13.2 | Hierarchical Tagging and Anthologies

This special appendix addresses hierarchical tagging. This involves the use of more than one level of header tag.

This section exists to give producers the information they need to make an informed decision about tagging schemes.

Functional Factor: It is — arguably — easier for the reader to navigate their files using the 5-way nav button if hierarchical tagging schemes are NOT used. Navigation 'stoppers' always work with the h1 tags. They do not always work with the h2 tag. And no, I have no idea why, or which Nook/Kindle/Kobo versions this affects, because updates alter the findings. 

Aesthetic Factor: The only drawback to using all h1 is what happens with the table of contents. In both EPUB and MOBI formats, when h1 is the only header tag used, the table of contents does not nest or indent. Depending on how long the book/TOC is, this can get tedious to weed through.

Aesthetic Factor: Another recently discovered difference manifests on Kindles. This concerns the ncx bar across the bottom of the Kindle device or app. Any header tagged with <h1></h1> gets a little black dot marking a navigational point on that bar. <h2> and lower do NOT get a mark.

I am still trying to uncover what determines which nav-points get a tick, and which don't. I'll update when and if I ever figure it out.

Hierarchical Tags for Parts & Chapters

This is pretty straightforward, I think. (Feel free to email me if I'm wrong.)

For those using hierarchical structure for both parts and chapters, here’s a suggested example:

Anthologies: Header Tags

Tagging headers for anthologies takes more thought. Anthology files will generally have two sets of front and back matter. One set is attached to the anthology itself. The other sets attach to each individual entry or story or author inside the anthology.

In effect, there’s a sort of ‘nested’ front- and back-matter hierarchy. Front and back matter attached to the anthology itself must always be tagged with <h1></h1>. Front and back matter attached to each individual entry (story or author) is a difficult issue to handle. Some people insist that because there’s no licensing information necessary before each entry, all front and back matter should be dropped for use in the anthology. Only the story should appear, as the front and back matter were specific to their own volume, not the anthology.

I don’t necessarily agree, but I do agree that each front- and back-matter item attached to each entry should not appear in the anthology’s table of contents. After all, in digital publishing, our partition headers are simply beacons for the table of contents. A majority of this content is sort of like the Academy Awards of supplemental material: It’s not of interest to the reader, only the publisher, author and anyone named in the material.

As a result, I am somewhat torn how to handle this in the tutorial. I haven't run across an anthology yet that included things like dedications or acknowledgements for each entry. If a project required those inclusions, I would suggest placing all of the front-matter content right on the entries’ title pages and viewing it as regular content, so that this supplementary title-page content is like a mini-chapter of its own.

SUGGESTION:

In the case of a multi-author anthology, I would definitely find a way to sneak an author’s website link into each entry somehow, like right after THE END.

SUGGESTION:

Each producer will have to handle this issue as they see fit. But I do give you one caveat: In the case of multi-author anthologies, do not allow authors to bully you into including promotional back matter like sample chapters from stories not included in the anthology. That’s tacky, counterproductive and rude to the reader.

As to the actual tagging scheme itself, this should be pretty straightforward.

Multi-Author Anthology

SUGGESTION:

Multi-Story, Same-Author Anthology

SUGGESTION:

Back To Header Tags