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I am new with tex4ebook and use the default format epub. I dicovered a difference when viewing the epub file between Adobe digital edition laptop version and Adobe digital edition mobile version. Only in the laptop version the cover page ist shown; in the mobile version no cover page can be seen.

Does anyone know what might be the problem? And are there in general differences in displaying the same epub file in different ebook readers?

Your understanding is appreciated, Thomkrates

Edit 1:

In the config.cfg file I include the following:

\Preamble{xhtml,no-cut,3,info}
\special{t4ht+@File: Cover_Testfile.jpg}
\Configure{CoverMimeType}{image/jpeg}
\CoverMetadata{Cover_Testfile.jpg}
\Configure{CoverImage}{}{}
\begin{document}
...

And in the Testdocument.tex file this:

\begin{document}
\ifdefined\HCode
\phantomsection
\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Cover}
\coverimage[natwidth=\paperwidth,natheight=\paperheight]{Cover_Testfile.jpg}
\fi
\clearpage

Greetings, Thomkrates

Edit 2:

To get a general overview of the differences when viewing the same epub file (produced by tex4ebook) with different ebook readers (laptop version, mobile version, Adobe Digital Edition, eboox, and ReadEra) I can say the following:

  1. There are differences in the appearance of the cover page/file, some don't show one at all, others when opened the epub file, but not in the general list of the epub reader before opening the ebook.

  2. There are differences in the consequence of giving a \clearpage tag in the .tex file the designated function: Some ebook reader ignore it, others seems to follow the function idea and fill in a pagebreak.

  3. There are differences in the transformed behaviour of the \section{} tag in the .tex file, when viewing the sections with different ebook readers. It seems as if they bring in an automatic pagebreak without respekting an existing \clearpage tag, since the \clearpage tag seems to be ignored, and the \section{} seems to result in a pagebreak seen in the epub.

  4. Some ebook readers show a toc in the epub when viewing it, others told me, that the epub doesnt have a tableofcontent. In fact in the .texfile the\tableofcontentswas commented out. So it seems, as if some obey this and others bring in atocself made out of the different\section{}in thesource.tex`.

  5. There are differences in showing a centered \section{}; some show it centered, some not.

  6. There are differences in showing a newline ...Text\\Text... from line to line; some show it, like it is the intention in LaTeX, from line to line without \indent; others fill in a \baselineskip and an \indent which show up unnatural and not very nice like in the .pdf via pdflatex as it is a professional book printing set up.

I don't know whether there can be a solution to it or where the solution can be found. If these shortly described behaviours and differences are generally known and therefore at the moment widely accepted, the lower quality and differences seem to be accepted, and therefore no problem in making ones own ebooks with tex4ebook. If it is a problem with this, and can be fixed, it should be fixed, to get the professional quality of ebooks also with this tool, since latex and pdflatex show professional book quality, which should also appear in ebooks coming out of it. In the other case, it may be hoped that users will forgive the producers of ebooks, for these differences which can lead to unusual behaviour and showing in the ebook reader, although they have paid some money for it.

Thank you for your undestanding and to the contributors of good solutions to it. If possible.

With best wishes Thomkrates

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  • how do you insert the cover image? In the document itself, or in the config file? I think a MWE is needed.
    – michal.h21
    Mar 15 at 12:28
  • See Edit 1 in the question. Hope this helps to clear the case. Why is there a difference in displaying in laptop version and mobile version of a ebook reader like mentioned above?
    – Thomkrates
    Mar 16 at 17:24
  • There is a difference between the laptop version and the mobile version for all of these: my web browser; my banking web site; my email web site; the ticketing agency for every place I patronize shows; etc. Several possible reasons why: different screen sizes, different screen aspect ratios, different normal aspect (portrait, landscape), different underlying software, different programmers. On the other hand,, the Kindle Ebook version of my print book does show cover art, but it is a reduced JPG instead of the massive TIFF printed.
    – rallg
    Mar 16 at 18:18
  • could you post your update as a new question with full MWE? it is not possible to answer it without seeing your code.
    – michal.h21
    Mar 19 at 14:15

1 Answer 1

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There are two methods of adding the cover image, one is using \CoverMetadata{<filename>} in the config file, the second is \coverimage {<filename>} used in the document. The first method is useful when you want to display your cover image in the library of your e-reader, but not in the book itself. The second should display cover in both library and in the book.

You use both of these methods, which maybe cause some issues. Calibre has no problems, but I don't know about ADE, which I don't have access to. It would be best to remove \CoverMetadata from the config file:

\Preamble{xhtml,no-cut,3,info}
\Configure{CoverMimeType}{image/jpeg}
\Configure{CoverImage}{}{}
\begin{document}
\EndPreamble
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  • Thank you. I removed \CoverMetadata and \special{t4ht+@File: Cover_Testfile.jpg} from the config file und let the above code in the tex file as is. But still, in ADE mobile version, there is no Cover image seen.
    – Thomkrates
    Mar 17 at 3:43
  • I tried another mobile ebook reader ReadEra: when I open the epub file, the cover is shown, but in the main list with all found documents for this ebook reader, there is no preview of the cover image.
    – Thomkrates
    Mar 17 at 3:57
  • I tried a third mobile ebook reader and found additionally some formatting differences for the first pages, with which it is seen, that the \clearpage commands are not working like in the Adobe Digital edition mobile und laptop version (were this aspect seems perfect for me, since it is shown like intended). But the variation is confusing me and a bit frustrating, since the quality of the epub ebooks seems to differ from ebook reader to ebook reader. Which should not. Is there no standard for tranforming text in html?
    – Thomkrates
    Mar 17 at 8:55
  • @Thomkrates I've found that there is an error in the current TeX4ebook version, which can result in invalid Epub file. But even after the fix, ADE on mobile fails to load my test file. It seems that this app is broken. ReadEra seems to work on the fixed file.
    – michal.h21
    Mar 17 at 10:15
  • @Thomkrates I have quite bad experiences with Epub readers, unfortunately. I think ReadEra should be quite good on Android. E-ink devices are even worse.
    – michal.h21
    Mar 17 at 10:17

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