KOBO and footnotes. Again and again.

[mramosch]

.
Continuation of the original post

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...18#post4487318

because there are a lot of off-topic tangents that might make it difficult to follow the original thread.

— — — — —

I am still trying to make bugs in the KOBO footnotes/endnotes/pop-ups implementation 100% reproducible in order to achieve the best possible consistency in the rendering of epubs on different eReaders (devices and apps).

I performed several hundreds of little changes in order to see how the unstable KOBO reader app on KOBO devices (in my case Clara BW 2024) behaves in different scenarios.

All scenarios were cross checked on iOS on Apple Books, BookFusion and FileBrowser and didn’t produce a single error or inconsistency, except for the KOBO device itself, which appeared to give unpredictable and random results throughout all the tests.

— — — — —

There is one real peculiarity that stands out most, which I will present in the next post after this one to ask your opinion and advice!

— — — — —


This post I just wanna end with a strange general observation that I made along the way.


When

• changing a single character in an epub e.g. the endnote link [1] to [X]
• then zipping the source files and renaming the archive -> only to change the version number (test_01 -> test_02) and the .zip file extension to .kepub.epub
• removing the outdated file (test_01) on the device itself
• sideloading the new file (test_02) to the Clara BW via USB cable
• checking for the correct file name (test_02) on the device with ‘View details…’

the text in the epub is still showing the endnote link as [1] instead as [X].

There seems to be some caching going on on the device that can only be remedied by connecting the device a second time to the host and sideloading the file again.

This of course caused a lot of confusion when doing hundreds of incremental little changes that seemed to act up in unpredictable ways.

With that out of the way here comes the continuation of the thread.

—

[mramosch]

.
Here are 5 links to the endnote section in the same chapter.

For you to make them more accessible for comparison I copied them into one block but further down you can see them in the context of the respective paragraphs they are in.

5 random paragraphs out of the same chapter.

Originally there were only 4 links but I copied the code of link [3] and inserted it as link [5] on line 60 right in between link [3] and [4]. That’s why the order is 1, 2, 3, 5, 4.

It turned out that this does NOT affect correct functionality at all as far as I could tell.


The 5 links in a block:

<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup>

<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup>

<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup>

<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup>

<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup>


The endnote section at the end of the chapter:

<ol class="references" about="#mwt7">

<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Frase muy comun en Inglaterra, de la que se sirve el autor para satirizar un poco la aficion de sus compatriotas á lo antiguo.</span>
</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-2">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"> Tragedia del inmortal Shakspeare </span>
</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-3">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Juego de palabras</span>
</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-4">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Juego de palabras</span>
</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-5">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Nuevo juego de palabras</span>
</li>

</ol>


— — — — —


As you can see, all five links (and their respective backlinks for that matter) do have the absolute same format.

But when using the backlinks in the endnote section I do get different behavior with regards to pop-ups.

• Backlink to [1] and [2] do open a pop-up
• Backlink to [3] and [4] do NOT open a pop-up and go straight to the link
• Backlink to [5] does also NOT open a pop-up and goes straight to the link
…(this is the inserted copy of link [3] I already mentioned above)

Regardless of KOBO’s specs under which circumstances on either platform pop-ups are supposed to appear or not, it shouldn’t have distinct behavior on the same platform under identical conditions.


Can anyone spot an inconsistency on my part that would explain why not all links are causing the same behavior?


— — — — —

[mramosch]

.
Here the original paragraphs for reference:


<p>Para empezar: Marley había muerto. Sobre ello no había ni la menor sombra de duda. La partida de defuncion estaba firmada por el cura, por el sacristan, por el encargado de las pompas fúnebres y por el presidente del duelo. Scrooge la habia firmado y la firma de Scrooge circulaba sin inconveniente en la Bolsa, cualquiera que fuera el papel donde la fijara. El viejo Marley <i>estaba tan muerto como un clavo de puerta</i><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup>.
</p>

<p> <span><span class="pagenum" id="id-3" title="Página:Cantico de Navidad.djvu/23"/></span>Si no estuviéramos convencidos de que el padre de Hámlet <sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup> ha muerto antes de que la tragedia dé principio, no tendria nada de extraño que lo viéramos pasear al pié de las murallas de la ciudad y expuesto á la intemperie; lo mismo exactamente, que si viéramos á otra persona de edad provecta pasearse á horas desusadas en medio de la oscuridad de la noche y por lugares donde soplara un viento helador; verbigracia, el cementerio de San Pablo, y tratándose del padre de Hámlet, tan sólo impresiona la ofuscada imaginacion de su hijo.
</p>

<p>Las tres de la tarde acababan de dar en los relojes de la City <sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup>, y con todo casi era de noche. El dia habia estado muy sombrío. Las luces que brillaban en las oficinas <span><span class="pagenum" id="id-6" title="Página:Cantico de Navidad.djvu/26"/></span>inmediatas, parecian como manchas de grasa enrojecidas, y se destacaban sobre el fondo de aquella atmósfera tan negruzca y por decirlo así, palpable. La niebla penetraba en el interior de las casas por todos los resquicios y por los huecos de las cerraduras: fuera habia llegado su densidad á tal extremo, que si bien la calle era muy estrecha, las casas de enfrente se asemejaban á fantasmas. Al contemplar cómo aquel espeso nublado descendia cada vez más, envolviendo todos los objetos en una profunda oscuridad, se podia creer que la naturaleza trataba de establecerse allí para explotar una cervecería en grande escala.
</p>

<p>—Buenas noches,<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup> dijo Scrooge.
</p>

<p>—Porque la menor cosa basta para alterarlos. Basta con un ligero desarreglo en el estómago para que nos engañen, y podría ser muy bien que vos no fuerais más que una tajada de carne mal digerida; media cucharada de mostaza; un pedazo de queso; una partícula de patata mal cocida. Quien quiera <span><span class="pagenum" id="id-26" title="Página:Cantico de Navidad.djvu/46"/></span> que seais, me parece que sois un muerto que huele á cerveza más que á ataúd<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup>.
</p>

—

[PeterT]

PLEASE. Just start posting your test books!

[mramosch]

Originally Posted by PeterT

PLEASE. Just start posting your test books!

No problem at all.

How can I attach them to a post (like on GitHub)?

[PeterT]

Go into Advanced mode on reply to athread, and then click on the paperclip icon. You can then upload an epub or if you prefer a zip file (or multiple ones).

[mramosch]

Done!

Attached to post #2.

BTW:
Why do your posts eat up so much screen real estate with empty lines?
It’s half a screen on an iPad mini in landscape Orientation!
Same for Quoth’s posts…
All other post do end right after the last written line.
Is this because of the thumbnail pic?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by mramosch

Why do your post eat up so much screen real estate with empty lines?
It’s half a screen on an iPad mini in landscape Orientation!
Same for Quoth’s posts…
All other post do end right after the last written line.
Is this because of the thumbnail pic?

Not just the thumbnail pic. The text in the left hand column also takes space.