Error question from conversion formatter called epub bugs?

[yourvirtualwizar]

Hello,

I am an author and I hired a POD formatter to take my eBook and convert it to epub so I can sell it on Amazon for the Kindle.

I really don't know the epub lingo so please bear with me.

I gave the formatter tweets and code to insert in the ebook so people reading the ebook on a kindle could tweet out that they are reading the book, etc. I gave her this type of code:

[Promotional text deleted - MODERATOR]

https://twitter.com/home?status=Elev...rtualassistant

I created the code using this site http://www.sharelinkgenerator.com/

The problem is that the formatter is getting these errors and she believes it is the tweets I sent to her. That may be the case but I need to verify.
Can you help me please? Here are the epub errors she is receiving:

• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(71): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI
• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(106): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI
• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(157): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI

Can anyone identify the errors for me as the formatter is doing the conversion to epub for me?

Can anyone resolve the error for me?

The formatter says I have to take out the URL out of the code and possible the .com which means that will be a problem for integrity of the tweet.

Thank you to whatever help you can offer.

Janine

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by yourvirtualwizar

Hello,

I am an author and I hired a POD formatter to take my eBook and convert it to epub so I can sell it on Amazon for the Kindle.

I really don't know the epub lingo so please bear with me.

I gave the formatter tweets and code to insert in the ebook so people reading the ebook on a kindle could tweet out that they are reading the book, etc. I gave her this type of code:

[Promotional text deleted - MODERATOR]

https://twitter.com/home?status=Elev...rtualassistant

I created the code using this site http://www.sharelinkgenerator.com/

The problem is that the formatter is getting these errors and she believes it is the tweets I sent to her. That may be the case but I need to verify.
Can you help me please? Here are the epub errors she is receiving:

• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(71): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI
• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(106): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI
• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(157): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI

Can anyone identify the errors for me as the formatter is doing the conversion to epub for me?

Can anyone resolve the error for me?

The formatter says I have to take out the URL out of the code and possible the .com which means that will be a problem for integrity of the tweet.

Thank you to whatever help you can offer.

Janine

Welcome to the forums.

Do you know whether the formatter has made your ebook into ePub2 (the format used by virtually all ereaders now available) or ePub3 (the format which has been discussed for years as the coming thing, though I don't think any ereader can use it)?

Two suggestions:
- There is a forum devoted to ePub formatting; you will likely get more help there than in this forum.
- Whether your post is moved to the ePub forum or stays here we will need to know whether your ebook is ePub2 or ePub3, and we will need to know what are the contents of those three lines.

If your ebook is ePub2 I think you will need to have a URI as the value of attribute html. I don't think you can send a tweet with an ePub2 ebook. I know virtually nothing about ePub3.

By the way, I think you'll find that all Amazon ebooks are in mobi or KF8 format, and that Kindle readers can't read ePub formatted ebooks.

[eschwartz]

Can we see the actual html code of the book? Otherwise all we can do is guess at problems...

(wrap the code in the [CODE][/CODE] tags.)

[mr ploppy]

This is the sort of url the site mentioned comes up with.

<a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=http://marcusblakeston.wordpress.com">Share on Twitter</a>

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by yourvirtualwizar

Hello,

I am an author and I hired a POD formatter to take my eBook and convert it to epub so I can sell it on Amazon for the Kindle.

I really don't know the epub lingo so please bear with me.

I gave the formatter tweets and code to insert in the ebook so people reading the ebook on a kindle could tweet out that they are reading the book, etc. I gave her this type of code:

[Promotional text deleted - MODERATOR]

https://twitter.com/home?status=Elev...rtualassistant

I created the code using this site http://www.sharelinkgenerator.com/

The problem is that the formatter is getting these errors and she believes it is the tweets I sent to her. That may be the case but I need to verify.
Can you help me please? Here are the epub errors she is receiving:

• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(71): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI
• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(106): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI
• ERROR: /OEBPS/book-part-1.html(157): value of attribute "href" is invalid; must be a URI

Can anyone identify the errors for me as the formatter is doing the conversion to epub for me?

Can anyone resolve the error for me?

The formatter says I have to take out the URL out of the code and possible the .com which means that will be a problem for integrity of the tweet.

Thank you to whatever help you can offer.

Janine

Janine:

Firstly, do you know how your "formatter" is creating the book? Is she trying to create it by uploading a Word file to the KDP? Is she building an ePUB, and getting errors with ePUBcheck? Is she trying to make it with Calibre, or via a Word file to NookPress, or...?? Is she actually coding it? Because if she's actually CODING it, using HTML, this shouldn't be occuring, and that error wouldn't be an issue, IMHO, unless you are relaying the information incorrectly. Do you know?

ePUB and MOBI are discreet eBook formats. I can't tell, from your post, if you are relaying the information correctly, but simply putting HTML links in an ebook is child's play, generally.

