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M
Mike24743490uli6
Participant
June 10, 2022
Answered

EPUB: What would cause this difference?

  • June 10, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 1577 views

Attaching screenshots of a given chapter of a book; one in the Kindle app and one in the Apple Books app. In the Kindle, it shows both "Twenty-Two" above the title and then the number 22 prior to the chapter title. In Apple books, the numerical 22 isn't shown. Why would this be?

 

I'm trying to have the chapter numbers spelled out above the chapter title, but then in the TOC have the chapters numbered like:

 

1. [Chapter 1 title]

2. [Chapter 2 title]

 

This is a reflowable epub.

Correct answer James Gifford—NitroPress

Can I control the "space after" the chapter number if it needs to be different than the space after the chapter name that way (with just a soft return), though?

 

(Also: I'd thought I'd had that pull quote after the chapter number [as I'd mentioned in my first message here], but it's actually after the chapter name.)

 

 


All four iterations need to be styled and managed separately, and then in concert. No small trick.

 

If you want a lot of control over the printed page, the two paragraph approach might be best. It gives you unlimited control on the print page but limits you to the two-line TOC display.

 

The single-Para Style, soft-return plus Char Style method means you have to juggle line spacing and then spacing below on the print page, which should be do-able. Leading is controlled, more or less, by the following paragraph, so if you have 36pt leading to separate the number and title, then 14pt Body text following will be as close as any bottom/top spacing allows.

 

This is 24/48 for the auto-numbered heading, with a following em space and 1pc space below, and 12/14 with 6pt bottom spacing for the Body:

 

Seems like that should get you where you want... or did I miss something?

1 reply

James Gifford—NitroPress
James Gifford—NitroPress
Legend
June 10, 2022

Are these from the same EPUB, or separate exports?

 

Don't auto-number the chapter headings in any way. Use auto-numbered TOC styles.

 

—

    M
    Mike24743490uli6Author
    Participant
    June 10, 2022

    Same epub file, different reading apps.

     

    I've tried setting the TOC style to auto-number, but the TOC on the readers seems to ignore it. 

      A
      aliciap22522224
      Participating Frequently
      February 15, 2025

      The short answer is that there isn't really any good method that will work, export after export and across the maximum range of readers, other than hand-numbering a single chapter heading paragraph. It really only takes a few minutes in a final pass; while there are other approaches, most take a fair amount of setup and management and may not result in a "tidy" TOC in the EPUB. The interaction of ID's auto-numbering etc. and what the EPUB/TOC structure expects is not reliable, so time spent on a simple approach is likely saved in elaborate setup, management, fixes, etc.

       

      I'd also make a case that numbering chapters in a dynamic TOC is... unnecessary, more of a holdover from print TOC layout and other conventions, than it is any asset. But, you know, authors.

       

      But you're on the right road by avoiding editing the export EPUB, which is archaic and counterproductive in today's production world. The correct approach is to find the method within ID that achieves your aims with the least "wasted" effort — and there always is one, IME.


      Well, I think I do need to edit the EPUB, then (unless I'm misunderstanding) -- he absolutely does NOT want the chapter number on the same line as the chapter name on the ebook pages themselves, only in the TOC.

       

      I tried a workaround where I did add a number before the chapter name on the page itself -- then applied a character style only to that number, making it white, or having "none" for a color, or giving it 0% transparency, hoping it would NOT show up on the ebook page but WOULD show up for the TOC. But Kindle Previewer would not let the number be white/none/transparent. It would display the number as a "readable" shade of gray, maybe assuming I'd made a mistake in trying to make it invisible. . . .

       

      Might there be a way to edit just that character style in the exported EPUB to tell the ereaders NOT to give it any black at all, maybe? That would be a much easier edit than having to renumber 40 chapters in the EPUB code, every time I want to re-export the book. . . .

       

      I'm a noob, so adding these chapter numbers to the code is the first and only time so far I've manually edited EPUB code. . . .

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