The TOC - Table of Content
The TOC (table of Content) is the navigable index found at the beginning of ebooks that allows readers to easily reach various segments of the book by connecting the parts of the text (cover, index, chapters, etc.) with the relevant section within the file. The TOC is reachable through the "Contents " function made available by the various reading apps.
Do you know that is a basic requirement for accessible eBook? Learn more in this guide.
In the image below you can see an example of the link to the TOC via the Adobe Digital Editions app:
To be used correctly, and provide a good user experience, an ebook must have a complete, consistent, and accurate TOC - regardless of the reading application used. This means that the terms in the TOC must correspond to the chapters by displaying the chapter number (and title, if present) and follow the same format used in the text.
To verify that the TOC of your ebook is correct, make sure that each term used in the TOC is linked to the respective section within the text stream - e.g. by clicking on "Chapter 1" you should be at the beginning of "Chapter 1", and so on.
Major stores such as Amazon, Apple iBooks, or Kobo use TOC files to process ebooks, so having a correct TOC in your ePub file is crucial. In addition, both reflowable and fixed layout ebooks need a proper TOC.
If you create your ebook with our application Write, you can find all the necessary information in
this article.