iFrame not well-formed so doesn't pass ePubcheck

[ChuckH]

In my books I include a front matter section which lists my other books. I've been doing this with a plain old list, but I would like to use an iFrame to do this instead, since it will look nicer.

However, the iframe doesn't pass ePubcheck 3 (it says it is not well-formed). This really has me stumped. I've tried using a shortened URL from Google's URL shortening service to do this, and it works, but does not display the iFrame properly. I would appreciate any help you guys could offer on this, as to how to get the xhtml to be well-formed so it can pass epubcheck.

Here's the iframe content:

<iframe src="https://widgets.itunes.apple.com/widget.html?c=us&brc=FFFFFF&blc=FFFFFF&trc=FFFFFF& tlc=FFFFFF&d=Offered for Sale on the iBooks Store.&t=Books by Chuck Humbertson&m=ebook&e=ebook&w=325&h=370&ids=8426951 29,614718023,659890470,604012761,821462742,6425525 59,736639241,851008587,975864229,767351429,1020080 855,865892272,945325935,674999946,993170315,728952 369,667869073,1035526405,668573287,1049393933&wt=p laylist&partnerId=&affiliate_id=&at=1000l7AC&ct=" frameborder=0 style="overflow-x:hidden;overflow-y:hidden;width:325px;height: 370px;border:0px"></iframe>

Here it is with a shortened Google URL:

<iframe src="https://goo.gl/hpGy1P"></iframe>

[eschwartz]

Mmm, possibly, now here's a thought -- the iframe itself is the problem?

I would really advise you not to use iframes.
It'll probably work -- in apps that simply embed webkit.
But elsewhere (as in most places)?

Why, exactly, do you say an iframe looks nicer? What about it is "nicer"?


Also, that will only work when a device is connected to the internet, which might make people slightly peeved. You know, the general idea of making content only available through live streaming?

[DaleDe]

Are the lines wrapping themselves or are you doing it? Let them wrap on their own. While it won't matter for this error you should also make p laylist into playlist.

Dale

[ChuckH]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Mmm, possibly, now here's a thought -- the iframe itself is the problem?

I would really advise you not to use iframes.
It'll probably work -- in apps that simply embed webkit.
But elsewhere (as in most places)?

Why, exactly, do you say an iframe looks nicer? What about it is "nicer"?

Also, that will only work when a device is connected to the internet, which might make people slightly peeved. You know, the general idea of making content only available through live streaming?

I was just considering that an iframe would take a small footprint on a page, whereas a list keeps getting longer if more books are added to it. It is just something I was considering, my main point was how to make the URL well-formed. It seems to me that I can't escape anything, since the server expects it to appear as-is. These book list widgets are supposed to work with epubs, as far as I know,; it was something I was trying to do as a challenge rather than a requirement.

[ChuckH]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Are the lines wrapping themselves or are you doing it? Let them wrap on their own. While it won't matter for this error you should also make p laylist into playlist.

Dale

Yes, the code above is a cut and paste job so the lines are breaking from the text editor.

[dgatwood]

In proper HTML, you can't use unencoded ampersands even in a URL. You need to encode them as &amp;. See also my rant about unencoded ampersands in Apple's (and everybody else's) affiliate program link generators and click "show details" for further explanation.

As soon as you make that change everywhere, it should pass validation.

With that said, iBooks may still not load the external content. YMMV.

[ChuckH]

Thanks, I'll check it out.