Help:Books/for experts

This page gives experienced users details on the advanced functions of the Book tool. Among other things, it explains how the layout of books can be improved and how books are stored on Wikisource.

Saving books
When you save a book, it is stored in the format shown below.
 * Format of stored book pages:

{|
 * 

Subtitle

 * Chapter 1
 * First article
 * Second article
 * Third article


 * Chapter 2
 * Fourth article
 * Fifth article
 * Sixth article

<-- The template appearing at the top of the page <-- This is only used to generate a preview of the cover <-- This is only used to generate a preview of the cover <-- The default* cover image of the book (see note below) <-- The default* cover color of the book (see note below) <-- This is only used to generate a preview of the cover
 * 

<-- Title of the book <-- Subtitle of the book

<-- First chapter's name (starts with a semicolon) <-- First article (starts with a colon) <-- Second article (renamed) <-- Third article

<-- Second chapter's name <-- Fourth article <-- Fifth article (renamed) <-- Sixth article

<-- The book is categorized in, and sorts as "Title"

at some point in the future. In the meantime, these can be used to give a   preview of what the book cover could be like.
 * These parameters are not currently supported by the book creator but will be
 * }
 * }

You can also manually create a book from scratch by using the same format. To create a book from scratch, start a new page such as User:Myusername/Books/Mybookname. Only autoconfirmed users can save books.

Only the following syntax is allowed:
 * Allowed syntax

Books can either be saved in the user's namespace User:Name/Books/Bookname or as a community book at Book:Bookname. To be recognized as a book, it must belong to the category Category:PediaPress books (automatically added by saved book).
 * Location of books

Loading books
To load a book, simply click on the 'Open in Book Creator' link in the banner at the top of each book. If the banner isn't present, then add saved book at the top of the page.

Improving the book layout
Some wiki-markup can lead to problems in the generation of PDF documents as part of the book feature. This mainly applies to templates, which will be displayed differently in the electronic or print version compared to how they look in the online version of an article. This can be fixed by either substituting the current template or removing the template from the content that cause problems in the PDF. As a rule of thumb, all content (especially templates) that is not useful for an offline version of the document, should be excluded from the print version.

Identifying problems
The most efficient way to identify problems is to go on the individual articles of your book and view the article as a PDF (click "Download as PDF" in the "print/export" box on the left hand side of your screen, towards the bottom). Preview the page, and if something doesn't look right, chances are there's a problem. While the printed books and OpenDocument version will differ from the PDF version, they share a lot of similarities. If something looks weird in the PDF version, chances are it will also look weird in the printed book or OpenDocument version.

Usually there are three kinds of problems:


 * A template that is not content-related is displayed. See below on how to fix this.
 * Something looks weird, such as a template displaying oddly, or having superfluous whitespace. This is usually due to a template being coded in a non-standard way, or to a problem with the rendering software. You can try to fix this yourself if you know your way around templates. If you don't know how to fix it or are simply intimidated by templates, leave a message on the talk page of the template, and place a notice at the Help:Books talk page and someone will look into it.
 * Content and style problems, such as spelling, grammar, different varieties of English, poorly worded sentences, ...

Fixing problems
There are four ways to resolve issues caused by templates:


 * Exclude templates: A template can be excluded from content by adding it to the Category:Exclude in print.
 * Note: Many templates use other templates to function. Therefore groups/types of templates can be excluded by adding the commonly used template to this category.


 * Exclude certain specific content: By using Hide in print, certain specific content, such as a few words or an image, can be excluded from printing.
 * Include certain specific content only in print versions: The Only in print can be used to insert content that shall only be visible in offline versions.
 * Substitute templates You can create a print version of a template under the name "Template:TEMPLATENAME/Print" with "Template:TEMPLATENAME" being the name of the original template. If a /Print page exists, it will overide the original template.

Content problems such as poorly worded sentences, or style problems such as variations in the citation style used, can be fixed only by editing the article.

Using a main and supporting articles book content style
Template:Book can be used to create a basic main article and supporting articles book. The template also creates links to start subpages for a table of contents and introduction plus a books category based on the main article.

Multi-wiki Books
Using the extension it is currently impossible to create a collection of content from multiple different wikis. However, you can easily create books containing articles from multiple wikis using the bookmarklet offered on this page.