Re: [docbook-apps] EPUB parameters: (epub.cover.id)

On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 2:32 PM, Robert Nagle<> wrote:
> I'm having trouble figuring out the meaning of the epub parameters,
> especially the ones related to cover. (see bottom)

The cover can be a little bit tricky to generate generically in
DocBook 4.x because of the lack of the <cover> element. It should be
simpler in DocBook 5.0.

> I know that docbook has a cover element, but "cover" in the context of
> epub parameters seems to mean something  different.  (Or am I supposed
> to assume that the cover image information should be inside a
> mediaobject element which is inside docbook's cover element?)

> Does epub.cover.filename assume that the file is an html file or a
> graphic file?

In general, most of the epub.* parameters should be left as the
default unless you're writing an EPUB generation tool.

The epub.cover.filename contains the name of the generated cover XHTML file.

> Will the epub.cover.image.id refer to a file name or simply be  an
> identifying attribute?

The epub.cover.image.id is used to identify the cover in the OPF file.

> Finally, I see this note on docbook.xsl
>
>   <!-- Via Martin Goerner: On covers: the IDPF2.0 standard
> ...
> I'm sorry; I don't understand exactly what this means. Does he mean
> that in the html output from docbook you include cover information in
> a meta tag ? Is there a file reference inside this meta tag?

You shouldn't need to worry about this.

> Also, when epub.cover.linear = 0 or 1, what does that mean?

One typically keeps the cover out of the OPF spine. The default of "0"
keeps it out.

> It would be nice to see a simple example of the values used to produce a cover.

You can see an example of a DocBook 4.x cover here (less clearly):
https://docbook.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/docbook/trunk/xsl/epub/bin/spec/files/orm.book.001.xml
and 5.0 here (more clearly):
https://docbook.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/docbook/trunk/xsl/epub/bin/spec/files/v5cover.xml

Keith