Magazine issues and eink devices

[YouCanToo]

For some reason they seem to screw up the works with pdf's and most of the html also.  I have to strip most of the text from the html to get it to work the way it does when making the ebook.  Perhaps it would work better if we just used raw text instead of the mark up.  I think I will play around with doing that this weekend. I just don't know what is the answer is.  If you have any ideas on how to make the ebook better for everyone, I am open to all ideas.

[parnote]

YouCanToo,

I just found this LibreOffice extension, which will export any file recognized by LibreOffice as an ePub file. Its use looks to be fairly straight forward. I tried it, but cannot view the file with Calibre, since Calibre appears to be broken atm (on my computer, anyways ... it creates windows on my screen that are all gray and devoid of the intended contents).

One other possibility might be to explore the use of Sigil, which is in the repos. There was an article in the magazine within the past couple of months about how to use it.

In either case, once the ePub file is produced, then Calibre can be used (hope it's working on your computer) to convert it to MOBI format.

Just a couple of ideas to throw out there.

parnote

[YouCanToo]

Paul, I have indeed played around with Sigil and created a .epub file with it. The results from it displays on my machine the same as Calibre does.  I have not experienced the issues that kolosus and the others have had with the format. Perhaps it is something within the .mobi formatting itself that causes these issues.

I tried the LibreOffice extension and could not it to load. Something about "Could not create java implementation loader"

[parnote]

Paul, I have indeed played around with Sigil and created a .epub file with it. The results from it displays on my machine the same as Calibre does.  I have not experienced the issues that kolosus and the others have had with the format. Perhaps it is something within the .mobi formatting itself that causes these issues.

I tried the LibreOffice extension and could not it to load. Something about "Could not create java implementation loader"

Just curious, YouCanToo, but do you have Java activated in LibreOffice?

[YouCanToo]

Paul, I have indeed played around with Sigil and created a .epub file with it. The results from it displays on my machine the same as Calibre does.  I have not experienced the issues that kolosus and the others have had with the format. Perhaps it is something within the .mobi formatting itself that causes these issues.

I tried the LibreOffice extension and could not it to load. Something about "Could not create java implementation loader"

Just curious, YouCanToo, but do you have Java activated in LibreOffice?

Yes, it is.  I think the problem might be the filter is Latest release compatible with: LibreOffice 3.3 , LibreOffice 3.4 , LibreOffice 3.5 and I have L.O. 4.0.1.2 installed.

[mellon]

Downloaded the epub versions of the December 2012 issue and the March 2013 issue. Reader: EntourageEdge (the 9" version).
The December 2012 issue looks ok. Paging goes smoothly without skipping. Not so on the March 2013 version. Each Topic header appears on a separate page with the text of the first page following on the next page, but the second, third etc. pages are skipped. From page 1 the next page is the header of the next topic.

An .epub file is a zip file. Change the .epub extension to .zip and look at the contents in Ark.
There is an important difference between the two files. The December version uses a html file with a name like index_split_003.html for each chapter or topic. The toc.ncx entries point to those html files.
The March 2013 issue has only one index_ebook.html file with a toc.ncx file having index items pointing to a reference point in the single index_ebook.html. Perhaps not every reader handles such references correct?

Mellon

[YouCanToo]

Downloaded the epub versions of the December 2012 issue and the March 2013 issue. Reader: EntourageEdge (the 9" version).
The December 2012 issue looks ok. Paging goes smoothly without skipping. Not so on the March 2013 version. Each Topic header appears on a separate page with the text of the first page following on the next page, but the second, third etc. pages are skipped. From page 1 the next page is the header of the next topic.

An .epub file is a zip file. Change the .epub extension to .zip and look at the contents in Ark.
There is an important difference between the two files. The December version uses a html file with a name like index_split_003.html for each chapter or topic. The toc.ncx entries point to those html files.
The March 2013 issue has only one index_ebook.html file with a toc.ncx file having index items pointing to a reference point in the single index_ebook.html. Perhaps not every reader handles such references correct?

Mellon

The only thing different in creating the ebooks is the version of software that was used to create them. I use a template  file to lay them out, and that file has not changed.  The file index_ebook.html is the template that I use to make both .mobi and .epub files from.  I used Calibre version 0.9.21 for the March edition, I do see that there is now another version released 0.9.23 I can recreate the march ebook from this version if you would care to download it and try it out.

UPDATE:   I just also noticed that all the links are broken in this month's epub version.  for example if you click on the link to www.adoptme.com you will get an error saying this

Unable to run the command specified. The file or folder file:///tmp/calibre_0.9.23_tmp_bw0KS2/rJullw_ebook_iter/AdoptMe.com does not exist.

