BookDesigner problem: TOC links to chapters and back again.

Dr. Drib · 07-07-2007, 10:03 AM

Going BACK to the TOC does not take me to the CORRECT PAGE OF TOC. I always end up on page one of TOC.

Let me add some info: I just finished putting together Moby Dick, a book that's so important in the literature of this country (in my opinion), that I decided to put together a TOC with all links to the Chapters - with all due respect to ROY WHITE, for his generous work on Moby Dick, which is available right now.

I actually finished the project - a quite lengthy involvement of time - and I'm quite proud of it. HOWEVER, when I click on (say) Chapter 80 (from the TOC) I DO get to Chapter 80. But when I click on Chapter 80, I'm taken back to the FIRST PAGE OF TOC. This is quite annoying and unacceptable.

More info: I have everything on the TOC set to ANNOTATIONS, at 9 point. I have ONE LINE FOR THE ROMAN NUMERAL CHAPTER. Right below the chapter, I have a second line for the CHAPTER NAME.

Does anyone know what the solution is? I'm ready to post this, but not in this crippled format. It's ok for me to read on my own Reader, but when there are 7 or 8 pages of TOC, I want the viewer to get back to the correct TOC page and not always back to page one of TOC.

Thanks,
Don

P.S.: I hope this is the right thread to post this.

HarryT · 07-07-2007, 10:50 AM

I suppose the thing to ask, Don, is how important is this?

One needs the TOC to get to Chapter 80, but one can easily get back to the TOC simply by returning to the start of the book. I appreciate that it's an irritation, but is it a "show stopper".

I've just tried it on some of my books which has long TOCs (eg "Oliver Twist", where it goes on for about 6 pages, because of the long chapter descriptions) and - at least on the Connect "emulator" - it works fine. Clicking the chapter heading takes you to the page of the TOC containing the link to the chapter.

Does yours behave the same way on the Connect emulator as on the actual Reader?

Dr. Drib · 07-07-2007, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I suppose the thing to ask, Don, is how important is this?

One needs the TOC to get to Chapter 80, but one can easily get back to the TOC simply by returning to the start of the book. I appreciate that it's an irritation, but is it a "show stopper".

I've just tried it on some of my books which has long TOCs (eg "Oliver Twist", where it goes on for about 6 pages, because of the long chapter descriptions) and - at least on the Connect "emulator" - it works fine. Clicking the chapter heading takes you to the page of the TOC containing the link to the chapter.

Does yours behave the same way on the Connect emulator as on the actual Reader?

Harry:

I just counted the TOC pages: I have 12 pages. That means that if someone was on the last page of the TOC, and went to one of those chapters and then decided to return -- well, that person wouldn't get there. One is taken back to the FIRST PAGE of TOC.

That means shuffling through 12 pages to get where you started from. I just find that so irritating.

I havent' loaded it onto my Reader, but I'll do that now.

I suspect the problem will persist. I suspect the culprit may be something to do with 2 lines, or the Annotations choice, or even the point size.

I'll check now.

Don

JSWolf · 07-08-2007, 06:15 AM

Harry, I just looked at a book I recently converted and the ToC works just like the way Dr. Dib described his problem.

What I did was I changed the ToC from the default style to Epigraph and that lost the ToC style. So the behavior changed.

Dr. Dib, the only way to do what you want may be to use a default ToC or use notes and links to make the ToC.

HarryT · 07-08-2007, 10:25 AM

I've checked a number of my books, and none have the problem. I create TOCs in two different ways:

1. For straightforward books I use the "Insert TOC" menu command.
2. For more complex ones I do it by hand with note/link

Both of these work fine for me. Perhaps it's changing the style of the TOC which is the cause of the trouble?

JSWolf · 07-08-2007, 10:30 AM

Playing around last night, I did find that it was changing the style that caused the problem. I found that changing the style of the ToC to Epigraph solved the hanging underline mess, but then BD loses the fact that it is a ToC. What I might suggest is doing a hand built ToC and making the title Table of Contents a title for the Sony's ToC so you can jump straight in to the ToC like a lot of the Sony ToC. I'm going to play around and see what I can do to get it to work and to get it looking ok.

Dr. Dib, how are you making your ToC? Are you generating one and then editing it from there? You might be best to do it by hand using the notes/links and making what you have as titles into Subtitles so they show in the footer.

Dr. Drib · 07-08-2007, 12:26 PM

Some history here: Moby Dick was originally compiled from two different sources, both HTML, and both not quite correct in the way that Moby Dick had been published.

Moby Dick has Chapter numbers only (on the HTML). However, I found a site that had all the chapter numbers on the left and on the right the names of those chapter numbers (again, this was in HTML). I copied and pasted it onto my Moby Dick file.

Fortunately, only about 5 or 6 chapter names were too long, so I decided to "split" the chapter number and immediately on the next line I put the Chapter Name (for that chapter number).

Still about 2 chapter names were too long, so I decided to use Annotation and played with point 9 and then point 8. However, there was another problem, as detailed in my upload: about 3 or 4 chapters designated as TITLE - even though they looked perfect before compiling - did not behave as TITLES. I was dumbfounded. (I eventually found a way around that - a lot of retyping, etc.)

That still left the problem with the TOC, in that the chapters did not link back to the proper TOC page. I got rid of ANNOTATIONS completely from the TOC and changed it back to PARAGRAPH. I still had the recurring problem with TITLES not behaving as tittles - forced page break, centered, and title style -- even though, as I mentioned, it all looked perfect before compiling it into a Bbeb book.

Total frustration. And then, after getting everything working -- "crippled" to work perfectly - I accidentally hit the OPEN EMPTY FILE button. Argggghgghghggh!!!!!

