Book parts should not be ignored in EPUB output

[ptkw]

According to the documentation, "In EPUB […] output parts are ignored entirely".

This means that books with defined hierarchical structures (i.e. chapters nested inside parts) get a flattened version of table of contents when exported to EPUB, with only a long list of chapters presented in sequence (with no mention of parts to which they are supposed to belong).

This behavior applies to both "styles" of parts as explained in "Parts & Appendices" section:

# ones with corresponding qmd files:
chapters:
  - index.qmd
  - part: dice.qmd
    chapters: 
      - basics.qmd
      - packages.qmd

# and ones declared only as names:
chapters:
  - index.qmd
  - part: "Dice"
    chapters: 
      - basics.qmd
      - packages.qmd

This is a severe limitation that strips the EPUB version of a publication of some very basic functionality as well as essential meaningful information that should be available to the reader. Let me emphasize that the EPUB format absolutely supports hierarchical ToCs with nested items (such as chapters within sections).

Optimally, the hierarchical structure of a book should be preserved for both styles of part declarations: with corresponding qmd files for each part and with only names provided. In the second case, additional html files with section title pages should be generated within the EPUB.

I realize the current state of affairs must result from some limitations of pandoc. I hope, however, that some workaround would be possible.

[dragonstyle]

Thanks for the feedback - we intend to make improvements to our book support sometime soon (not sure of the timing) and I've tagged this so this remains on the radar when we make those improvements.

[ptkw]

That's great to hear! I will be looking forward to improvements in this area. Thanks for all your great work!