Links in TOC don't take to the right ID

odedta · 12-19-2018, 01:46 PM

What can cause links in the TOC not to send to the right location?

My epub3 is built with Calibre, I've run Calibre check book and epub validator and the books tested ok.

If I open the book in Calibre/iBooks and click on a TOC item I am redirected to the corresponding file but the HTML tag (<h1) didn't appear on top of my screen, basically, the TOC link just takes me to the right file.

The TOC link looks like this:

Code:

<ol>
    <li>
      <a href="intro.xhtml">Intro</a>
      <ul>
        <li><a href="intro_1.xhtml#toc_1">TakeMeThere</a></li>
      </ul>
    </li>
</ol>

The heading tag looks like this:

Code:

<h1 id="toc_1">Welcome</h1>

What could cause this not to work?

DNSB · 12-20-2018, 01:34 AM

How did you generate that TOC entry? I've haven't seen an epub3 navigation document that used nested ordered and unordered lists though I suppose one could be manually generated. What does your epub3 declare as the navigation document in the content.opf The declaration should look something like:

Code:

<item href="Text/nav.xhtml" id="nav.xhtml" media-type="application/xhtml+xml" properties="nav"/>

I've attached a quick and dirty test file created using Sigil and when I click on a link in the toc.xhtml, the cursor is placed on the <h1> tag line. After generating a nav.xhtml document, the links there also work correctly in Sigil placing the cursor on the <h1> tag line. Using calibre's ebook viewer, the <h1> line shows on the screen but not at the top of the page. After doing some checking, I couldn't find anything in the epub 3.01 spec that requires that link to be placed at the top of the page. A page break before might work--if you can find a system that supports it. About the only reliable answer I've found is to split the text files so the header at the top of it's own file.

odedta · 12-20-2018, 02:36 AM

Hello David and thank you very much for taking the time to try and help!

I use Calibre to generate TOC since it's so handy :-)
My TOC file looks like this:

Code:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" xmlns:ibooks="http://vocabulary.itunes.apple.com/rdf/ibooks/vocabulary-extensions-1.0" epub:prefix="ibooks: http://vocabulary.itunes.apple.com/rdf/ibooks/vocabulary-extensions-1.0">

<head>
  <title>Book title</title>
  <link href="../css/styles.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
</head>

<body xml:lang="he" dir="rtl">

  <nav id="toc" epub:type="toc">
    <ol>
      <li>
        <a href="intro.xhtml">Intro</a>
        <ul>
          <li><a href="intro_1.xhtml#toc_1">TakeMeThere</a></li>
        </ul>
      </li>
    </ol>
   </nav>
</body>
</html>

Declaration in content.opf:

Code:

<item href="text/toc.xhtml" id="nav" media-type="application/xhtml+xml" properties="nav"/>

So from what I understand there seems to be no way to get the reader to jump to the right location?

P.S:
Did you use

Code:

<!doctype html>

on purpose? I don't see the point since this file extension is xhtml and not html(5).

Thanks again!

DNSB · 12-20-2018, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

So from what I understand there seems to be no way to get the reader to jump to the right location?

I tried the page break before in my test file and it works in a couple of readers including ADE. However, as expected, iBooks disregards it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

P.S:
Did you use

Code:

<!doctype html>

on purpose? I don't see the point since this file extension is xhtml and not html(5).

It's part of the boilerplate when I create a epub in Sigil. While it makes no real difference, it can trigger the correct validation in some error checkers so I just leave it alone. You can't reference XHTML in the doctype declaration since it would appear as an external entity which are not supported and will trigger a validation error.

From years back, I seem to remember a reference to workarounds for page breaks and iBooks from Elizabeth Castro's pigsgourdsandwikis.com site but not something that I paid much attention to at the time.

Notjohn · 12-21-2018, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

My epub3 is built with Calibre

I think you would be happier, and get better results, if you used Sigil instead.

DNSB · 12-21-2018, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notjohn

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

My epub3 is built with Calibre

I think you would be happier, and get better results, if you used Sigil instead.

Six of one, 2 threes of the other. I use Sigil but will switch to calibre's editor at times where I find it makes some tasks easier. Possibly a bit of a baby duckling syndrome.

Hitch · 12-21-2018, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

What can cause links in the TOC not to send to the right location?

My epub3 is built with Calibre, I've run Calibre check book and epub validator and the books tested ok.

If I open the book in Calibre/iBooks and click on a TOC item I am redirected to the corresponding file but the HTML tag (<h1) didn't appear on top of my screen, basically, the TOC link just takes me to the right file.

The TOC link looks like this:
<snippage>

What could cause this not to work?

Wait--I thought, when you asked me about this, you meant that it was going to the WRONG place. Is this all about simply that the linked section doesn't scroll to the top of the screen?

It doesn't do that, in ePUB. It does in MOBI.

Hitch

odedta · 12-22-2018, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notjohn

I think you would be happier, and get better results, if you used Sigil instead.

Calibre has so many nice functions like Check Book, Remove unused CSS, toc editor etc, it's very handy, plus, I don't like to use software that its development was abandoned.
Actually, I was just checking and I see someone picked up the development so I'm curious to how is it. Why do you find Sigil better than Calibre?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hitch;

Wait--I thought, when you asked me about this, you meant that it was going to the WRONG place. Is this all about simply that the linked section doesn't scroll to the top of the screen?

It doesn't do that, in ePUB. It does in MOBI.

Oh hehe

yes, sorry I wasn't clear enough. I didn't know that ePub doesn't do that, bummer!

