Kobo H2O bug

[PKFFW]

I recently purchased the Kobo H2O and I'm using the stock firmware that came with it, version 4.6.9995. I've read about 15 books on it.

I like to use Sigil to edit out any typo's in my books so when I come across one I bookmark it for later editing. Today I was editing a couple of books and I noticed something odd.

Many of the typos displaying on the Kobo don't appear in Sigil. Here's a few examples;

1: Double words. eg: "I believe believe you are mistaken" on Kobo displays as "I believe you are mistaken" in Sigil.
2: Insertion of words. eg: "I went to the to store" on Kobo displays as "I went to the store" in Sigil.
3: Missing words. eg: "Jesse walked the door" on Kobo displays as "Jesse walked through the door" in Sigil.
4: Letters displaying incorrectly. eg: the word "clipped" in Sigil (correct word as per the context) is displayed as "dipped" on the Kobo regardless of the chosen font or font size.

I find it bizarre that the Kobo could just insert whole words, delete whole words and display letters inaccurately like this.

Anyone else come across this problem?

[davidfor]

Sorry, never seen that happen. It sounds a lot more like you are editing a different version of the book than you have on the device. One thing you can do to check is to edit the copy that is on the device while it is connect to the PC. That at least makes sure you are looking at the right version of the book when editing it.

Other than that, I can't think of anything.

[DNSB]

The first question is where did you obtain the book? Is it PD so you can attach a copy to a message on this forum?

Another question is if you are editing in Code View or Book View. I've seen some oddities that did not show in Book View but were exposed in Code View. Generally speaking, Book View is for looking at the text. Code View should be used for editing unless you really like strange coding.

Otherwise, I would agree with davidfor. Copy the book back from your H2O and edit that copy.

[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Sorry, never seen that happen. It sounds a lot more like you are editing a different version of the book than you have on the device. One thing you can do to check is to edit the copy that is on the device while it is connect to the PC. That at least makes sure you are looking at the right version of the book when editing it.

Other than that, I can't think of anything.

I hadn't thought of that but I suppose that's a possibility. Generally though, I store all my books in Calibre and then I use it to load the book onto the Kobo. When I edit a book, I just use Sigil to open the copy in Calibre and edit that. I suppose I might have gotten a couple of updated copies in comparison to the ones on my Kobo when re-downloading or something.

Originally Posted by DNSB

The first question is where did you obtain the book? Is it PD so you can attach a copy to a message on this forum?

Another question is if you are editing in Code View or Book View. I've seen some oddities that did not show in Book View but were exposed in Code View. Generally speaking, Book View is for looking at the text. Code View should be used for editing unless you really like strange coding.

Otherwise, I would agree with davidfor. Copy the book back from your H2O and edit that copy.

No PD books and I've edited each of them now anyway.

As for editing, since it is just the occasional typo (usually), I just edit in book view.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by PKFFW

As for editing, since it is just the occasional typo (usually), I just edit in book view.

You might want to check the Sigil user interface issues and bugs thread in the Sigil forum. Basically, never edit in BookView. My personal preference does require two monitors so I have Sigil open to edit and Sigil's preview pane on the second monitor. An alternate with a wide screen monitor would be to split the screen between Sigil and the preview pane window.

[elstoc]

If I remember rightly, when you use Calibre to reload books already on your device, you need to delete any copies already on the device before you try to load a new version. Could this be the issue?

[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You might want to check the Sigil user interface issues and bugs thread in the Sigil forum. Basically, never edit in BookView. My personal preference does require two monitors so I have Sigil open to edit and Sigil's preview pane on the second monitor. An alternate with a wide screen monitor would be to split the screen between Sigil and the preview pane window.

Did not know that, never thought it'd make a difference. I'll definitely edit in code view from now on.

[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by elstoc

If I remember rightly, when you use Calibre to reload books already on your device, you need to delete any copies already on the device before you try to load a new version. Could this be the issue?

Never knew that either. Will be sure to follow this rule in future.

[JSWolf]

It would be a lot easier to use the Calibre editor to edit the errors. You would be sure of editing the copy you put on your H2O because it would be the same copy in your library. Also, another issue is that Sigil changes the layout so you if you wanted to replace the book with the edited copy, you cannot do so. You would first have to remove it and then replace it.

When you replace the eBook on your H2O with Calibre, the driver tells the H2O it's the same book so it doesn't import it as a different book. When you make significant enough changes, you things may not work well with that book.

