Kindle Touch & KF8 eek! (maybe)

I totally agree with @jgaiser. What I've learned about KF8 while creating my own books is that the Kindle Previewer will create them in some cases even with errors. That is, the Kindle Previewer tells you that certain errors occurred during the compiling process, yet if the errors were not catastrophic it will still create the book. I also learned through trial and error that KF8 books compiled with Kindle Previewer that have errors will often not display correctly. If you get an error-free compiled book then the display issues go away. Amazon is forcing us to use good clean code (HTML5, CSS3, content.opf, and toc.ncx). A lot of folks have gotten used to using sloppy code and getting a book that displays correctly, but with KF8 you better get it right or it won't display right. Whose fault is that? Certainly not the device firmware. It is the creator/author's fault for being sloppy. Programmers know that code should be as clean as possible so ugly things don't happen during compile. KF8 book creators need to learn this too.

[JSWolf]

The ePub in question is quite clean.

It doesn't matter how clean the ePub is. An ePub's content.opf will most likely create errors when used to create a KF8 book. There are some minor tweaks that must be made else errors will occur. There can also be other issues in the HTML where ePubs and KF8 differ just enough to create errors.

Jon, here are a few differences in the ePub and KF8 content.opf files. The ePub content.opf was created by Sigil. I modified it to work with KF8.

One MAJOR difference between ePub and KF8 is that Amazon requires a linked TOC. The TOC must be referenced from a TOC guide item in the OPF file to enable the customer to jump to the TOC from the Kindle menu.

Another difference is that Amazon only supports three guide items, including cover, TOC, and the start reading location (”Go To Beginning”). EPub supports many more.

Here is the abbreviated manifest that Sigil created for the ePub:

<manifest>
    <item id="ncx" href="toc.ncx" media-type="application/x-dtbncx+xml"/>
    <item id="extra-exam.css" href="Styles/extra-exam.css" media-type="text/css"/>
    ...
    <item id="cover.jpg" href="Images/cover.jpg" media-type="image/jpeg"/>
</manifest>

Here is the abbreviated manifest I modified for the KF8:

<manifest>
    <item id="ncx" href="toc.ncx" media-type="application/x-dtbncx+xml"/>
    <item id="extra-exam.css" href="Styles/extra-exam.css" media-type="text/css"/>
    ...
    <item id="linked-toc.html" href="Text/linked-toc.html" media-type="application/xhtml+xml"/>
    <item id="my-cover-image" href="Images/cover.jpg" media-type="image/jpeg" />
</manifest>

The green line in the KF8 manifest is for the linked TOC. This doesn't exist in the ePub manifest.

Notice the difference for the ePub and KF8 cover ID shown in RED? The ePub version won't work with KF8 so it needs to be modified.

In order to get the TOC to work for the KF8 you must add the following line to the spine:

<spine toc="ncx">
    ...
    <itemref idref="linked-toc.html"/>
    ...
</spine>

You also need to add a reference to the guide for the TOC, as well as references for any other guide items. Here is my added guide. The ePub did not contain one.

<guide>
    <reference type="text" title="Beginning" href="Text/front-matter.html"></reference>
    <reference type="toc" title="Table Of Contents" href="Text/linked-toc.html"/>
</guide>

If you think your clean ePub will work correctly, you are barking up the wrong tree. You need to make these modifications as well as any others.

[InsulinJunkie72]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Have you heard of a single problem with a KF8 book that's been downloaded by a Touch user from Amazon?

That said, there certainly are a few quirks that do need to be ironed out with the Touch implementation of KF8; there's been a few reports scattered around the forums here and there.

LINE-HEIGHT not seeming to work yet on the Touch (works fine viewing with Kindle Previewer but not on the Touch; this is even true with the KF8 sample files from Amazon's KF8 page) is my personal annoyance, with that default KF8 line spacing of ~200% on the Touch.

It's a bit jarring reading from a KF8 book, than shifting to a plain old-school MOBI book. I'm hoping they either fix LINE-HEIGHT soon, or enable separate Font/Spacing settings for KF8 format and for old-school MOBI format.

[Strether]

Originally Posted by jswinden

If you think your clean ePub will work correctly, you are barking up the wrong tree. You need to make these modifications as well as any others.

There's hardly anybody reading this thread who's less of a geek than I am. The coding issue is all over my head. But jswinden, go to the thread J. Wolf's referring to and download the Mobi file of Kim that I posted there and sideload it on to your Kindle Fire. Hard to believe that you're going to get something with your coding that looks better than that.

The cover is there, and so is the toc, which works fine. And all of the illustrations are beautiful.

No idea, though, why the file doesn't work on my Touch.

Jim

[JSWolf]

delete post

Originally Posted by Strether

There's hardly anybody reading this thread who's less of a geek than I am. The coding issue is all over my head. But jswinden, go to the thread J. Wolf's referring to and download the Mobi file of Kim that I posted there and sideload it on to your Kindle Fire. Hard to believe that you're going to get something with your coding that looks better than that.

The cover is there, and so is the toc, which works fine. And all of the illustrations are beautiful.

No idea, though, why the file doesn't work on my Touch.

Jim

Fair enough. I downloaded the mobi from this MR page:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...5&postcount=55

Is this the right page? If so this mobi is not even recognized by my Fire. I can open it in K4PC, but the cover is missing. Obviously it is not a clean file.

[JSWolf]

You might have to rename it to .azw3 from .mobi.

[Strether]

I uploaded it to my Fire from Calibre, so maybe it's treated differently by the Fire if you do that?

Jim

Originally Posted by Strether

I uploaded it to my Fire from Calibre, so maybe it's treated differently by the Fire if you do that?

Jim

Could be, I don't use calibre to upload.

I updated the kim.opf file from the ePub I downloaded and rebuilt it using Kindle Previewer. Now the cover shows in K4PC and on the Fire. I'll upload to my Fire in a bit and test the new build. (EDIT: It works on the Fire.) I attached the updated opf and mobi.

Here are the changes I made:

I changed

<item id="cover" media-type="application/xhtml+xml" href="cover.html"></item>

to

<item id="my-cover-image" media-type="image/jpeg" href="cover.jpg"></item>

I removed from spine

<itemref idref="cover" linear="no"/>

I removed from guide

<reference type="cover" title="Cover Image" href="cover.html" />

Amazon says not to use a separate html file for the cover.

@Strether, I just tested my build on my Fire and it looks good so far.

Please test it on your KT.

@Strether, Also please take a look at the attached KF8 book on your Fire and KT to see if it works on both. I don't have a KT to test it on.

Thanks...

[Strether]

Originally Posted by jswinden

@Strether, I just tested my build on my Fire and it looks good so far.

Please test it on your KT.

Sorry. Get the same black artifacts as with the book created by Calibre. The book opens with text apparent, but as soon as you turn the page, you get nothing but black. I'll test the file below on my fire and let you know.

Jim

[Strether]

Originally Posted by jswinden

@Strether, Also please take a look at the attached KF8 book on your Fire and KT to see if it works on both. I don't have a KT to test it on.

Thanks...

No problem with either. It shows up fine on both devices, though IMO, way better on the Fire. But no black pages on the KT.

Jim