Kobos and Links/Tables of content

[AlexBell]

I feel like an interloper here, since I don't have a Kobo. But I do design ebooks, and need some advice.

I do all of my ebooks by hand - from Word to valid XHTML to an ePub package which validates with FlightCrew and ePubCheck.

I have just finished an ebook which has a Table of Contents in one of the XHTML files, and this table of contents works perfectly well on my Sony, Kindle 3, and iPad 2 - the human reader can select the link to the chapter, and that takes him or her to the appropriate chapter.

But a friend has read the ebook on a Kobo (I don't know which one) and tells me that the table of contents doesn't work - selecting the link for the chapter has no effect.

Is there something special I need to do to get the ToC which works on on my ebook readers to work on a Kobo? Or do Kobos need a different set up for tables of content than other ebook readers?

Can anyone point me to a reference on preparing ebooks for Kobos?

[kiwipippa]

Can anyone help Alex, I'm the person who has tried the book on a kobo touch with firmware 1.9.16. The links in the table of contents don't work. A short press takes me forward or back a page and a long press simply brings up the highlight icons. However, I tried the book on a kindle touch and an ipod and the links do work perfectly.

This is a side loaded book loaded via drag and drop - no calibre or ADE used.

Any ideas why the links aren't working? From what I've read here, links in non kobo pubs can be hit and miss - but have newer firmware releases not addressed this?

Thanks

[SF&F Reader]

Sorry, if a book has an inline TOC (and if I can) I always remove it. The pop-up TOC is way more handy. That being said, I have experimented with links, but not for several FW versions. If no one else can help I'll look into it again.

[Joe563]

Any ideas why the links aren't working? From what I've read here, links in non kobo pubs can be hit and miss - but have newer firmware releases not addressed this?

Linked text has never worked very well for non-Kobo EPUBs. In the 1.9.16 firmware release, the links for endnotes in Kobo EPUBs was improved, but, in my experience, the links for endnotes in non-Kobo EPUBs are now even more difficult to activate. There are at least three deficiencies associated with linked text in non-Kobo EPUBs. Briefly they are: 1) difficult, and, in many instances impossible, to activate, 2) lack of visual feedback to indicate that a link has been activated - Kobo EPUBs have two visual indicators, and, 3) lack of consistent distinctive text to indicate the presence of a link such as an underline or a different shade of text such as is possible in Kobo EPUBs with Kobo Styling On.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by Joe563

Linked text has never worked very well for non-Kobo EPUBs. In the 1.9.16 firmware release, the links for endnotes in Kobo EPUBs was improved, but, in my experience, the links for endnotes in non-Kobo EPUBs are now even more difficult to activate. There are at least three deficiencies associated with linked text in non-Kobo EPUBs. Briefly they are: 1) difficult, and, in many instances impossible, to activate, 2) lack of visual feedback to indicate that a link has been activated - Kobo EPUBs have two visual indicators, and, 3) lack of consistent distinctive text to indicate the presence of a link such as an underline or a different shade of text such as is possible in Kobo EPUBs with Kobo Styling On.

I'm sorry, Joe, I don't agree with you at all. I've done several ebooks with TOCs or endnotes or both, and don't have any problem at all getting to work on Sony or after they've been converted to mobi.

I agree that there are some books which don't work too well - I'm reading Snuff by Terry Pratchett on my Sony, and although the link from the text to the end note works the link back does not. But I think this is due to lousy design and proof reading than any fault in the reader. My end notes work both coming and going.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by SF&F Reader

Sorry, if a book has an inline TOC (and if I can) I always remove it. The pop-up TOC is way more handy. That being said, I have experimented with links, but not for several FW versions. If no one else can help I'll look into it again.

I agree, but I'm just the ebook designer. If the publisher or author wants the inline TOC I provide it - except when it's just a list of numbers; that's a waste of the finite number of electrons in the universe.

[Joe563]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I'm sorry, Joe, I don't agree with you at all. I've done several ebooks with TOCs or endnotes or both, and don't have any problem at all getting to work on Sony or after they've been converted to mobi.

I agree that there are some books which don't work too well - I'm reading Snuff by Terry Pratchett on my Sony, and although the link from the text to the end note works the link back does not. But I think this is due to lousy design and proof reading than any fault in the reader. My end notes work both coming and going.

