22 | Set Custom Start Page

In this section, we set a custom start page for the MOBI file. This means that that first time a reader opens their MOBI file, the file will open to a page of our choosing.

This step does absolutely nothing for the EPUB version. As far as I know, this still does not work on any EPUB device or app.

File Version

Throughout this section, continue to work in revise_projectx.epub.

Select and Pin A Start Page

Savvy Kindle-readers want the file to open to the first page of the story, not the title or license or whatever else. When selecting the start page, select the first page of the story, whether that’s a prologue, epigraph or the first page of Chapter 1 or wherever the reader should start reading.

NOTE: This will not work in Kindle samples. Samples always open to the very first page in the MOBI file, typically the title page.

UPDATE: Amazon made some internal changes to make all files skip ALL front matter. Sometimes, this means that the start page we select in this section might not be the page the Kindle file actually opens to. Yes, this annoys me, too, but it is what it is.

If you've an epigraph or any other kind of special pages that precede Chapter 1 (or its equivalent), you'll need to test extensively to ensure the book opens where you want it to open. 

I do not currently know how to override their new start page "feature". I'm keeping an eye on things in case anyone figures it out. 

THE EASY WAY

The easy way to select a start page: Right-click on the chapter 1 file (or whichever .html file you want the reader to view first). Hover over "Add Semantics" and select "Text" from the list.

THE "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT I'M DOING" WAY

Selecting a start page requires a change to the content.opf file, found near the bottom of the Book Browser pane.

We must add a line within the <guide></guide> section, also located near the very end of the content.opf file.

Currently, the guide section looks something like this:

The line containing /cover.xhtml might or might not be there, depending on whether cover art has been embedded into the file.

We need to add the following line:

<reference href="Text/filename.html" title="Chapter 1" type="text" />

I'm going to grossly over-simplify another explanation, here and point out three important segments of this line. PAY ATTENTION TO CAPITALIZATION! It matters with this line. Screw-ups will show up in validation as errors.

NOTE: A non-over-simplified explanation. (When you land, click "2.6 Guide")

The three parts that matter:

• 1. href="Text/***.html" (*** represents a specific HTML filename in projectx's text folder.)

  2. title="***" (*** represents a specific name for this start-point, designated by the producer.)

  3. type="text" (This tells the device/app that projectx's content starts here.)

In point 1 above, producers designate the start page by plugging in an HTML file name from projectx's text folder. This will be the name of one of the files you split off and renamed in earlier steps.

Let’s say I want the Scandal file to open to the first page of the story. The story starts in the file named chap1.html. On the page, the header for chapter one is actually "I".

To make the MOBI open to that page, I will need to change that "***.html" filename to the appropriate filename. In this case, that file name is chap1.html, as seen here:

That segment of the code would now look like: href="Text/chap1.html"

For the title bit, I use simply “I”, because that's what the chapter-1 header looks like on the page. I could have just as well used title="Start", title="Begin", "Chapter 1", "Part I" or even title="A Scandal In Bohemia". That's left up to the producer.

type="text" isn't editable or customizable. It must appear exactly that way. Do not capitalize the T in text.

Whatever you decide as a starting point or title, insert the line into the <guide></guide> section with the appropriate filename added, like so:

Don’t sweat the lack of indent in the code when you type it in there. Sigil will fix it as soon as you click Save, which you should do right now.

ACTION: Save

Plain-old save revise_projectx.epub.

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