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Chris Panny
Chris Panny
Inspiring
June 9, 2023
Answered

Need To Insert Floating Text Frame Into Text Thread

  • June 9, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 655 views

I have a book I'm laying out which will be output to ePUB reflowable. It spans 200 pages and is one big continuous text thread. I created a TOC using two paragraph styles for the epub reader. The author wants me to flow the toc into the document and be interactive. It would be in between page 6 and 7. When I generate this, it loads as a separate text frame which is no surprise. Is there a way to stitch the toc text frame into the flow of the big thread? If I copy | paste it, it loses the interactive and becomes static text.

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Correct answer James Gifford—NitroPress

If you anchor the TOC text frame, it will remain in that relative position. Usually, you anchor it to something like the copyright notice or dedication, whatever the last element in the front matter is.

 

A couple of tricky things:

  • You can't anchor multi-page text flows, so you will have to keep the frame to one page.
  • Which is no problem, because that frame can be any height and have any amount of overset text, all of which will be flowed into the EPUB export. Thus, height of the box is irrelevant.
  • Width, however, will be reflected in the export formatting. Normally, you'll want it margin width, but you can tinker with the effects of making it narrower.
  • Use two defined TOC 'styles,' one for the text TOC, the other for the dynamic one.
  • And, in-text TOCs are really, really, really deprecated as unnecessary clutter in ebooks, especially when the dynamic TOC is always right at the reader's availability and can be made much deeper than most print ones. Also, reader hard coding will make the TOC really ugly with bright blue underlining no matter how much trickery you put into the formatting.

 

But there you go.

2 replies

James Gifford—NitroPress
James Gifford—NitroPressCorrect answer
Legend
June 10, 2023

If you anchor the TOC text frame, it will remain in that relative position. Usually, you anchor it to something like the copyright notice or dedication, whatever the last element in the front matter is.

 

A couple of tricky things:

  • You can't anchor multi-page text flows, so you will have to keep the frame to one page.
  • Which is no problem, because that frame can be any height and have any amount of overset text, all of which will be flowed into the EPUB export. Thus, height of the box is irrelevant.
  • Width, however, will be reflected in the export formatting. Normally, you'll want it margin width, but you can tinker with the effects of making it narrower.
  • Use two defined TOC 'styles,' one for the text TOC, the other for the dynamic one.
  • And, in-text TOCs are really, really, really deprecated as unnecessary clutter in ebooks, especially when the dynamic TOC is always right at the reader's availability and can be made much deeper than most print ones. Also, reader hard coding will make the TOC really ugly with bright blue underlining no matter how much trickery you put into the formatting.

 

But there you go.

    Chris Panny
    Chris PannyAuthor
    Inspiring
    June 18, 2023

    Thanks James. I agree about the in-text TOCs. They're not necessary, but the client is insistent. I like your idea to build two separate ones. I will implement that. The blue underlining looks aweful too, especially if you use a dark theme which I prefer when I read.

    It's only an island if you look at it from the water.
    Scott Falkner
    Community Expert
    Scott FalknerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 10, 2023

    Try pasting the text into your main story then Update Table of Contents.

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      June 10, 2023

      This rarely works right over time. ID really wants the TOC in its own managed frame. But that's not a problem for EPUB; you just anchor the frame.

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