[Plugin] ePub3-itizer - epub3 output plugin for Sigil

[BKh]

Originally Posted by KevinH

I would be happy to take a peak at it.

Thanks! Doitsu's tip was all it took. Thanks for this plugin.

Originally Posted by AlanHK

But if you do update to epub3...

Thanks! I was never sure what the best practice was for this.

[KevinH]

Your comment "so conversion just make the files harder to work with" is simply incorrect. Converting to epub3 helps to future proof you library. The days of new epub2 readers are long gone.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Your comment "so conversion just make the files harder to work with" is simply incorrect. Converting to epub3 helps to future proof you library. The days of new epub2 readers are long gone.

By "harder to work with" I meant harder to edit and style. More complex and fussy. In just my personal opinion.
As I mentioned, some end uses like Apple Books work better with epub3, and some publishers spec it, so I manage, made much easier by this plugin than manually converting as I did previously. But I've never seen any epub3 feature that I actually need.

[KevinH]

What about improved Accessibility? SMIL - Audio overlays? Support for RTL and vertical languages? CSS3? And yes even regular Audio, Video? CSS3?

And what makes it harder to edit and style for standard fiction?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by KevinH

And what makes it harder to edit and style for standard fiction?

Nothing. "Complex and fussy" = I can't be bothered to learn the few simple differences EPUB3 presents for novels.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by KevinH

What about improved Accessibility? SMIL - Audio overlays? Support for RTL and vertical languages? CSS3? And yes even regular Audio, Video? CSS3?

Never used any of that, them, have no expectation I ever will.
I do books in English, almost all converted from ones I did for print.
Target device is Kindle or iBooks.

Originally Posted by KevinH

And what makes it harder to edit and style for standard fiction?

All those extra features you mention. All the encrustation of semantic tags, etc.
Annoyances like only allowing numeric codes instead of mnemonics like   for instance, making source code look like a hex dump.
The NAV file always appearing in Kindle coversions whether I want it or not. (An Amazon problem, but one I don't have with epub2.)


I'm not saying these features have no use, just none for me.
I've looked at code for hundreds of books, commercial and amateur, always interested to see how others code them up, and never seen one that did use any of these features to do anything useful.

I'm not going to rant against epub3. I can and do use epub3, but not from choice.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Nothing. "Complex and fussy" = I can't be bothered to learn the few simple differences EPUB3 presents for novels.

No need to be insulting. I understand how to do it. Have been making epub3 since about 2014, when I was coding up the NAV file by hand before this plugin came along. It's just tedious, like filling out a tax form.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

No need to be insulting.

Fair enough. Just like there's no need to spread nonsense about how EPUB3 is somehow complex and fussy. It's as complex and fussy as anyone wants to make it. Just like EPUB2.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

The NAV file always appearing in Kindle coversions whether I want it or not. (An Amazon problem, but one I don't have with epub2.)

Originally Posted by W3C

As a conforming XHTML Content Document, it MAY be included in the spine.

If you remove the NAV from the spine, it shouldn't appear in the Kindle book.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Fair enough. Just like there's no need to spread nonsense about how EPUB3 is somehow complex and fussy. It's as complex and fussy as anyone wants to make it. Just like EPUB2.

So, you're saying that epub3 is not more complex than epub2?
Anyway, all I said was "I don't need any of the features of epub3, so conversion just makes the files harder to work with" and had a reaction as if I'd insulted your mother.

If you do have a use for its features, terrific.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

If you remove the NAV from the spine, it shouldn't appear in the Kindle book.

EDITED FOR UPDATE:

I tried this again: and it does work.
The problem I had previously was I think that Sigil will put it back in the spine in the OPF if you touch the file list.
So have to double check that it's still gone before running the conversion.

I had also tried uing the "hidden" tag in the NAV, which works to hide parts of the nav, like the list of page numbers, it, but when I tried to hide everything, the resulting AZW file would crash when opened on the Kindle.

[KevinH]

You do know you are posting in a ePub3 topic thread, right?

Originally Posted by AlanHK

So, you're saying that epub3 is not more complex than epub2?
Anyway, all I said was "I don't need any of the features of epub3, so conversion just makes the files harder to work with" and had a reaction as if I'd insulted your mother.

If you do have a use for its features, terrific.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

So, you're saying that epub3 is not more complex than epub2?

Yes. that's about right. When you learn how EPUB3 works, it's no more complicated than EPUB2 was after you learned how it works. It's just different. There's no need to blame your lack of interest in becoming proficient with EPUB3 on manufactured notions like "fussiness" when "different" would suffice.

Originally Posted by AlanHK

Anyway, all I said was "I don't need any of the features of epub3, so conversion just makes the files harder to work with" and had a reaction as if I'd insulted your mother.

Actually no. I wasn't insulted in the least. Like Kevin, I was just a little baffled why someone who admittedly has no use for EPUB3 would be complaining about its perceived "complexities and fussiness". In an EPUB3 conversion plugin thread no less. But you do you. No skin off my back.

[AlanHK]

I have some nbsp in a <pre> tag.

 <pre>                        Thank
                               you.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
</pre>

ePub3-itizer does not not convert them to #160 as it does elsewhere, and the resulting epub3 reports as "not well formed" on opening.
If I allow Sigil to fix it then it does convert the nbsp, as does "Mend and prettify" if I don't.

[KevinH]

I will check the code that converts from named entities to numeric entities to see why this is happening.

Update:

The ePub3-tizer code explicitly protects against converting anything in pre tags.

I have found two different sources that say only xml entities are allowed inside pre tags and no others. It could be that other named entries are not supported since what is entered in the tag is supposed to be pre-formatted aside from xml entities.

And afaict there is no valid reason to use nbsp in pre since you control the line breaks. So I am not sure the original xhtml code was valid to begin with. I will see if I can find a clearer spec.

Update: now found one reference that implies they are legal.

Are you using Sigil's Preserve Entities preferences and is it set to allow only the numeric value of nbsp before you run this plugin? If not, please try that.

[KevinH]

A new version of ePub3-itizer has now been released. See the first post in this thread or my github site (kevinhendricks) to download the latest version of the plugin.

https://github.com/kevinhendricks/ePub3-itizer

Changes in v058 since the last release:
- do *not* convert base level xml entities to their numeric form for <, >, and &
- convert named entities to numeric entities in text even inside of pre tags

Hope this helps,

KevinH