Two questions/requests

[MildBill]

Hi all.

I have several epubs (as well as other formats) I would like to convert to html for reading locally on my PC. I'm OK with the zip format, although one single html file would be better for me. That I guess would be request #1.

Secondly, as I said, the zip format is OK, but to issues I have with it. one, is there a way to make changes to it's basic output (from conversions), as I would like to remove the TOC it places on each page (chapter). Other than that, it's pretty good, assuming the epub is good to start with. Only other issue is that when opening the zip, is there a way to have Calibre unzip it somewhere, and open the main file in the default browser, as opposed to having to do that manually? As it stands now, in WinXP, I get an explorer window showing the contents of the zip, and have to go find it manually to actually unzip it and then proceed to read.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions,

MildBill

[ldolse]

Why don't you just use EpubReader (firefox plugin), Adobe Digital Editions, or Calibre's epub viewer?

The zip html output format is designed to generate html intended for a website, not for local PC desktop reading. Your epub is already a zipped up collection of html - just unzip it using any unzip utility and you'll have plain ol' html, as requested.

[MildBill]

Originally Posted by ldolse

The zip html output format is intended to generate html intended for a website, not for PC reading. Your epub is already a zipped up collection of html - just unzip it using any unzip utility and you'll have plain ol' html, as requested.

But that's just the point, I still would have to edit the zip output to remove the TOC on each page if I was putting it on a website.

And, if the epub is simply html in separate files, how hard could it be to convert to one single file?

MildBill

[ldolse]

Originally Posted by MildBill

But that's just the point, I still would have to edit the zip output to remove the TOC on each page if I was putting it on a website.

And, if the epub is simply html in separate files, how hard could it be to convert to one single file?

MildBill

Your original request was to read on your pc, not on a website, a lot of ebooks on websites are presented chapter by chapter, with Nav controls at the top like this feature does. What I'm trying to say is that this feature/output format is not intended for you, a poster who is asking for help with reading epub files on his desktop.

I'm not sure why the epub reading software doesn't work for you. If you want a single 'flow' with one continuous book, convert into a desktop oriented format like rtf. Merging multiple html files into one probably isn't terribly hard, but it isn't particularly easy either, which is why no one has implemented it yet.

[MildBill]

Originally Posted by ldolse

Your original request was to read on your pc, not on a website, a lot of ebooks on websites are presented chapter by chapter, with Nav controls at the top like this feature does. What I'm trying to say is that this feature/output format is not intended for you, a poster who is asking for help with reading epub files on his desktop.

I'm not sure why the epub reading software doesn't work for you. If you want a single 'flow' with one continuous book, convert into a desktop oriented format like rtf. Merging multiple html files into one probably isn't terribly hard, but it isn't particularly easy either, which is why no one has implemented it yet.

Ok, apparently we are failing to communicate effectively. Let me try again for your edification.
I have only the two issues with the zip format as I have stated originally, those being that the conversions from epub (and I don't see why you need to be concerned with WHY I prefer not to use an epub reader, so lets drop that part of the conversation right here) add not only the nav controls at the top and bottom of each 'page', which I have no problem with, but also adds a lengthy Table of Contents after the text of each page and before the bottom nav controls. THAT is what I would like to be able to remove from the process.
The second issue is that opening the file for reading is a pain in the butt, and this is true not only for conversions to zip, but also for ANY html file I add as a book, even if it started out as a single html file with no other files (such as graphics of some kind). I have a fairly significant number of books that started out as html, and it would be just dandy if they STAYED that way when added to Calibre, as opposed to being confined in a zip file. Or, the process of unzipping and opening should be simplified for reading from Calibre.
Now, if you have some insight relevant to these two issues, feel free to comment further. However, if not, then please refrain from wasting space that might be better used by someone who does.

MildBill

[KenJackson]

I really like the Firefox EPUBRead plugin. If you go to any site that has free EPUBs for download, you can literally just click on the EPUB document and it opens up in a new tab immediately where you can read it with the TOC off to the left for handy access.