Alex, you have seriously misunderstood what I was trying to say. Perhaps I should have used the term sideloaded EPUBs rather than non-Kobo EPUBs. I definitely was not stating that endnotes or linked text do not work in general for all EPUBs on all devices. I was specifically referring to how KOBO has implemented them for sideloaded EPUBs only on the Kobo Touch. i.e. In my experience endnotes, linked text and linked table of contents work well in Adobe Digital Editions, Aldiko and the Sony PRS-T1 and for the KEPUB (Kobo EPUB) format on the Touch.

[AlexBell]

Sorry, Joe, I did misunderstand you, and beg your pardon.

Do you know of any way in which I can get a Kobo reader to accept or work with the ebooks I prepare? So far as I know they must be side loaded.

[John F]

Originally Posted by kiwipippa

... The links in the table of contents don't work. A short press takes me forward or back a page and a long press simply brings up the highlight icons. ...

Try a triple tap?

I'm a new Kobo touch owner. What is the correct way to traverse links?

I just tried an inline table of contents, and it seems very inconsistent. I tried tap and triple tap, and triple tap seemed to work the best? This was for a side-loaded epub run through Calibre.

[Joe563]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Sorry, Joe, I did misunderstand you, and beg your pardon.

Do you know of any way in which I can get a Kobo reader to accept or work with the ebooks I prepare? So far as I know they must be side loaded.

Alex, if the linked text (TOC) in your book works in Adobe Digital Editions and on your Sony PRS-T1 but not on your Touch, then, the problem is with the Touch firmware for sideloaded EPUBs, not your book.

The Kobo developers have been continuously improving the Touch firmware since it's release in June. It was only with November release of the Touch firmware that the last bug was removed from the Kobo EPUB (KEPUB) linked text functionality.

I do not know what plans Kobo has for addressing the deficiencies in how linked text works in sideloaded EPUBs on the Touch but if they want to compete with Sony's PRS-T1, the various flavors of the Nook and the Kindles, it is something that they will have to do soon. In my opinion, how linked text works in sideloaded EPUBs and the lack of any way to organize books are the Touch's major deficiencies compared to the competition.

[kiwipippa]

Originally Posted by Joe563

Alex, if the linked text (TOC) in your book works in Adobe Digital Editions and on your Sony PRS-T1 but not on your Touch, then, the problem is with the Touch firmware for sideloaded EPUBs, not your book.

The Kobo developers have been continuously improving the Touch firmware since it's release in June. It was only with November release of the Touch firmware that the last bug was removed from the Kobo EPUB (KEPUB) linked text functionality.

I do not know what plans Kobo has for addressing the deficiencies in how linked text works in sideloaded EPUBs on the Touch but if they want to compete with Sony's PRS-T1, the various flavors of the Nook and the Kindles, it is something that they will have to do soon. In my opinion, how linked text works in sideloaded EPUBs and the lack of any way to organize books are the Touch's major deficiencies compared to the competition.

Alex, there's the answer. The links definitely work in ADE, they also work on the kindle touch and the ipod so the firmware on the Kobo touch is the issue.

Thanks for clarifying it Joe

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by kiwipippa

Alex, there's the answer. The links definitely work in ADE, they also work on the kindle touch and the ipod so the firmware on the Kobo touch is the issue.

Thanks for clarifying it Joe

It looks as though there's nothing I can do about it, and Kobo Help has not responded to my email.

It looks as though the publisher and I will have to decide whether
- to put the ToC in anyway, and hope that Kobo users don't get miffed
- to not put the ToC in in case Kobo users get miffed, or
- to put the whole ToC in the 'pop up' ToC. I did an ebook recently which had 85 poems in it, and I don't look forward to putting all the titles in the pop up ToC. And some of the titles were quite long. I guess the only way to find out is to try it.

[gobryan]

I have had trouble with some non-kobo epubs - covers not displaying, all links in TOC linking to the start of the book, and the chapter navigation arrows not working. Fiddling and checking with Sigil did not help. However, using Calibre to convert the book from epub to epub seemed to fix all the problems.

[DNSB]

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Never combine watching the Stanley Cup playoffs and reading messages.

[DNSB]

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