often used by assistive technologiesto help navigate websites. Yet the aria-roles are so generic that they do not easily handle book like landmarks that epub:type provides for. The actual mapping does not make much sense to me.

Putting a toc as a landmark/guide item makes sense but listing every chapter as a landmark really makes no sense to me as they are provided in the toc section of the nav.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Putting a toc as a landmark/guide item makes sense but listing every chapter as a landmark really makes no sense to me as they are provided in the toc section of the nav.

That's what I was thinking. Not to mention that the "chapter" landmark itself doesn't offer any clues as to what chapter it might be. Only that it IS in fact a chapter ("Chapter right here! Get yer red hot chapter, here! Pass that chapter down the row there, would you kid?").

[BetterRed]

Curious : why does Sigil refer to these thingamabobs using the nounified adjective 'semantic', rather that using the terms in the IDPF specs - e.g. guide type or epub:type.

BR

[KevinH]

Both refer to what was called epub "structural semantics". For epub 2 the allowed structural semantics was based on the Chicago Manual of Style. You can still find that term in the epub3 specs but it seems most of the epub 2 info related websites have converted over to only talk about epub 3. (Most websites say epub 2 is end of life and should not be used!).

So I think the term "structural semantics vocabulary" got reduced to just "semantics" in Sigil source code over the years. We just kept it when we took over development of Sigil.

Hope that explains things.

Here is the epub3 spec that uses this term (since about 2010 or so). I can't find the equivalent doc link for epub2 usage.

https://idpf.github.io/epub-vocabs/structure/#

Daisy also uses that term since about 2013.

I think the term "structural semantics" is also used in academic and educational research but I am not sure who first coined that term.

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by KevinH

(Most websites say epub 2 is end of life and should not be used!)

In theory, yes. Especially when you consider how old EPUB 3 is. It took me a while to stop gnashing my teeth over the lack of adoption of EPUB 3 (as compared to how quickly HTML 5 and CSS 3 were adopted) but I finally realized that it's because there are plenty of ancient e-reader devices out there that are still chugging along. Web browsers are much easier to upgrade and replace.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by KevinH

I think the term "structural semantics" is also used in academic and educational research but I am not sure who first coined that term.

The term "structural semantics" is used in the logical positivism branch of linguistics, I suspect that's where it originates. Other disciplines probably shouldn't borrow terms from linguistics, where the meaning of every and any thing is always under dispute

BR