kobobooks.com Review

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I take it that you purchased the ebook and then found there was no epub download link in your library?

No, luckily I didn't purchase it but only added the preview to my library and then found there was no download button. The Blackberry symbol was missing from the "read on these devices" misinformation, which is an indication that something foul is afoot...

Originally Posted by DNSB

What I have noticed is that the last three ebooks that had the version in content.opf set to 3.0 were only offered as .kepub.epub presumably to use the epub3 compliant ACCESS renderer. The last one I picked up was a non-DRMed freebie and the only epub3 feature I could find was that it lacked the toc.ncx file and had a toc.xhtml file. Other than missing the TOC, it worked happily with DLReader on my PC. The other two did make use of epub3 features so some excuse there though the latest rendition of DLReader (based on the RMSDK code base) handles text direction and a few other epub3 features.

When I buy it from the German non-Kobo store, I'll open it up and check for these things.

[doubleshuffle]

All right, I bought the book from a German store now. It indeed says it's 3.0 in the content.opf, although there is nothing specifically epub3 to it as far as I can tell. It even does have a toc.ncx, if that is a criterion. There's some weird nav.html in place of a regular inline-toc. But there's definitely no multimedia content or anything.

So it seems Kobo really make it kepub-only as soon as the book says it's epub 3.0...

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

All right, I bought the book from a German store now. It indeed says it's 3.0 in the content.opf, although there is nothing specifically epub3 to it as far as I can tell. It even does have a toc.ncx, if that is a criterion. There's some weird nav.html in place of a regular inline-toc. But there's definitely no multimedia content or anything.

So it seems Kobo really make it kepub-only as soon as the book says it's epub 3.0...

If it's got the toc.ncx, it sounds like what some publishers are calling an epub2/3. As JSWolf was commenting, quite a few books are being sold as epub3 while using few, if any, epub3 features.

The toc.xhtml file should consists of list(s) using <li> tags wrapped with <ol> tags and <nav> tags. Makes nested TOCs and multiple TOCs much easier than that old toc.ncx format.

Regards,
David

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The toc.xhtml file should consists of list(s) using <li> tags wrapped with <ol> tags and <nav> tags. Makes nested TOCs and multiple TOCs much easier than that old toc.ncx format.

Interesting. That's what the nav.html looks like:

<nav epub:type="toc" id="toc">
<h1>Inhalt</h1>
<ol>
<li><a href="chapter01.html#ch1"><em>1 König</em></a></li>
<li><a href="chapter02.html#ch2"><em>2 Horse Shoe Point</em></a></li>
<li><a href="chapter03.html#ch3"><em>3 Rhein</em></a></li>

etc. etc. ...

</ol>
</nav>

[JSWolf]

But what reading software uses the new nav format and ignore the NCX?

[doubleshuffle]

No idea. I simply deleted it because the Calibre editor complained about it not being properly referenced somewhere. The resulting file works nicely on my Aura HD.

FWIW, I checked the original file at http://validator.idpf.org and it said it was a valid epub 3.0 file...

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But what reading software uses the new nav format and ignore the NCX?

Azardi for one. I have used a couple of others. For the most part, they have made RMSDK look like a bug-free and mature piece of software.

Regards,
David