Sigil to Kindlegen -- No Table of Contents

[Hitch]

For Nook you simply use the NCX. You don't make an html toc.

Hitch

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Kindlegen is a tool aimed at publishers, not end users. Command-line tools are far better suited for automated workflow tasks than GUI applications - they can be scripted and run automatically. It has nothing to do with "restricting the freedoms of their customers".

It is, by the way, a Windows application: it's a Windows CONSOLE application.
Console apps have nothing to with "DOS".

And, FWIW:

1. You can simply drag-and-drop an html or ePUB file onto "kindlegen.exe" and it will make the mobi; AND,
2. Previewer is a GUI Windows-based Kindlegen.
3. You can use either.

That's it. Nothing "command-line" about either usage. As HarryT rightly pointed out, these are publisher tools, not end-user tools. Now with the advent of K8, it's likely that even more self-pubs will complain about the lack of "GUI" tools to make MOBI, IMHO.

Hitch

[Elonex500eb-User]

I have had a lot of 'battles' getting the TOC for Kindle to work.

The first thing I do is convert the source to epub if it's not already in epub format.

I create my own css for the chapter heading - thus I can be 100% sure its unique.

I set all the headings to 'h1' and apply my css

I use the Sigil TOC function to generate the content list

I check the TOC links in Sigil sometimes they dont jump to the chapter text - in my experience this has always been because the 'id' value is missing in the toc.ncx so edit as needed.

If everything is ok in Sigil I then check to make sure that Calibre reads this edited epub correctly.

Now comes the Calibre conversion from epub to mobi.

Earlier I said I create my own css for the chapter headings I call this class 'chapter' - Calibre's Structure Detection function is already set up to look for this class in H tags !!!

So there's no need for xpath expressions in Calibres TOC function.

On Calibres Mobi output function I leave the 'Do not add TOC' option UNTICKED

So I run the conversion I usually open the 'Job' function so I can see how Calibre is working I want to see.... 'Chapters detected'.

When its finished I check my mobi conversion and it always works !

My process may not be 'good' Sigil or 'good' Calibre, but it works for me.

I'm not publishing or distributing books, and I'd rather read books than spend time processing them !

I whole heartedly agree with Whackatagin's comment about "simple is best".

[capidamonte]

If you're a NoteTab user, the best way I've found is to write a clip to extract the ePub, autogen an inline TOC from the NCX, add it to the appropriate lists and give it the "toc" tag, rezip and export as an intermediate ePub for conversion.

Simple.

[paul-b]

Wow. I started this thread in January.. and several months later I see TOC is a issue. Since January, I've learned TOC nuances and am at peace in that regard.

Some thoughts, in no particular order of importance:

• Kindlegen(Amazon) takes undeserved hits from people. The backwards compatability angle (a.k.a. loyalty to customers) forces Amazon to have KindleGen create downright strange code. Because I believe in that loyalty to 1st generation reading devices... I plug my nose and hit "OK" when my tidy 500K EPUB grows to a bloated 4 MB mobi file. I don't begrudge Amazon because they try to take care of their early adopters as well as their new adopters. That dude in the double-wide trailer with the 2007 black&white kindle is just as important as the finance lawyer with a Kindle Fire. I respect that, and can plug my nose and tolerate Kindlegen spoodge with a clear conscience to live with that.
• Quality books = stay close to your source code.. STOP bringing in numerous tools into your workflow to hide your virgin-soul from your source code. I read "blah blah" MS Word .. then "blah blah" in Sigil .. then "blah blah" in Calibre .. then "blah blah" Kindlegen. Good god! All those transitions just introduce garbage to the code that creates your book. Get yourself dirty to keep your book clean and looking right, work the source code!
• Let's face it .. books bring the creative-types to the front (if I read one more "poetry formatting" post I'm gonna puke my guts out, who reads poems! )... but having said that, If you don't want to face source code personally: HIRE someone who will! Don't keep playing gymnastics with various computer programs to hide yourself from coding. There exists a sea of code-monkeys who will do that for you. Hire one of those.. or walk away.

All Hail: Sigil, Calibre, text editing program, Kindlegen (the gateway with most customers).

[JSWolf]

Face it, the reason there is no ToC is because Amazon refuses to use toc.ncx to generate a ToC. Blame Amazon, not the ePub. And if you are going to publish your ePub, please make one for use with Amazon's broken software and one for publishing without an internal ToC.

[Oldpilot]

"blah blah" MS Word .. then "blah blah" in Sigil .. then "blah blah" in Calibre .. then "blah blah" Kindlegen. Good god!

Amen!

[eping]

I recommend Mobi Maker, a new released tool from my company.
Like ePub Maker, you just need write in MS Word. Mobi Maker will handle all other things for you.
It's also a commercial tool, but you can have a try, to see if it saves more time than the price.

http://www.epingsoft.com/mobi/index.htm

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eping

I recommend Mobi Maker, a new released tool from my company.
Like ePub Maker, you just need write in MS Word. Mobi Maker will handle all other things for you.
It's also a commercial tool, but you can have a try, to see if it saves more time than the price.

http://www.epingsoft.com/mobi/index.htm

Does ePub maker remove the garbage that Word puts in so you get somewhat clean code?

[Angellina1313]

TOC is so tricky and the kindlegen is pretty terrible. (I agree totally with the publisher quote : ) I haven't been able to get it to work on just the Amazon site and searching for answers also TOC issues are what prompted me to join this group. Hoping to learn more. Thanks to all of u for the helpful posts.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Angellina1313

TOC is so tricky and the kindlegen is pretty terrible. (I agree totally with the publisher quote : ) I haven't been able to get it to work on just the Amazon site and searching for answers also TOC issues are what prompted me to join this group. Hoping to learn more. Thanks to all of u for the helpful posts.

I'm sorry--but I don't understand what the issue is. The html TOC is, simply, nothing more than a series of anchor links; if someone needs an outline-style toc, then they should define and use two different styles, e.g., TOC1 and TOC2.

The ncx is essentially self-creating in Sigil, and translates easily to Kindlegen/Previewer. I find very few issues in using ePUBs to make mobi's nicely optimized for K7/K8.

What are you having issues with?

Hitch