Is there any consistent markup for series/volume?

[mattcurtis]

Hey guys,

My apologies if this has already been addressed somewhere, I searched and couldn't find anything conclusive. I'm writing an ePub Reader, and I'm wondering if there's any consistent markup in ePub OPF files for series and volume. I know of calibre's markup, but that's it. Any one have any input?

Thanks,
Matt

[Jellby]

Have a look at the Handling of series metadata thread.

[mattcurtis]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Have a look at the Handling of series metadata thread.

I saw that, but it seems a bit inconclusive. So the only consistent methods now are cailbre and parsing the title?

[Jellby]

The conclusion is that there is no consistent method because there's no specification. You could even use your own method in your reader.

Parsing the title is a bit risky, it seems to me. I'd rather try parsing any <meta> tag with a name containing "series" or "series number", that would at least catch calibre's tags and some other custom tags other creators may be adding.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Jellby

The conclusion is that there is no consistent method because there's no specification. You could even use your own method in your reader.

Parsing the title is a bit risky, it seems to me. I'd rather try parsing any <meta> tag with a name containing "series" or "series number", that would at least catch calibre's tags and some other custom tags other creators may be adding.

You could say calibre IS the specification, in a way... First Mover advantage and all that.

Is there, in fact, any other program that embeds series-type metadata?

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

You could say calibre IS the specification, in a way... First Mover advantage and all that.

Is the closest thing we have to a de-facto standard, as I said the in the other thread

Is there, in fact, any other program that embeds series-type metadata?

I don't know, but we don't need a program to do that. I could add the following to my manually-created ePubs:

<meta name="series" content="The Best Trilogy">
<meta name="series-number" content="2">
<meta name="series-total-number" content="3">

I don't do that, but others might, I can't say.

The only problem I have with calibre's tags is that they have "calibre" in their name.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Is the closest thing we have to a de-facto standard, as I said the in the other thread

Ha I know I was there. Just pointing it out here too.

I don't know, but we don't need a program to do that. I could add the following to my manually-created ePubs:

<meta name="series" content="The Best Trilogy">
<meta name="series-number" content="2">
<meta name="series-total-number" content="3">

I don't do that, but others might, I can't say.

The only problem I have with calibre's tags is that they have "calibre" in their name.

well, calibre established the "standard" so it uses that, the same way the Dublin Core mandates usage of <dc:{element}>.

Would you want calibre to use something that would overwrite other peoples' stuff unintentionally? People could be using all kinds of weird meta tags, and calibre prefaces all the tags it adds with "calibre:" unless it's overwriting a DC element, which has specific ePub meaning attached.