I think the document is stored in your normal browser cache, so if you decide you don't want it, just close the tab and it will get deleted in the normal course of browser use. If you do want to keep it, there's a button to click that brings up the save dialog.

-----------------------------

Originally Posted by MildBill

(and I don't see why you need to be concerned with WHY I prefer not to use an epub reader, so lets drop that part of the conversation right here)

Oops. Sorry. I just a couple minutes too slow.

[MildBill]

Originally Posted by KenJackson

Oops. Sorry. I just a couple minutes too slow.

Not a problem, Ken. I was not aware of the FireFox plugin, but then I don't care for Firefox. However, I have at least 4 different epub readers on my PC that I can and do use.

The point of my original post was the 2 issues I had with the zip format, and trying to get some help with that.

MildBill

[ldolse]

HTML is zipped up when added to Calibre because an html ebook can contain many files -css, images, etc. Callibre's library only stores a single file per format, hence the requirement for zipping html ebooks.

If you don't want your files which were originally single file html to be split when you convert them to epub then change your epub output settings to not split on page breaks and change the max split file size to a few megabytes. Note epub files generated in this manner won't have much compatibility with many ebook reading devices, but they will be more or less the same as your original html - i.e. single flow. You can unzip the epub the same way you unzipped the zip file.

Your first post was asking for suggestions - you did not even indicate you were aware of epub reading software in that post - apologies if you took offense at suggesting the use of such software...

Short of that I don't have anything else helpful to suggest, except I don't think Calibre can do exactly what you want right now, it would be a feature request, which you're welcome to get involved to implement.

[kovidgoyal]

Just go to preferences->plugins->file type plugins and disable the html2zip plugin

[MildBill]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Just go to preferences->plugins->file type plugins and disable the html2zip plugin

Thank you Kovid, for that answer. I did not find that one yet.

I did, however, find a solution to the other half of the issue, by going to preferences> behavior and setting Calibre to use its internal viewer for zip files, which opens them nicely. It's not as convenient as having them open in my browser, but it will do for now.

Perhaps, Kovid, you can add that as an option somehow, to open zips and/or other .html in the default browser automatically.

And I'd still like to be able to remove that TOC from the generated html in the zips when converting.

Anyway, thanks again,
MildBill

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by MildBill

Perhaps, Kovid, you can add that as an option somehow, to open zips and/or other .html in the default browser automatically.

Files not handled by the internal viewer will be opened in whatever program has registered itself to handle that file type in the OS. So HTML files should, if you deactivate the internal viewer for them, open in the browser if the browser is registered to handle HTML files. ZIP files would then most probably open up in your archiving program.

[MildBill]

Originally Posted by Manichean

... ZIP files would then most probably open up in your archiving program.

And they are, but since WinXP has it's own internal Zip handler, that is how they open. To read them, you then have to unzip them somewhere, and open the result in a browser. Doable, but a PITA.

MildBill

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by MildBill

And they are, but since WinXP has it's own internal Zip handler, that is how they open. To read them, you then have to unzip them somewhere, and open the result in a browser. Doable, but a PITA.

Right-click on the filename (from in calibre, right-click and pick "open containing folder" first), and then "open with" and use your choice of viewer. No need to unzip it.

Now, if you have some insight relevant to these two issues, feel free to comment further. However, if not, then please refrain from wasting space that might be better used by someone who does.

Who died and made you mod?

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by MildBill

And they are, but since WinXP has it's own internal Zip handler, that is how they open. To read them, you then have to unzip them somewhere, and open the result in a browser. Doable, but a PITA.

So, find a reading program that can read HTML from inside a ZIP and register that to handle ZIP files. Or just use the internal viewer. If you want to read them in your browser, it should be possible to create a script that unzips the files to a temporary location and opens up the first one in the browser.