Image as Header for Chapter

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Peter21

It is getting better, but still not resolved....

I am writing the ebook using sigil on a mac book air, running OSX version 10.9 (Mavericks). Mavericks has a built in epub reader (ibooks) and when i preview the epub on his, the last heading in the TOC clicked on is always blue...so looks a little amateurish.

However if the epub is exported to an iPad...by syncing through iTunes...the TOC looks good on the iPad's version of ibooks....no sign of a dodgy blue link...so far so good.

When the epub is converted to a .mobi file, it previews OK on the kindle previewer on the laptop, but when sent to the iPad, (via the 'send to kindle" app) to be checked on the iPad kindle reader, the TOC is greyed out....no index ...so what's going on there?

Also, please note:

iBooks uses the NCX, most of the time, not an inline TOC, so you wouldn't see any links. As Toxaris says, you'll need to create an inline TOC and ensure it's "linked" to the book via the Guide, so that the Kindle(s) can find it via the GoTo menu.

Hitch

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

An ePUB version 2 uses the NCX as a TOC. You can also include an external TOC, which is just a HTML page with links. Although it is called external, it is just a chapter in the ePUB. As of version 3, the NCX is deprecated.
The mobi format (regardless of the version) does not support the NCX because it is a different format altogether. So, for a mobi you need the external TOC. I believe that some conversion programs can create an external TOC based on the NCX. If you use another conversion and do not have an external TOC in the ePUB, you will end up with no TOC in your mobi.

Replace external with internal and you will be ok. Mobi wants an internal TOC, i.e. one of the pages in the book. KindleGen will not use the NCX file for the mobi half of the mobi file but will use it in the KF8 half.

Dale

[Toxaris]

You are right, I mixed up internal and external. External is the NCX, internal is a HTML-based TOC.

[Peter21]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Replace external with internal and you will be ok. Mobi wants an internal TOC, i.e. one of the pages in the book. KindleGen will not use the NCX file for the mobi half of the mobi file but will use it in the KF8 half.

Dale

So...when i created the .mobi file using kindlegen, the kindle previewer on the laptop must use the KF8 half of the mobi (because this has used the ncx file to create a toc, while the kindle app on the iPad must use the .mobi component, which does make not use of the ncx file and cannot create a TOC........if I have understood it correctly?

So...to create an .mobi for all devices/kindle apps, should I write an epub with both an ncx file (created by sigil) and an internal, html based, TOC. In the hope that the .mobi file created by a subsequent kindlegen conversion would produce a .mobi whose kf8 and .mobi components both had a working TOC?

Is there an example anywhere of the format I would need to write the internal TOC (I guess this is not within the current sigil capability?)

[mrmikel]

I think what you are looking for is in Tools, Table of Contents, Create HTML Table of Contents.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by mrmikel

I think what you are looking for is in Tools, Table of Contents, Create HTML Table of Contents.

Caution: save your work before using this function
This crashes (XP, W7) 9 times out of 10 IF you have done other changes during the current EPUB load (almost never happen if done immediately after (re)loading the book).

[mrmikel]

I've never used it myself. Thanks for the warning!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by mrmikel

I've never used it myself. Thanks for the warning!

It does a great job duplicating the NCX content.
In addition, it also sets the 'Table of Contents' (semantics) entry in the <guide> section of the OPF

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Peter21

So...when i created the .mobi file using kindlegen, the kindle previewer on the laptop must use the KF8 half of the mobi (because this has used the ncx file to create a toc, while the kindle app on the iPad must use the .mobi component, which does make not use of the ncx file and cannot create a TOC........if I have understood it correctly?

So...to create an .mobi for all devices/kindle apps, should I write an epub with both an ncx file (created by sigil) and an internal, html based, TOC. In the hope that the .mobi file created by a subsequent kindlegen conversion would produce a .mobi whose kf8 and .mobi components both had a working TOC?

Is there an example anywhere of the format I would need to write the internal TOC (I guess this is not within the current sigil capability?)

