How do you best work with .epub if you’re a publisher—such as Hachette, which is relying on the IPDF‘s e-book standard as its exclusive distribution format?
Do .epub right, and readers normally will be able to read your books on anything from a little cellphone screen to 32-inch monitor. The May 14 IDPF conference will include .epub info from Hachette’s Neil de Young and others.
Meanwhile, Adobe has just released an .epub best practices guide, downloadable here in yes, .epub. Even nongeeks might take a look.
Your thoughts on the guide
What do you think, gang? Just what are the pros and cons of the guide? Is it impartial—well, allowing for the fact that it’s really for users of Adobe InDesign CS3 software? One handy tip is that you can create a book cover with an SVG image and take advantage of SVG’s scalability. Adobe Digital Editions (old screenshot) and FBReader and OpenBerg are among the apps you can use to read the .epub format, and I suspect a lot more will be on the way in time. The TeleBlog has been the leading independent voice on the Net on behalf of .epub, given our antipathy toward the Tower of eBabel, although the format is still in development and has its flaws such as lack of a shared annotations standard.
Also of interest:
–An .epub checker to see if you’ve produced true .epub. Other companies besides Adobe, such as ETI, participated in the checker’s development.
—Digital Editions 1.5 Beta 2 reader. It offers “new content portability capability, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) support, and other new features.” Adobe warns of DRM-related incompatibilities. But of course. Isn’t “protection” a joy for consumers?
—The Digital Editions Launcher. “Use the Installer and Launcher SDK to detect if Digital Editions is installed, launch Digital Editions if already installed, and provision Digital Editions with a DRM fulfillment or with a content URL for direct download of unprotected PDF or EPUB content.” Also see the Digital Editions Installer and Launcher SDK Instructions—in, alas, PDF rather than .epub. DE can read both formats.
–The new Digital Technology Center from Adobe, full of .epub-related info, not just on PDF.
–A data sheet discussing .epub vs. PDF, among other topics. Adobe points publishers to PDF if they want full control over their layout, while noting that .epub can reflow to adjust to the smaller sizes of screens on mobile devices.
