Thumbnails why?

[Ron.]

maybe it's there for mobile devices ? I don't know... asking in the epub forum might of worked better. I'm sure there is some technical reason for it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ron.

maybe it's there for mobile devices ? I don't know... asking in the epub forum might of worked better. I'm sure there is some technical reason for it.

But it seems this thumbnail may also be in Mobipocket eBooks as well. In fact, I have seen some that use a thumbnail as the cover image.

[afa]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Because toenails would be too big, and might smell funky. /lolcat

Indeed.

[Jeff L]

There are multiple ways to specify cover images and various programs will use them inconsistently.

Many epubs will have 3 different cover images:

other.ms-coverimage-standard -- Regular size
other.ms-thumbimage-standard -- Small size
other.ms-thumbimage -- Extra small size for Pocket PC

There is also the older mobi spec for "EmbeddedCover" which is still used.

What I've found is that different interfaces will use one or the other image idiosyncratically. So just because there's a thumbnail image doesn't mean that a program will use that image for its thumbnail. It may use the standard cover instead.

Just because some programs will generate their displays with just one image, doesn't mean that all of them will. So I expect that the multiple images are there for industry-wide support.

[JSWolf]

I think the thumbnail is in the ePub for use in generating Mobipocket format eBooks from the ePub. It has no purpose in the ePub. It's there for backwards compatibility. But really, if the software that generated the Mobipocket handled this, it would not be needed in the ePub.

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by Pomtroll

I would like to hide those images on my Sony 350. Especially when I'm done reading them.

Go into a collection. Hit Options. Select the option View, and select what you want to show.

[Daithi]

I agree with Jeff L. The thumbnail is there to display a thumbnail image, but some software may generate their own thumbnail based on the cover image. That software could have used the supplied thumbnail, but they probably made the decision to create their own thumbnail based on the cover image to insure they would have a thumbnail image even if one wasn't supplied.

However, I like the original interpretation of the question better. Why display thumbnails at all?

I have a Kindle and I wish there was an option to display titles by thumbnails. I often go to pick a new book to read, and if a bunch of thumbnails were displayed it would help jog my memory concerning what the book was about and help me decide which book I'd like to read next. Along the same lines, I wish I could move the cursor to a book title and if I left it on the title for 3 seconds or so that it would display a sentence or two that would describe the books plot.

[Daithi]

I also agree with Phogg. Toenails are too big, and they smell funky.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think the thumbnail is in the ePub for use in generating Mobipocket format eBooks from the ePub. It has no purpose in the ePub. It's there for backwards compatibility. But really, if the software that generated the Mobipocket handled this, it would not be needed in the ePub.

Ummm ... it serves the purpose of displaying a book cover, which some of us prefer!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Ummm ... it serves the purpose of displaying a book cover, which some of us prefer!

ADE doesn't use the thumbnail. ADE on my 650 and ADE for Windows both generate the cover view from the cover.

[OtterBooks]

Is the thumbnail the thing that allows small versions of the covers to be shown in the menu list? I kinda like that (even though I don't have it). Does it add bloat in a way that significantly slows down the device, or just bloat regarding storage space? Or both?

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Is the thumbnail the thing that allows small versions of the covers to be shown in the menu list? I kinda like that (even though I don't have it). Does it add bloat in a way that significantly slows down the device, or just bloat regarding storage space? Or both?

The ePub specification, and I believe Mobi too, support embedding a cover image, and they also support embedding a smaller thumbnail image. The thumbnail image has an advantage of making it possible to display a list of books contained on the eReader by displaying these thumbnails. The amount of space taken up by the thumbnail is fairly small, and certainly less than the amount of space used by the cover image, but even small images take up more space than just text. Also, the thumbnail isn't really needed to display a thumbnail image, because software can be used to create a thumbnail image from the cover image. In fact, the thumbnail image often isn't included with the file, so it is probably better for eReader manufacturers to just ignore the thumbnail and generate their own thumbnail based on the cover, because the cover image is almost always included.