Image sizes in epub

[dvd8n]

I have bought an epub on backgammon with lots of images in it; the images are just too small for comfort. I'd like them to display a little larger.

This is an example of image code:

<div class="illustype_image"><div class="image" style="width:50%"><img src="images/e9781447582991_fig002.jpg" alt="e9781447582991_fig002.jpg"/></div>

Is it just a case of working through the entire book and changing the 50% to 100% or is there a more intelligent way of doing it?

[theducks]

try removing the style="width:50%" piece

You have how many with this?
(which really should be in the CSS so you could fudge the amount from 0 to 100%)

BTW IMHO the alt= should be a text description of the images content, not the file name What the is a 'e9781447582991_fig002'
Alt is used by text to speech it might as well be "" for all the use it provided

[rubeus]

Originally Posted by theducks

BTW IMHO the alt= should be a text description of the images content,

No, it shouldn't. It should be something useful displayed when images are not displayed. It shouldn't be the filename, and it shouldn't be a descriptive text.

If you have a fleuron, a descriptove text could be alt="fleuron". As this is only a decorative picture alt="" ís totally ok.

If you have an initial representing the letter A it should be a="A", if you have a picture showing a housenumber it should be the housenumber as it s value e.g. alt="10", but not alt="housenumber" or alt="housenumber 10".

If text-to-speech is used verything else sound odd.

In most cases alt="" is totally ok.

[odedta]

@rubeus: I disagree, the alt definition is as follows:

The required alt attribute specifies an alternate text for an image, if the image cannot be displayed.

The alt attribute provides alternative information for an image if a user for some reason cannot view it (because of slow connection, an error in the src attribute, or if the user uses a screen reader).

The alt should always be a descriptive text, it should tell the user what is in the image. This is so when a blind person uses a screen reader for example he will understand what that picture is about and not be read a file name, if the alt is empty the reader will simply skip it.
When people make an ePub they go through the process of reviewing it and when they finish working on it, most of the time more than one people review that work so the chances an image will not load are slim to none, so in an ePub case, alt is mostly for screen readers and not in a case where an image is not loaded because someone erased it from the server.

[dvd8n]

Originally Posted by theducks

try removing the style="width:50%" piece

You have how many with this?

I'd guess about 30. Enough to be a pain but not enough to be unworkable.

Thanks.

[rubeus]

Originally Posted by odedta

@rubeus: I disagree, the alt definition is as follows:


The alt should always be a descriptive text, it should tell the user what is in the image. This is so when a blind person uses a screen reader for example he will understand what that picture is about and not be read a file name, if the alt is empty the reader will simply skip it.
When people make an ePub they go through the process of reviewing it and when they finish working on it, most of the time more than one people review that work so the chances an image will not load are slim to none, so in an ePub case, alt is mostly for screen readers and not in a case where an image is not loaded because someone erased it from the server.

Thats completly wrong. As you quotet, it should be a alternative text. Not a descriptive Text. Just read book loud and you will notice that a decsroipzve text is nonsens.

I dont udnerstand why you interpret "alterantive" as decriptive.

Sorry this is boaring discussing things with somepne having no glue and interpreting things in the way you do.

Choose a decriptive text, i dont care. Not worth reading and writing here more.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by odedta

The alt should always be a descriptive text, it should tell the user what is in the image. This is so when a blind person uses a screen reader for example he will understand what that picture is about and not be read a file name, if the alt is empty the reader will simply skip it.

What it should be depends on the image and the intent. For purely ornamental images, I advocate for alt="", because if you are blind, or if you are seeing the book without images, you don't want to be informed that there is a "fleuron" or an "ornament" here and there.

Even for illustrations, I wouldn't like the text to be interrupted by "illustration of John walking through the woods". I'd only use a non-empty alt when the image is important for the text.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by dvd8n

I have bought an epub on backgammon with lots of images in it; the images are just too small for comfort. I'd like them to display a little larger.

The best solution would be if the reader let you tap the image, to open the image full screen, scroll and zoomable. Unfortnately I don't know any reader that does it. And most epub converters even reduce image resolution

But yeah, lacking that just use a larger width or height, or if it's something with huge detail like a map, even split it in several images.

[Ghitulescu]

Increasing the size of an image won't make it clearer, if the image itself isn't.
It's not Hollywood.

[frostschutz]

Naturally, but even so, you have to scale images to make best use of your screen. If you stick to 1:1 pixel, it will look worse the higher resolution your reader. Just because you have a high DPI reader doesn't mean you should be forced to use a magnifying glass to actually see the individual pixels.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

The best solution would be if the reader let you tap the image, to open the image full screen, scroll and zoomable. Unfortnately I don't know any reader that does it.

eInk Kindles with touch-screens, iBooks and many other iOS epub reading apps actually do this by default, if you double-tap a scaled-down image. Of course this only works if the image has been scaled down via CSS or height/width attributes.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by rubeus

Thats completly wrong. As you quotet, it should be a alternative text. Not a descriptive Text. Just read book loud and you will notice that a decsroipzve text is nonsens.

I dont udnerstand why you interpret "alterantive" as decriptive.

Sorry this is boaring discussing things with somepne having no glue and interpreting things in the way you do.

Choose a decriptive text, i dont care. Not worth reading and writing here more.

I'm sorry--why do you think that this is completely wrong? What do you believe qualifies as "alternative" text? I mean, use your own example--you have a picture with a house that shows clearly on the image that it's house #10 on X street, say, a placard next to the door, saying "10 Smith Street."

According to what you've written, if I understand you, you think the alt should read "10." Or "10 Smith Street."

But if Jane Doe, a blind reader, is reading this book, and the book reading app tells her that the image is "10," what on earth does that mean to her? Or even "10 Smith Street?" If it were me (and I listen to some books when working out), I certainly don't want some mystery item dropped into the book. I'd expect it to say "an image of a house with the placard 10 Smith Street shown next to the door." How else would the blind person put the image in context?

I'd agree that adding alt attributes to a fleuron is a waste of everyone's time, including the reader. But what, if a clue is an image of some jumbled letters, should the alt be "letters?" "Numbers?" If the clue is important to (say, a detective) story, shouldn't the blind reader or listener have the same opportunity to solve the case as the sighted reader?

Perhaps there's some value to having a discussion about what the "alt" should be on a website, but for ebooks, it's OBVIOUSLY to give the user something useful in the context of the book, not simply something "alternative." In this use, the "alternative" means, "a way of understanding the image for the book," not some weirdo "alternative" thing that is irrelevant or WORSE to the book.

Hitch (who is profoundly confused by this argument about alt).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rubeus

If you have a fleuron, a descriptove text could be alt="fleuron". As this is only a decorative picture alt="" ís totally ok.

If that fleuron is there to mark a section break, then the alt should be alt="section break".

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

The best solution would be if the reader let you tap the image, to open the image full screen, scroll and zoomable. Unfortnately I don't know any reader that does it. And most epub converters even reduce image resolution

But yeah, lacking that just use a larger width or height, or if it's something with huge detail like a map, even split it in several images.

Marvin for iOS allows you to view just the image. You can zoom in as well.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If that fleuron is there to mark a section break, then the alt should be alt="section break".

I'd rather have a pause that a voice reading "section break". The text-to-speech is supposed to read the book's content, not to dictate the structure for the listener to recreate the book in Sigil