OBSOLETE! Kindle HTML Template
Amazon has changed their publishing method
So... the tips included in the referenced template
no longer work to create a visible TOC
Kindle
PublishingTemplate
Tech
Details
These Tips Copyright © 2011 by Beverly
Howard
and released to the public domain
The Kindle html template file has intentionally been kept in
the simplest html format
possible and as a single file for submission to the Amazon DTP
Publishing site site.
The tips here and in the template file assume the book's content
submission will be contained in a single html file to be submitted for
publishing.
You can look at the html "source" of the template file to see some
Kindle
specific needs that will not appear when browsing the template
itself. The
code examples in green below are not functional until they are placed
in the html source code.
For example;
Pagebreaks,
...which should be placed only between chapter and
similar
breaks, are initialized by including the following statement at the
beginning of the html source
code;
<style>
P {
page-break-after: always }
</style>
Pagebreaks are then executed by placing the html tags;
<p></p>
...in the source code between chapters or other
locations where page (screen) breaks are needed.
The "horizontal lines" in the template show
places where page breaks have been set in the underlying code.
The lines can be deleted after they have been used to assure that the
content has been added on the correct side of the page breaks.
For example, in
the template there is a pagebreak between the book cover image
above and the page containing the book's title text, copyright and
author's name.
A page break also follows the author's name and the table of contents'
links.
If you open the template file in a "Text Editor" (such as notepad) or
any "HTML Source Editor" you will be able to see these and other hidden
tags.
"Comments" have been added to the html source code to make it easier to spot
these additions such as;
<!--the
following creates a page break-->
Depending on the html editor you use, you may have the
option to toggle the ability to see the tags and where they are
embedded into the document.
Table of Contents
The "Table of Contents" html solution requires two
different components.
First, create a your table of contents links similar to the sample TOC
entries shown in the template file. These links point to "named
anchors"
located before each chapter or section break.
When the reader
clicks on
one of these links, they will be taken to the named anchor location
within the book.
The links in the template file are simply samples and must be
customized for your
book's needs.
The second component that needs to exist for a Table of Contents to
work
correctly, is not native HTML syntax, but, rather, relates to the
various Kindle readers'
"Table of Contents"
option.
Each Kindle
Reader device or app
contains a "menu-goto" option or a "bookmarks" icon that includes a "Table of Contents"
entry.
The html source you submit for publishing needs to tell the
publishing
process exactly where your html table of contents is located
within the
book. If you do not do this, the "Table of Contents" selection
under the reader's bookmark navigation will be inactive and "greyed
out."
The clue for doing this came from page 11 of the KindlePubGuidelines.pdf
which contains additional information concerning the acceptable
stucture of an html table of contents submitted for publishing.
The code example contained in the above guide assumes that the code
will be in an
external html file, however, it is possible to include a reference in
the book
file itself. The following is the modified code that references a
named anchor showing the location of the toc and the anchor name is
"toc" (lowercase in this example and in the template file and it is
"case sensitive");
<guide>
<reference type="toc"
title="Table of Contents" href="#toc">
</reference>
</guide>
Sample chapter and section breaks are included in the template into
order to show the
functionalty of the TOC in this sample template. You can copy the
"Chapter 2" sample header using the small text pointers to capture
exactly what needs to be copied in order to paste as many chapter or
section breaks as you need in your own file.
Hope that this information is of value.
Beverly Howard