Now, firstly, something like this:

https://twitter.com/home?status=blabbety%20blab

...should not create errors, unless she's adding them incorrectly. It's a simple link element. The *secure* part (the "s" in the HTTPS) might cause an issue, but I don't think that's the problem. It looks, from the error, like she's not actually putting the link in the coding. BUT, without seeing the actual code, none of us here can tell. (n.b.: the "s" part will require log-ins, and all that; I'm not sure about the scrambling and decoding portion of this part of the discussion, however, for a secure access like Twitter; I think that, on a viable device--more on that later--it would require the reader/user to log-in to twitter, before displaying the proposed Tweet.)

Something like this:

<a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=blabbety%20blab">Share on Twitter</a>

Should not cause an issue, either, in MOBI or ePUB format.

Before I castigate your formatter, about this:

"The formatter says I have to take out the URL out of the code and possible the .com which means that will be a problem for integrity of the tweet."

I want to see the code, because that sentence of yours makes NO sense to me whatsoever. Do you know if she is actually building the book in code, or if she's trying to use a Word file, or....? I wish I had a dollar for every link we've put inside eBooks, over the years, so I know it's doable, and it's not even particularly difficult.

IMPORTANT: I would note that a huge percentage of e-readers out there won't actually do anything, using that, you know that, right? That millions of Kindles don't have embedded web browsers, or Twitter clients, or social media? Ditto millions of other e-readers?

(I'll leave any commentary about what reader reaction would be, if they found self-promotional tweets, telling them WHAT to say, about a book, linked inside a book, as they were reading it, to others. FWIW.)

Hitch

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

This is the sort of url the site mentioned comes up with.

<a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=http://marcusblakeston.wordpress.com">Share on Twitter</a>

That URL is invalid. Neither colon and slash characters are allowed in a query string. You must represent them using percent encoding. The URL above, for example, should be:

https://twitter.com/home?status=http%3A%2F%2Fmarcusblakeston.wordpress.com

[eschwartz]

Hitch -- Kindles actually do have a browser, I just wouldn't recommend relying on it for serious use.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Hitch -- Kindles actually do have a browser, I just wouldn't recommend relying on it for serious use.

eschwartz: actually, they all don't. The one in my Voyage is deemed "experimental." Nor the K1's and most K2's. The K4iPad/iPhone readers won't allow browsing out, either. FWIW.

Hitch

[eschwartz]

Every model with a browser is labeled experimental, though I was unaware the K1&2 didn't have it at all.

Clicking a link in a book will open in the experimental browser, at least on my Kindle Touch. Are you saying it won't, on the KV???

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Every model with a browser is labeled experimental, though I was unaware the K1&2 didn't have it at all.

Clicking a link in a book will open in the experimental browser, at least on my Kindle Touch. Are you saying it won't, on the KV???

IIRC, the several I've tried on the V haven't. But honestly, I haven't invested a ton of time trying. I warn customers that embedded links may/mayn't work on a variety of platforms, and I feel that I've done my bit at that point. ;-)

And maybe I'm truly crazy, but I'm 99% sure that the K1 had NO browser, and the one on the K2 was so awful as to not warrant discussion thereas. I still have a K2; I'll pull it out and check.

Hitch

[eschwartz]

Well, the ones on the K3/K4NT/KT/PW1/PW2 are not much to look at either... I agree the simple answer is to just say "might not work on all devices".
I'm not sure I would ever choose to follow such links if they were there, no matter what I was reading on, though.
Generally I read to read, not to twitter on about it (what an absolutely apropos name, I've always thought ).

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, the ones on the K3/K4NT/KT/PW1/PW2 are not much to look at either... I agree the simple answer is to just say "might not work on all devices".
I'm not sure I would ever choose to follow such links if they were there, no matter what I was reading on, though.
Generally I read to read, not to twitter on about it (what an absolutely apropos name, I've always thought ).

Agreed about the twittering.

Oddly enough, the OP seems to have vanished? No nuttin'?

Hitch

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Agreed about the twittering.

Oddly enough, the OP seems to have vanished? No nuttin'?

Hitch

The promotional text was deleted. The cynical corner of my mind wonders if perhaps that was the real point?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by cromag

The promotional text was deleted. The cynical corner of my mind wonders if perhaps that was the real point?

Mmmmm....you cynic, you.

Hitch

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Hitch

eschwartz: actually, they all don't. The one in my Voyage is deemed "experimental." Nor the K1's and most K2's. The K4iPad/iPhone readers won't allow browsing out, either. FWIW.

Hitch

The experimental label is to prevent Bug Reports on a deliberately? lame browser.

I have browsed MR with my WiFi K4NT (wispersync may limit access as Big A is paying the tab)
I won't say the experience was exactly pleasant