How to generate bookmarks correctly

[Spiral]

I am learning to produce epub files using sigil, and I am working on a file of format epub3. I want the defined a epub file so that bookmarks are generated when viewed by, say, Okular.

I have tried all I can but the file defined just go with bookmarks. I have compared files thoroughly with the .epub downloaded from https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...82&postcount=8.

I have studied the downloaded file and found:

1. the bookmarks is generated from `toc.ncx` instead of `nav.xhtml`
2. the bookmarks of my working file is generated from the guide section of content.opf
3. The only difference I can find is that the downloaded file is opened by epub3.0-Sigil[std] and my working file epub3.0-Sigil

A further question, is it possible to generate bookmarks from nav.xhtml, as toc.ncx is not needed for a epub3 file?

[KevinH]

Your use of the term bookmarks confused me. The actual terms are a Table of Contents (TOC) and Landmarks (Guide items). A bookmark is a user generated remembered location.

In an epub3, no toc.ncx is needed. Both its role and the opf guide are subsumed into the nav.xhtml document. But if you want older epub2 only readers to show a table of contents and guide/landmarks in your epub3 you can add them back.

In Sigil under epub3, the Table of Contents (TOC) tools work with the nav, not the toc.ncx.

There are tools in Sigil to create a TOC from the h1-h6 tags in the files. There are also tools to edit the TOC, promote/demote, and edit titles.

To set Landmarks/Guide items you use the Set Semantics tools by right clicking on a file in Sigil's BookBrowser.

Once you are happy with the TOC and have set appropriate file level semantics (which fills in the Nav landmarks info). You should be good to go for epub3.

If you want to create an epub3 that is more backwards compatible with older epub2 ereaders, there is an Epub3 Tools menu on Sigil that will create an equivalent toc.ncx and fill in the opf guide items.

There is also an epub3 tool menu to remove the toc.ncx and the opf guide if you do not care about being backwards compatible with epub2 only readers.

All of this is explained in the Sigil Users Guide.

Hope simething here helps.

[Spiral]

Thanks for your reply! It does help me clear some of my confussions.

Whay I mean by "bookmarks" is something that is shown by the reader to quickly jump among the parts of the content. I use it by the convention of the Okular reader.

My question has been solved by Tools -> Restructure Epub To Sigial Norm.

[Shohreh]

Hello,

I don't know much about EPUB and Sigil.

I'd like to have bookmarks ("landmarks" ?) like in the Sigil user guide, but can't figure out what to do after generating a ToC.

Thank you.



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Edit: I copy/pasted this code, replaced "toc.xhtml" with "nav.xhtml", and saved the file, but bookmarks still don't show when opening the EPUB in SumatraPDF.

[Doitsu]

Maybe Sumatra doesn't support EPUB3 nav documents. If you created an epub3 book, select Tools > Epub3 Tools > Generate NCX/Guide for epub2 e-readers.

[Shohreh]

Perfect! I reverted to "toc.xhtml" in the code, and bookmarks are still displayed in SumatraPDF.

[DiapDealer]

So it's Sumatra that's confusing things by referring to toc entries as "bookmarks" ?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

So it's Sumatra that's confusing things by referring to toc entries as "bookmarks" ?

IIRC, Sumatra originally started as a PDF viewer. Later on, the developer added support for EPUB files. And in PDF documents, the table of contents entries are often referred to as “bookmarks.”

[DiapDealer]

For me, the term "bookmark" is associated with something that can be created, customized, and deleted by the reader. Maybe that's rooted in the nature of a physical bookmark the reader used to hold their place.