Alreader not showing images after editing ePUB with Sigil

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by user_none

My guess is AllReader2 is unable to deal with the attribute order for items in the opf. When repackaging Sigil writes the attributes in alphabetical order. This is correct per the spec but not all readers like this. This is why covers don't work on the Nook.

BTW, not to hijack the thread--but do you, JS, have workaround for the Nook-Covers issue?

Hitch

[user_none]

Originally Posted by Hitch

BTW, not to hijack the thread--but do you, JS, have workaround for the Nook-Covers issue?

Yep. See this bug for details. All you need to do is edit the OPF after using Sigil and reorder the attributes of the meta element that specifies the cover. While it looks simple it's not easy to fix in Sigil.

There are a few ZIP programs like 7zip which allows you to edit files in place. If you are on a Mac this is a bit difficult. Unzip, edit, and see this for how to recompress the EPUB properly. I has Apple script as well as command line instructions (the command line part will work on Linux).

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by user_none

Yep. See this bug for details. All you need to do is edit the OPF after using Sigil and reorder the attributes of the meta element that specifies the cover. While it looks simple it's not easy to fix in Sigil.

There are a few ZIP programs like 7zip which allows you to edit files in place. If you are on a Mac this is a bit difficult. Unzip, edit, and see this for how to recompress the EPUB properly. I has Apple script as well as command line instructions (the command line part will work on Linux).

TY! No, no Apples/Macs (other than the requisite iPad for testing purposes) here amongst the Steely-Eyed Epub Pilots at Booknook. Lots'o Linux, and Win7, some XP, but no Vista, no Apple.

(Don't get me wrong, that "fix" is a giant PITA, but thanks for the info.)

(Edit #2: Ah, what the hell, we unzip them anyway when we make the mobi versions, so...maybe we can just build it into our clip and re-issue the "finals" when we send the mobis....)

(Edit#3: Duh...you can make the book in 0.4 and then just open it and save it in a deprecated Sigil 0.3x, and it works fine; cover shows up, no muss no fuss no hassle. Faster than exploding and editing and rezipping.)

Best,
Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cerramadre

Actually AlReader2 like ICEReader Pro ignores most of the CSS but one thing it does recognize is the <br />. You can interactively adjust the spacing between sections, lines etc if <br /> or <br>s are present since the reader will detect how many <br />s there are and combine this with a user selected % empty line preference to determine the height of empty spacing. Two <br />s within a container basically corresponds to a single empty line. That's why I wanted to use the <br />. Basically, em, pt, px, % spacing is ignored.

Thanks for the input.

Since AllReader2 ignores most CSS, why use it since it's seriously broken?

[JSWolf]

What is it that needs to be done in the OPF to get a cover to show up in iBooks bookshelf?

[pietvo]

Originally Posted by user_none

If you are on a Mac this is a bit difficult.

Unless you use Emacs as an editor. Just open the Zip or Epub file in emacs, then open one of the files in the archive, edit it and save it. Emacs will put it back in the archive.

[charleski]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What is it that needs to be done in the OPF to get a cover to show up in iBooks bookshelf?

Sigil already sets the metadata element that iTunes uses to determine the cover image, just select the image in the Book Browser and make sure 'Add Semantics->cover image' is checked.

Sigil does not retain the iTunes plist file, since Steve forgot to put us on the CC list for the internal memo that explains wtf the values mean, but selecting 'Get info' will cause iTunes to regenerate it and show the new cover.

[st_albert]

Originally Posted by Hitch

(Edit#3: Duh...you can make the book in 0.4 and then just open it and save it in a deprecated Sigil 0.3x, and it works fine; cover shows up, no muss no fuss no hassle. Faster than exploding and editing and rezipping.)

But don't forget that will regenerate the toc.ncx based on the <hx> tags it finds. If you've customized toc.ncx in Sigil-0.4.0 it will be gone.

[user_none]

I've added a fix for the Nook cover issue and it will be in 0.4.1. Also, remember you may need to reboot the Nook after modifying a file to have the cover display correctly.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by st_albert

But don't forget that will regenerate the toc.ncx based on the <hx> tags it finds. If you've customized toc.ncx in Sigil-0.4.0 it will be gone.

Fortuitously, I'm a form->follows->structure kind of bookmaker, and I insist my Crews do that as well; we don't use headers as "cheat" mechanisms solely for formatting, and we don't use non-structural items for chapter heads, (or tables of illustration, etc.), either. Unlike FAR too many people, I don't put TOC entries willy-nilly; I use headers for structure and for TOC's.

Although it seems that user_none/JS has resolved it, anyway. Happy day.

Now, if he could just blow up whatever moron at B&N that thought that "hyphenation" meant "break a word wherever you run out of room," instead of "break a word at Syllables," that would be spiffy. I wasted more than 7 hours of my own time, and (I don't have the tally yet of) my Crews' time this week screwing around with trying to get headers with faux-smallcaps and Raised Initial (so--headers with multiple spans inside the h tags) to work on a Nook, and I nearly threw the bloody thing out the window. We tried it all; we tried adobe-hyphenate: none; we tried the optimize-speed setting; I consulted with Joshua about it...we can make it not-hyphenate on any plain header; but the moment you add multiple spans inside the h tags, it either wraps after almost every word, so you end up with a vertical column, OR it doesn't wrap at all, so the header runs off the right-hand edge of the screen (oh, joy), OR, it just places the words in the header willy-nilly all over the page.

Again...didn't mean to hijack this thread, and I know I should go rant about it in the epub forum, rather than here, as the Sigil forum answers too many basic html & css questions anyway (rather than Sigil-related), but I rather prefer my peeps here; if ANYONE has worked out a trick on this, please let me know, thanks.

Best,
Hitch

[cerramadre]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Since AllReader2 ignores most CSS, why use it since it's seriously broken?

Because it allows me the option to use any textured background, configure fonts, margins, line-height and some other stuff that works for me.

Reading on a plain untextured background really kills my eyes and I read books that don't have a lot of special formatting anyway.

I've decided to use fb2, html or rtf instead or just "re-ePUB" the edited ePUB with Calibre so that my cover images show up. Calibre does a really good job of it.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by cerramadre

Because it allows me the option to use any textured background, configure fonts, margins, line-height and some other stuff that works for me.

Calibre's viewer also allows you all of the above options. Check out the preferences in the viewer for details.

Originally Posted by cerramadre

Reading on a plain untextured background really kills my eyes and I read books that don't have a lot of special formatting anyway.

I agree with you. I change the font and background colors in calibre's viewer for easier viewing.

[cerramadre]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Calibre's viewer also allows you all of the above options. Check out the preferences in the viewer for details.



I agree with you. I change the font and background colors in calibre's viewer for easier viewing.

I've never tried using a textured background with Calibre before. Thanks for the tip, it's worth a try!