Help:Collections/Advanced

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

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

{|
 * style="vertical-align:top;" |

Subtitle

 * Chapter 1
 * First page
 * Second page
 * Third page


 * Chapter 2
 * Fourth page
 * Fifth page
 * Sixth page

<-- 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 collection (see note below) <-- The default* cover color of the collection (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 page (starts with a colon) <-- Second page (renamed) <-- Third page

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

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

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

Only the following syntax is allowed:
 * Allowed syntax

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

Loading collections
To load a collection, simply click on the 'load collection' link in the banner at the top of each collection. 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 a page. 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 pages of your book and view the page 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:

&minus;21  looking like 234+23-21 in the PDF, 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 discussion page of the template, and place a notice at Help:Collections/Feedback and someone will look into it.
 * A template that is not content-related (such as a navigational box) is displayed. See below on how to fix this.
 * Something looks weird, such as 234 +23
 * 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 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 Template: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 Template:Only in print can be used to insert content that shall only be visible in offline versions.""

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 page.

Multi-wiki Collections
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.