[YouCanToo]

OK, I have recreated both ebook using the latest software version.  You can  down load them here


http://pclosmag.com/pdf/201303remake-epub.epub

http://pclosmag.com/pdf/201303remake-mobi.mobi


Please give it another try and let me know.

[russell.eberhardt]

Sorry, but there is still a problem here on my Kindle. 

When I open the magazine the contents page comes up. Then I press
 > key for the next page and the beginning of the "Welcome from the chief editor" page comes up.
O.K. so far, but, I then press
> again for the rest of the page and I get a blank page instead with the heading "Windows Migration:  etc".
> takes me to the first page of that section
> takes me to that heading again and the thermometer indicator suggests that I am 10% through the book.
> does nothing for 30 seconds and then takes me to the start of that section.

It seems that the problem is that the the Kindle cannot handle the long html pages for some reason.

Russell.

[russell.eberhardt]

Just tried changing the text size on the Kindle and I still get one screenfull of each article.  So there is something in the file that is stopping the Kindle splitting those pages correctly.

Thanks for all your efforts on this YouCanToo.

Russell.

[YouCanToo]

Well today Calibre released another update (Ver. 0.9.24) with a ton of bug fies. I will download it and remake the epub and mobi version and uploade them. I will post a link when I have made the conversion this afternoon.

[mellon]

I have updated the March issue by amending the index.ebook.html file.

I noticed the following pattern for each page reference in the file

Code: [Select]

<a name="page01" id="page01"> </a>

      <table class="calibre16">
        <tbody class="calibre2">
          <tr class="calibre3">
            <td class="calibre17">
            <h3 class="calibre10">Windows Migration: Configure Your Computer with PCC<br class="calibre18"/>
            </h3>
            </td>
          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>
      <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="0" class="calibre8">
        <tbody class="calibre2">
          <tr class="calibre3">
            <td class="calibre11">

            <strong class="calibre14">by Meemaw</strong><br class="calibre7"/><br class="calibre7"/>

<p class="calibre12">
I was thinking the other day about the PCLinuxOS Control Center (PCC) and how it is the "place to go" for all your major system configurations … and it's been updated in PCLinuxOS. Perhaps there are those who need a tour of some of the things you can do with this configuration center. It is a centralized application for configuring and administering various system tools, making it easier for a user to do the many different chores that pertain to the maintenance and use of a Linux box. This will be a highlight of the PCC, and if you need a more in-depth explanation of any item, you should post in the forums so someone who's more knowledgeable can explain it more completely.
</p>

The   <td class="calibre11"> marks the beginning of a table cell.  The ending tags

 </td>
   </tr>
  </tbody>
 </table>     

appeared just at the end of each chapter or item in the file just before the comment <!-- End of Content --> The whole text of the item is put in a single table cell. That may be a bit too much for some readers.

By deleting the tags at the end and pasting them just below the line with the name of the author for each of the 19 pages and the editorial, paging through the epub file no longer skips or stops. The layout may need some tweaking but the major issue might be gone.

I checked the HTML files of March 2013 and they too have this <table> <tbody> structure. And as such they differ from the structure found in the December source.  So it looks as if the 'issue' originates from a change of the HTML source file .

Mellon

[YouCanToo]

Thanks Mellon, that got me to take a closer look at the html template that I am using. I have made some changes, as you suggested, to the template and also have corrected a small error that I found while doing those changes.  I have once again recreated the ebook using today's latest release of Calibre 0.9.24.   If you folks would look at it again and let me know if this has fixed the issues that you were having.

http://pclosmag.com/pdf/201303revision2-epub.epub  (12 meg)

http://pclosmag.com/pdf/201303revision2-mobi.mobi  (14 meg)

[russell.eberhardt]

Revision 2 mobi works much better here.

One problem remains; I only get the first screenfull  of the "Welcome from the chief editor" section.  The other sections work fine.

Rgds
Russell.

[mellon]

Revision2 Epub also needs a fix on the 'editorial' entry. The table ending tags are at the end.

With that fixed I still have issues. While paging though the whole document on my device (EntourageEdge) everything went fine until right at the end of the Gimp Tutorial item.  The next page button press  after that threw me right back to page 3 (a page containing the picture of the chief editor).  I jumped a few pages beyond the Gimp Tutorial item and then paged back and forth. That went fine.  I continued until about the Mounting ssh item which is on my device near page 45. Again the next page button threw me back to page 3. Jumping a few pages further and then back a few pages and forward again and all went ok.

Put the same file on my smartphone using FBReader and no issue at all.

Put the December issue on my Ent. Edg. and no problem at all paging from page 1 to the end.

Stripped all the tables related tags from the March issue and checked and amended the toc.ncx file and still the same issue of getting thrown back to page 3.

The file looks ok. I have run out of ideas.

I normally read the PDF version or HTML version, so it is not a real issue for me.

Mellon