Using Calibre's editor, it does not change the layout and just making some simple edits, you can replace the book with no problem.

There's nothing wrong with Sigil in general. It's just in this instance, it's not the correct tool to use.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by elstoc

If I remember rightly, when you use Calibre to reload books already on your device, you need to delete any copies already on the device before you try to load a new version. Could this be the issue?

You don't always need to delete what's on the Kobo first. It depends on the changes made. So for example, if you find a word that's misspelled that's bothering you and these errors occur past where you are currently reading, you can fix them in the Calibre editor (not Sigil) and then reload and continue reading no problem. But if you use Sigil to edit this, you have to delete the eBook first and the replace it because Sigil has made significant structural changes.

[Ken Maltby]

So... you guys are suggesting that there is a problem with Sigil, because it displays the text correctly - and not like it is displayed in Kobo? Sigil has introduced an alarming lack of Kobo detected problems, is that it? Odd.

Luck;
Ken

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

So... you guys are suggesting that there is a problem with Sigil, because it displays the text correctly - and not like it is displayed in Kobo? Sigil has introduced an alarming lack of Kobo detected problems, is that it? Odd.

Luck;
Ken

I have never seen any such problems like reported in this thread on my H2O. The problem maybe is editing with Sigil which changes the structure and then reloading via Calibre. Reloading with Calibre over what's there will be an issue since the structure is significantly changed with Sigil. The Kobo driver tells the Kobo that it's the same eBook so the firmware does not import it as a new eBook. That's why I suggested editing using the Calibre editor as that will work much better.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It would be a lot easier to use the Calibre editor to edit the errors. You would be sure of editing the copy you put on your H2O because it would be the same copy in your library. Also, another issue is that Sigil changes the layout so you if you wanted to replace the book with the edited copy, you cannot do so. You would first have to remove it and then replace it.

Huh??? I thought he was opening the book from inside Calibre so it wouldn't matter whether he used Calibre's internal editor or Sigil. As for the structure change, the first time you open and save a book with Sigil, it will change the file structure to match the recommended though not mandated structure for an epub file. Much the same functionality that Kovid supports in calibre's editor with the "Arrange files into folders by type" option.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When you replace the eBook on your H2O with Calibre, the driver tells the H2O it's the same book so it doesn't import it as a different book. When you make significant enough changes, you things may not work well with that book.

Hence part of my workflow is to delete the book from the device before sending if I've made major changes (first time opening with Sigil, changes in files (merge or split), changes in the TOC, etc. About the only time I don't do this is when I correct a simple typo (rain being changed to reign or rein as needed -- this was in a single ebook where the author had homonym issues).

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Using Calibre's editor, it does not change the layout and just making some simple edits, you can replace the book with no problem.

It's not just the file structure inside the epub file. Try changing the table of contents using calibre's editor. Can we spell "Ooopppsssiieesss"?

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There's nothing wrong with Sigil in general. It's just in this instance, it's not the correct tool to use.

I would disagree with you. I use both Sigil and calibre's editor. If nothing else, the FlightCrew and epubcheck plugins make Sigil my first choice for epub2 files -- calibre's error check is pretty much an equivalent to the F7 builtin error checker for Sigil. For epub3? Sigil is pretty much your only choice for a free tool.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

So... you guys are suggesting that there is a problem with Sigil, because it displays the text correctly - and not like it is displayed in Kobo? Sigil has introduced an alarming lack of Kobo detected problems, is that it? Odd.

Not quite right. Neither Sigil's internal viewer or calibre viewer use the same code as either of the renderer's used in a Kobo. And yes, I've seen times when there have been differences between all four.

This is not a criticism of Sigil, calibre, ADE/RMSDK or ACCESS NetFront BookReader and their developers. I have seen some epubs that have used truly strange approaches to structuring the code in an epub file. And you guessed it, some of those approaches can and will cause display issues. One recent ebook I was looking at wrapped curly quotes in <i></i> tags for some reason known only to the developer(s) of the editor used (<i>“</i> as an example). This same ebook also put </i><i> in the middle of words -- <i>S</i><i>t.</i> <i>Roc</i><i>he</i><i>’</i><i>s</i> as an example. "The St. Roche’s trip through the Northwest Passage during the rain of King George VI"

As stated, editing in BookView in Sigil is NOT RECOMMENDED as you cannot see the tags and can end up with some rather strange code. Using CodeView with the preview pane is the recommended approach.

[JSWolf]

So when is Sigial going to have the bookview be display only?