Bug in 9.1 not adding title to head

eggheadbooks1 · 12-04-2015, 02:28 PM

Hi,

Just finished a file in the newest version and ePubChecked it, and it failed validation because, when splitting a document, Sigil is failing to add title information:

Code:

<title></title>

to the head element, for example:

Code:

<title>Section0008.xhtml</title>

resulting in:

ERROR: OpenBook.epub/OEBPS/Text/Section0008.xhtml(10,8): element "head" incomplete; missing required element "title"

for every section.

KevinH · 12-04-2015, 02:47 PM

If you split a file you must supply the title for the new file created and possibly revise the title of the old file given its contents have changed. Using the name of the file as a "title" is not a good idea to say the least.

KevinH

rubeus · 12-04-2015, 02:52 PM

The content of the title-element is not used at all and meaningless, just the standard says its mandatory. so why not just use <title /> ?

Toxaris · 12-04-2015, 03:01 PM

Exactly, the title is allowed to be empty since it has no meaning in an ePUB.

eggheadbooks1 · 12-04-2015, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

If you split a file you must supply the title for the new file created and possibly revise the title of the old file given its contents have changed. Using the name of the file as a "title" is not a good idea to say the least.

KevinH

When I checked ebooks made with older versions of Sigil, in which I had, as usual, imported a longer HTML file (exported from my Word manuscript), then split the file into new sections using Ctrl+Enter, one of two results were present:

1. the new section simply had <title></title> in the head.
2. Sigil placed the name of the section in the <title></title> and I got what I wrote in my previous post.

Either way, when splitting into sections now using Ctrl+Enter, Sigil is creating the new section but not putting <title></title> in the head, and thus the file is failing validation.

I have never in the past manually made any adjustments regarding <title></title>.

eggheadbooks1 · 12-04-2015, 03:15 PM

I misspoke: the program that put a title into the <title> head was InDesign. Books made with Sigil left the field blank.

rubeus · 12-04-2015, 03:16 PM

I'm using Sigil 091 @ Win7/64

I used

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
  <title>1</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>lorem</p>
<p>ipsum</p>
</body>
</html>

and the i used split at cursor after the first paragraph and got

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
  <title>1</title>
</head>

<body>
  <p>lorem</p>
</body>
</html>

and

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
  <title>1</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>ipsum</p>
</body>
</html>

DiapDealer · 12-04-2015, 03:40 PM

I'm not following at all.

When splitting a file that has title tags, the result (with Sigil 0.9.1) will be two files with the exact same title tags (blank or otherwise). Sigil neither removes nor adds nor changes their contents.

If your file has no title tags to begin with, then that's invalid. You need to add them. Sigil is no longer the invasive "Fixer of all invalid code." Its clean-source settings are mainly concerned with code being well-formed.

eggheadbooks1 · 12-04-2015, 03:56 PM

I cannot say what is happening. Just that I built a book by importing an HTML file and split it at the cursor (Ctrl+Enter). When I went to validate it, it failed due to missing <title> information. I had to manually add

Code:

<title></title>

to each section.

But I think I may have a clue: when I open the HTML file in Sigil, there is no title element in it. So when I split it at the cursor, Sigil is just replicating what is already there and not adding the missing element.

In previous versions, when I imported an HTML file (it's my usual process: Word > Save as Web Page, Filtered > Open in Sigil), Sigil added the <title> element. It must have, because I have never before had a file fail validation due to this missing element. It's not something I was therefore even aware of.

DiapDealer · 12-04-2015, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eggheadbooks1

In previous versions, when I imported an HTML file (it's my usual process: Word > Save as Web Page, Filtered > Open in Sigil), Sigil added the <title> element. It must have, because I have never before had a file fail validation due to this missing element. It's not something I was therefore even aware of.

It's quite possible that older versions of Sigil would add title tags for you if they were missing, but you need to understand that not all things that Sigil "used to do," but no longer does, is a Sigil "bug." Sometimes it's called change.

HTMLTidy; that element of Sigil which was the Great Fixer of all things wrong (which unfortunately came at the cost of drastic changes to many things that weren't), is gone.

I'm almost positive there's a way to get Word to add a title for you. Take a close look at the "Save as Web Page, Filtered" dialog options.

eggheadbooks1 · 12-04-2015, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It's quite possible that older versions of Sigil would add title tags for you if they were missing, but you need to understand that not all things that Sigil "used to do," but no longer does, is a Sigil "bug." Sometimes it's called change.

HTMLTidy; that element of Sigil which was the Great Fixer of all things wrong (which unfortunately came at the cost of drastic changes to many things that weren't), is gone.

I'm almost positive there's a way to get Word to add a title for you. Take a close look at the "Save as Web Page, Filtered" dialog options.

Fair enough; it's a "change," not a "bug." But when looked at from the perspective of the average user, a change that results in failure to validate is a bug, a.k.a. a really big headache because we cannot necessarily figure out what is wrong or how to fix it (because we are not coders). Is Sigil made only for coders, or also for average users who want to build their own ebook from their Word document?

(I figured out how to fix the problem by reading the error, looking at the header code of older ebooks that passed validation, and seeing what the difference was between them and my new file. I could not fix it simply by reading the error message and knowing instinctively what the error was referring to.)

I looked at the Word options both for general Save and for Web Options. There is nothing there that seems to speak to adding the title. I have attached screen shots of the web defaults in case I am missing something.

