Epub Revision - enhanced navigation support

[Nate the great]

Need for enhanced navigation support. There is currently no ability to represent preferred instantiations of navigational elements; as well, presently any rendering of page-to-page navigation as well as Table of Contents and other navigation elements is optional and entirely Reading System-dependent. Version 2.0.1 makes “end user” presentation of the NCX TOC a “should” with statement that the next version will likely transform to a “must” and that other NCX sections may receive similar “upgraded” treatment.

I don't see why this one needs to be updated.

[Xenophon]

A standard catalog-file format would be wonderful, too. Then I wouldn't have to depend on device makers ideas of how to navigate through my library on their device. Instead, I'd download a catalog file grouped and formatted (etc.) to my satisfaction, and USE THAT FILE to find the next book I want to read.

And all that's really needed to make it work is a way to specify a link to an external document that will be opened by the appropriate reader program on the device. Probably look exactly like a local URL, but with just enough pre-defined semantics to guarantee that ePubs open in the ePub reader, pdfs open in the pdf reader, and so on. Such a tiny thing to ask for, really...

Xenophon

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

And all that's really needed to make it work is a way to specify a link to an external document that will be opened by the appropriate reader program on the device.

MobiPocket has this capability for other MOBI ebooks, see Hyperlinks between different ebook files, but it was not implemented in all MOBI readers. I can see the ePub standard including this for ePub to ePub, but it isn't likely to do more than provide the syntax for linking to non-ePub ebooks.