snipx images missing in .epub and .mobi format

[Gerold Krommer]

Hi,

due to the lack of eReader running on Android, I have to play around with other formats. I'm creating either a .mobi or a.epub (doesn't matter, result is the same) for the Kindle Viewer on Android (or Kindle Preoviewer 3 on Windows, doesn't matter).

In the result the background images of .snipx (shared with H&M output with table numbering included) are not visible like so

2024-04-14_14-45-38.jpg

Steps to reproduce:

Open a screenshot in SnipX
Add e.g. numbering steps
Share to H&M including table (not sure this makes a difference)
Produce output for .mobi or .epub
View in Kindle Previewer 3 in Windows or transfer to an Android device and view with the Kindle App.

Kind regards,

Gerold

[Gerold Krommer]

Update: I tried it now with various ePub Readers including the de-facto standard Calibre.

ALL viewers have some sort of problem displaying this image, most miss the image, few do display it but get stuck and you cannot page up and down any more...

[Tim Green]

Hi Gerold,

I can reproduce this issue as well, also in Calibre. We're on it.

[Alexander Halser]

Can you please take a look inside the SVG file and locate the HREF attribute? It looks like that:

Code: Select all

<symbol id="image:1"><image width="2048" height="1364" preserveAspectRatio="none" href="data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSk...

In the first release version of SnipSVG we had used a plain "href" attribute, because that is state of the art. Before the href attribute was introduced in SVG 1.2 or so, one had to use an "xlink:href" attribute instead. That requires the reference to the XLink namespace as well.

Long story short, the plain "href" attribute does not work with many older SVG viewers. We had to go back to "xlink:href", which is actually deprecated, but works a lot better with older viewers. W3C recommends to use both, with "xlink:href" as the fallback. That's not possible here, unfortunately, because the url is embedded data and this would duplicate the embedded data.

[Gerold Krommer]

Hi,

I have V 1.2 build 341 installed.

I had it saved as .snipx where there is no svg, so I saved it as an svg and looked at the xml.
There were two xlink:href.

I included this straight as an svg, published to epub. Same symptoms.
I removed the 'xlink:' and reloaded the image in H&M, published to epub. Same symptoms.

I will send a link to the .snipx to support.

Kind regards,

/Gerold

[Tim Green]

Hi Gerold,

Which viewers specifically are you testing? I can reproduce this in Calibre, and it is a Calibre error that it is not displaying the embedded bitmap correctly. Since this appears to be quite common we are probably going to switch to exporting PNG only to ePub and Mobi in the next update.

[Gerold Krommer]

Hi Tim,

I also tested the Kindle Previewer 3 on Windows and the Kindle App on Android.
Also I just searched for epub online viewer and tried a few free sugestions. All had problems, but one could display it properly but then hung..

Hoe this helps,

/Gerold

[Tim Green]

I also tested the Kindle Previewer 3 on Windows and the Kindle App on Android.
Also I just searched for epub online viewer and tried a few free sugestions. All had problems, but one could display it properly but then hung..

Thanks a lot -- ePub is unfortunately still decades behind any other HTML renderer because most developers still assume it is only used for things like novels with maybe the occasional simple illustration. We're going to have to switch to plain PNG for ePub and Mobi export. Sigh...

[Simon_Dismore]

ePub is unfortunately still decades behind any other HTML renderer because most developers still assume it is only used for things like novels with maybe the occasional simple illustration. We're going to have to switch to plain PNG for ePub and Mobi export. Sigh...

Could the PNG vs SVG export switch be a publishing option (like "Export SVG images as PNG" in Microsoft HTML Help)?

When distributing ePub to a captive audience (e.g. workforce and subcontractors) it may be possible to mandate a specific reader app be used.

[Alexander Halser]

We have fixed the problem in H&M in the latest beta build:
https://www.helpandmanual.com/download/ ... p-v950.exe

For ePUB, we now convert SNIPX to PNG instead of SVG.
We plan a more detailed conversion table for a future update. There are so many source and target formats, mixed with multiple outputs, that we need to put this into a more prominent place and build a complete conversion table from X to Y for output Z.

[Gerold Krommer]

Hi,

I can confirm the fix. I tried on Calibre, Kindle Previewer and a few online tools and it works (although the online viewers differ greatly in quality..)

Thanks,

/Gerold