I think, in looking back on this, I was dealing with two problems: buried HTML code -- which I know nothing about, and MAYBE (perhaps not?) a bug in ANNOTATIONS when one wants to use it as a TOC style.

Anyway, Moby Dick now looks fine - somehow - and is located in the upload section.

I hope this long explanation helps. Let me know if I can clarify a point or two to help.

Don

07-07-2007, 10:03 AM	#1
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 44,748 Karma: 55645321 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: Kindle: Oasis 3, Voyage WiFi; Kobo: Libra 2, Aura One	BookDesigner problem: TOC links to chapters and back again. Going BACK to the TOC does not take me to the CORRECT PAGE OF TOC. I always end up on page one of TOC. Let me add some info: I just finished putting together Moby Dick, a book that's so important in the literature of this country (in my opinion), that I decided to put together a TOC with all links to the Chapters - with all due respect to ROY WHITE, for his generous work on Moby Dick, which is available right now. I actually finished the project - a quite lengthy involvement of time - and I'm quite proud of it. HOWEVER, when I click on (say) Chapter 80 (from the TOC) I DO get to Chapter 80. But when I click on Chapter 80, I'm taken back to the FIRST PAGE OF TOC. This is quite annoying and unacceptable. More info: I have everything on the TOC set to ANNOTATIONS, at 9 point. I have ONE LINE FOR THE ROMAN NUMERAL CHAPTER. Right below the chapter, I have a second line for the CHAPTER NAME. Does anyone know what the solution is? I'm ready to post this, but not in this crippled format. It's ok for me to read on my own Reader, but when there are 7 or 8 pages of TOC, I want the viewer to get back to the correct TOC page and not always back to page one of TOC. Thanks, Don P.S.: I hope this is the right thread to post this. Last edited by Dr. Drib; 07-07-2007 at 10:09 AM.

07-08-2007, 12:26 PM	#7
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 44,748 Karma: 55645321 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: Kindle: Oasis 3, Voyage WiFi; Kobo: Libra 2, Aura One	I compile a TOC both ways, it just depends Some history here: Moby Dick was originally compiled from two different sources, both HTML, and both not quite correct in the way that Moby Dick had been published. Moby Dick has Chapter numbers only (on the HTML). However, I found a site that had all the chapter numbers on the left and on the right the names of those chapter numbers (again, this was in HTML). I copied and pasted it onto my Moby Dick file. Fortunately, only about 5 or 6 chapter names were too long, so I decided to "split" the chapter number and immediately on the next line I put the Chapter Name (for that chapter number). Still about 2 chapter names were too long, so I decided to use Annotation and played with point 9 and then point 8. However, there was another problem, as detailed in my upload: about 3 or 4 chapters designated as TITLE - even though they looked perfect before compiling - did not behave as TITLES. I was dumbfounded. (I eventually found a way around that - a lot of retyping, etc.) That still left the problem with the TOC, in that the chapters did not link back to the proper TOC page. I got rid of ANNOTATIONS completely from the TOC and changed it back to PARAGRAPH. I still had the recurring problem with TITLES not behaving as tittles - forced page break, centered, and title style -- even though, as I mentioned, it all looked perfect before compiling it into a Bbeb book. Total frustration. And then, after getting everything working -- "crippled" to work perfectly - I accidentally hit the OPEN EMPTY FILE button. Argggghgghghggh!!!!! I think, in looking back on this, I was dealing with two problems: buried HTML code -- which I know nothing about, and MAYBE (perhaps not?) a bug in ANNOTATIONS when one wants to use it as a TOC style. Anyway, Moby Dick now looks fine - somehow - and is located in the upload section. I hope this long explanation helps. Let me know if I can clarify a point or two to help. Don Last edited by Dr. Drib; 07-08-2007 at 12:29 PM.

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07-07-2007, 10:50 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I suppose the thing to ask, Don, is how important is this? One needs the TOC to get to Chapter 80, but one can easily get back to the TOC simply by returning to the start of the book. I appreciate that it's an irritation, but is it a "show stopper". I've just tried it on some of my books which has long TOCs (eg "Oliver Twist", where it goes on for about 6 pages, because of the long chapter descriptions) and - at least on the Connect "emulator" - it works fine. Clicking the chapter heading takes you to the page of the TOC containing the link to the chapter. Does yours behave the same way on the Connect emulator as on the actual Reader?

07-08-2007, 06:15 AM	#4
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,983 Karma: 128903378 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Harry, I just looked at a book I recently converted and the ToC works just like the way Dr. Dib described his problem. What I did was I changed the ToC from the default style to Epigraph and that lost the ToC style. So the behavior changed. Dr. Dib, the only way to do what you want may be to use a default ToC or use notes and links to make the ToC.

07-08-2007, 10:25 AM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I've checked a number of my books, and none have the problem. I create TOCs in two different ways: 1. For straightforward books I use the "Insert TOC" menu command. 2. For more complex ones I do it by hand with note/link Both of these work fine for me. Perhaps it's changing the style of the TOC which is the cause of the trouble?

07-08-2007, 10:30 AM	#6
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,983 Karma: 128903378 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Playing around last night, I did find that it was changing the style that caused the problem. I found that changing the style of the ToC to Epigraph solved the hanging underline mess, but then BD loses the fact that it is a ToC. What I might suggest is doing a hand built ToC and making the title Table of Contents a title for the Sony's ToC so you can jump straight in to the ToC like a lot of the Sony ToC. I'm going to play around and see what I can do to get it to work and to get it looking ok. Dr. Dib, how are you making your ToC? Are you generating one and then editing it from there? You might be best to do it by hand using the notes/links and making what you have as titles into Subtitles so they show in the footer.