Perhaps Sigil could be programmed to check the header for the title element and, if it is missing, add it. (Perhaps some kind of element of the import filter?) If not, a warning would be good, perhaps in the user manual. The path of Word to HTML to Sigil to ePub is a popular one. Perhaps not as popular as automated programs like Calibre, but still popular among those of us who want to build our own books but who are not professional coders.

DiapDealer · 12-04-2015, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eggheadbooks1

But when looked at from the perspective of the average user, a change that results in failure to validate is a bug

That's nonsense. It is our intention to allow people to create epubs as valid or as invalid as they like. The tools to check validity are readily available, and people are free to heed the advice given by them or not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eggheadbooks1

I looked at the Word options both for general Save and for Web Options. There is nothing there that seems to speak to adding the title. I have attached screen shots of the web defaults in case I am missing something.

It's on the Save as HTML, Filtered dialog. The one the prompts you for the location you're saving it to. There may be other ways to make your Word documents have default titles, but I'm not a Word user myself.

Toxaris · 12-04-2015, 05:34 PM

As far as I know, there is no way to have Word insert the title tag there.

@eggheadbooks1: You could try my add-in if you have Word 2007 or up and running on Windows. It will produce a valid ePUB which you can edit/refine as much as you want.

DiapDealer · 12-04-2015, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toxaris

As far as I know, there is no way to have Word insert the title tag there.

There is on my version of word. Granted that's Word 2007, but still.

On the Save As dialog, when I change to Web Page, Filtered, a "Change Title" button appears. If I click it and enter something, title tags with that something are added to the html output. Why on earth does Word create html with no title tags anyway?

Doitsu · 12-04-2015, 05:50 PM

@eggheadbooks1: You'll need to click the Change Title... button and enter a title before you save your book.

However, you're probably much better off using Toxaris's plugin or Calibre's docx to epub converter.

@DiapDealer: it does write the title to the html file, at least in my version.

12-04-2015, 02:28 PM	#1
eggheadbooks1 Read, don't parrot. Posts: 224 Karma: 110242 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Kindle Fire, Kobo Touch, Aldiko for Android	Bug in 9.1 not adding title to head Hi, Just finished a file in the newest version and ePubChecked it, and it failed validation because, when splitting a document, Sigil is failing to add title information: Code: <title></title> to the head element, for example: Code: <title>Section0008.xhtml</title> resulting in: ERROR: OpenBook.epub/OEBPS/Text/Section0008.xhtml(10,8): element "head" incomplete; missing required element "title" for every section. Last edited by eggheadbooks1; 12-04-2015 at 02:34 PM. Reason: addition

12-04-2015, 03:40 PM	#8
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,394 Karma: 203720150 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I'm not following at all. When splitting a file that has title tags, the result (with Sigil 0.9.1) will be two files with the exact same title tags (blank or otherwise). Sigil neither removes nor adds nor changes their contents. If your file has no title tags to begin with, then that's invalid. You need to add them. Sigil is no longer the invasive "Fixer of all invalid code." Its clean-source settings are mainly concerned with code being well-formed. Last edited by DiapDealer; 12-04-2015 at 03:50 PM.

12-04-2015, 03:56 PM	#9
eggheadbooks1 Read, don't parrot. Posts: 224 Karma: 110242 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Kindle Fire, Kobo Touch, Aldiko for Android	I cannot say what is happening. Just that I built a book by importing an HTML file and split it at the cursor (Ctrl+Enter). When I went to validate it, it failed due to missing <title> information. I had to manually add Code: <title></title> to each section. But I think I may have a clue: when I open the HTML file in Sigil, there is no title element in it. So when I split it at the cursor, Sigil is just replicating what is already there and not adding the missing element. In previous versions, when I imported an HTML file (it's my usual process: Word > Save as Web Page, Filtered > Open in Sigil), Sigil added the <title> element. It must have, because I have never before had a file fail validation due to this missing element. It's not something I was therefore even aware of.

12-04-2015, 05:50 PM	#15
Doitsu Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,689 Karma: 24031401 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kindle PW2	@eggheadbooks1: You'll need to click the Change Title... button and enter a title before you save your book. However, you're probably much better off using Toxaris's plugin or Calibre's docx to epub converter. @DiapDealer: it does write the title to the html file, at least in my version. Attached Thumbnails

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12-04-2015, 02:47 PM	#2
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,506 Karma: 5703586 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	If you split a file you must supply the title for the new file created and possibly revise the title of the old file given its contents have changed. Using the name of the file as a "title" is not a good idea to say the least. KevinH

12-04-2015, 02:52 PM	#3
rubeus Banned Posts: 272 Karma: 1224588 Join Date: Sep 2014 Device: Sony PRS 650	The content of the title-element is not used at all and meaningless, just the standard says its mandatory. so why not just use <title /> ?

12-04-2015, 03:01 PM	#4
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Exactly, the title is allowed to be empty since it has no meaning in an ePUB.

12-04-2015, 03:15 PM	#6
eggheadbooks1 Read, don't parrot. Posts: 224 Karma: 110242 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Kindle Fire, Kobo Touch, Aldiko for Android	I misspoke: the program that put a title into the <title> head was InDesign. Books made with Sigil left the field blank.

12-04-2015, 05:34 PM	#13
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	As far as I know, there is no way to have Word insert the title tag there. @eggheadbooks1: You could try my add-in if you have Word 2007 or up and running on Windows. It will produce a valid ePUB which you can edit/refine as much as you want.