Hitch · 12-22-2018, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

Calibre has so many nice functions like Check Book, Remove unused CSS, toc editor etc, it's very handy, plus, I don't like to use software that its development was abandoned.
Actually, I was just checking and I see someone picked up the development so I'm curious to how is it. Why do you find Sigil better than Calibre?

Uh, Odedta, you're not keeping up. Sigil is well-maintained now by Kevin and Diap, and has been for several years. Moreover, it has ALL those functions as well. (Some originated with Sigil, in fact, if not all.)

Quote:

Oh hehe

yes, sorry I wasn't clear enough. I didn't know that ePub doesn't do that, bummer!

Well, at least, now you know. I thought that there wasn't anything wrong with that coding (not counting using the list formatting stuff, that doesn't work) when I looked at it, although it's hard for me to know, as I can't read Hebrew and right-to-left throws me a bit; so, you can relax now. :-)

Hitch

theducks · 12-22-2018, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

Six of one, 2 threes of the other. I use Sigil but will switch to calibre's editor at times where I find it makes some tasks easier. Possibly a bit of a baby duckling syndrome.

I'm in your camp. I use both.
I tend to like Sigil's saved searches and clips.Mostly that was what I learned on., But I prefer Calibres debug, CSS cleaner and TOC editor

Do I want the other to duplicate the others L&F?
H*ll No! I have a choice of tools that fit MY work style.

DiapDealer · 12-22-2018, 12:30 PM

Hell, I'm in the "uses both" camp! Never really thought of it as a competition.

Notjohn · 12-22-2018, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odedta

Actually, I was just checking and I see someone picked up the development so I'm curious to how is it. Why do you find Sigil better than Calibre?

Yes, it has long had two active developers and an active Sigil forum on this website. It is now far advanced than when I first picked it up in 2012.

I'm writing books for publication. Sigil is designed precisely to do that, whereas Calibre is a library-management tool. (Kovid evidently developed Calibre Editor to fill the gap when Sigil was briefly orphaned, but I've never tried the Editor.) Besides, Amazon is notorious for rejecting books created by Calibre. It may not be a large percentage, but it is a long-standing problem.

Give Sigil a try. It is a powerful and sophisticated program, and Preview Panel for all practical purposes makes it WYSIWYG. It creates the "logical" or virtual TOC on the fly, so neatly that it scarcely needs any attention.

I still use epub2, validated by the Flight Crew plug-in. I upload the epub (without an included cover) to Amazon's KDP platform, and with a cover to Draft2Digital and Google Play.

Of course, if you aren't actively publishing books, Calibre may be just what you require. I regularly use it to convert epubs to mobi format, to read on my Fire tablet. Less often, I use it to reverse-engineer an ebook and get it into Word format for revision.

DiapDealer · 12-22-2018, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notjohn

I'm writing books for publication. Sigil is designed precisely to do that, whereas Calibre is a library-management tool. (Kovid evidently developed Calibre Editor to fill the gap when Sigil was briefly orphaned, but I've never tried the Editor.)

You should try it. It's a full featured epub editor. Calibre's library management system has no bearing on the abilities of the editor (other than being able to utilize relevant portions of the codebase). It is actively maintained and updated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notjohn

Besides, Amazon is notorious for rejecting books created by Calibre. It may not be a large percentage, but it is a long-standing problem.

You're conflating issues. Amazon was known for rejecting some calibre-converted mobis and azw3s. That has zero bearing on epubs edited with calibre's editor. The editor has nothing to do with calibre's conversion pipeline.

I appreciate your dedication to Sigil, but your reluctance to use or recommend calibre's editor to edit epubs is based on unfounded fears/biases.

JSWolf · 12-22-2018, 08:26 PM

@odeta, doyou actiall need an ID in the ToC? Are you jumping someplace in the middle of an XML file? It slows down the ePub if you use unnecessary ID links. If you are just linking to the XML file and do not need the ID, dump the ID.

odedta · 12-23-2018, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

@odeta, doyou actiall need an ID in the ToC? Are you jumping someplace in the middle of an XML file? It slows down the ePub if you use unnecessary ID links. If you are just linking to the XML file and do not need the ID, dump the ID.

Yes I need to point to a specific location of some files since the book has chapters and headings in each chapter, I don't see the reason to bring the reader to the beginning of the chapter when you want to get them to the heading at the end of the chapter.

@Notjohn, Thanks! I will try Sigil out, I can't believe it's been years now since I last tried it and actually made an ebook

12-19-2018, 01:46 PM	#1
odedta Addict Posts: 398 Karma: 96448 Join Date: Dec 2013 Device: iPad	Links in TOC don't take to the right ID What can cause links in the TOC not to send to the right location? My epub3 is built with Calibre, I've run Calibre check book and epub validator and the books tested ok. If I open the book in Calibre/iBooks and click on a TOC item I am redirected to the corresponding file but the HTML tag (<h1) didn't appear on top of my screen, basically, the TOC link just takes me to the right file. The TOC link looks like this: Code: <ol> <li> <a href="intro.xhtml">Intro</a> <ul> <li><a href="intro_1.xhtml#toc_1">TakeMeThere</a></li> </ul> </li> </ol> The heading tag looks like this: Code: <h1 id="toc_1">Welcome</h1> What could cause this not to work?

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12-22-2018, 12:30 PM	#11
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,891 Karma: 207182180 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Hell, I'm in the "uses both" camp! Never really thought of it as a competition.

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JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,784 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	@odeta, doyou actiall need an ID in the ToC? Are you jumping someplace in the middle of an XML file? It slows down the ePub if you use unnecessary ID links. If you are just linking to the XML file and do not need the ID, dump the ID.