Peter21:

When you say, "...the kindle previewer on the laptop must use the KF8 half of the mobi...," I can only assume you mean you're using Kindle For PC/Mac, which will display the NCX if you click the icon on the left-hand-side of the screen. it doesn't "create" anything; it's simply making use of the NCX. Most Kindle devices do not use the NCX for user-navigation. Some of the later Fires will now display the NCX, but there are quite literally millions--millions--of devices that won't.

For this to work across all devices, you need the aforementioned internal TOC, an HTML TOC, which is fairly easily made, particularly with Sigil (as per the instructions to you from mrmikel and Ducky). You format the separate stylesheet as you wish, to make the TOC appear as you like, or you can incorporate the styling into your own stylesheet. Don't forget to switch the reference to your own stylesheet, in the head, if you do that.

Then the Guide item, pointing to the TOC, will already be in place. This is what Kindlegen uses to link the internal TOC to the "Go To" menu for Kindle devices. Build your MOBI, and you should be fine.

By the way, when you say you are sending it to the Kindle for iPad app using the "Send to Kindle app," do you mean you are using the email address, or using the "Send to Kindle" icon/item that shows up in your file navigator? If that's what you mean, you are inadvertently sending your file through the PDS (Personal Document Service), which, although it says it uses wifi, is really just using email to send the file to "your" Kindle.

What this does, however, is run the file through a level of conversion. That PDS can affect what you're seeing in the K4iPad app. You would be better off taking your converted file (mobi) and just sideloading it to the iPad, and then sending it to Kindle. You can easily sideload it with Dropbox, or by your own email, or any number of file apps that are available for iPad. Or, hell, you can synch it the hard way, by linking the iPad to your Mac and dragging and dropping the file onto the K4iPad app in your iTunes account.

Hitch

[Peter21]

Hitch

Thanks for your helpful comments.

I was using the kindle previewer app on the laptop, not the kindle for pc/mac, which I think is simply a reading app. As I understand it the previewer allows you to see your book as it would appear on the Kindle Fire HD, HDX or HDX 8.9.

I have created an internal TOC using the option in tools but hadn't appreciated that this is working on a new stylesheet...that would have caught me out. It didn't crash and works well. (Incidentally I have discovered that if sigil crashes it may corrupt the previously saved file, so I now always save a second copy, under a different filename.)

I was using the send to kindle option that appears in finder (mac equivalent of file manager), which sends the file up to Kindle HQ, to be sent back down to the kindle via wifi. Long winded but for some reason side loading to the kindle app on the iPad using the iTunes app wasn't working for my .mobi files. I am hoping that having produced a .mobi file with kindlegen, the send to kindle process wouldn't change the file in any way.

I will try your suggestions of dropbox or email.

Peter

[Peter21]

Another Question....
how do you change the font of the metadata displayed at the top of each page, i.e. author name and book title?
thanks again
Peter

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Peter21

Another Question....
how do you change the font of the metadata displayed at the top of each page, i.e. author name and book title?
thanks again
Peter

eBook readers don't support this header data from the ePub although it can be defined in the ePub. Instead many readers add their own data and it is reader specific what gets displayed. If you can change it at all you must change some settings in your reader itself. There is nothing in Sigil or any other eBook editor that controls this.

Dale

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Peter21

Another Question....
how do you change the font of the metadata displayed at the top of each page, i.e. author name and book title?
thanks again
Peter

There is no (specific) font for line items in code view. Code view is coloured , but I don't think Sigil allows that level of control.

Metadata is part of the <head> section and does not normally display

Metadata (the part in the OPF file) does not allow styling
Metadata as shown in the 'Jacket/titlepage...' is just another page in the book and is styled just like any other text

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Peter21

Another Question....
how do you change the font of the metadata displayed at the top of each page, i.e. author name and book title?
thanks again
Peter

In short: no. You can change the text, but not the font (OPF).

Hitch