Technical eBooks part II

In the previous post I mentioned the epub format in passing, saying it also had issues. However, I didn't bother to qualify that, nor did I give an epub sample.

When I went back to create the sample, I discovered that the 1.5 release of Adobe Digital Editions no longer worked with the epubs generated by our toolchain (and, by no longer worked, I mean looped-burning-up-CPU-until-crashing no longer worked—DE is a remarkably fragile piece of software.)

Anyway, I fixed that up (and, in the process, discovered that while id="fig:one" should be perfectly valid xhtml, epubcheck and DE both say not. Sigh).

So, here's the complete list of the versions of that sample chapter.

• In PDF format.
• In a rough-and-ready HTML format
• In .mobi format (which is suitable for the Kindle—just copy it to your Kindle's documents folder). You'll want to right-click and "Save As" to download this link.
• In .epub format (which I've only tested in DE). Again, you'll want to right-click and "Save As" to download this link.

epub is clearly better than mobi for formatting, but still has issues. But, I thought I'd post them all here for comparison purposes.

Comments

[Marshall T. Vandegrift]

Two comments about the EPUB version:

(1) Even though the file displays in DE, it is technically malformed. The OCF spec states that: "The first file in the ZIP Container MUST be a file by the ASCII name of 'mimetype' which holds the MIME type for the ZIP Container (i.e., 'application/epub+zip' as an ASCII string; no padding, white-space or case change)."

(2) The margins make this completely illegible on the Sony Reader. To test the Reader, you can download Sony's "eBook Library Software." The latest version will render EPUB files exactly as the Reader will render them.

[Dave Thomas]

Marshall:

Absoliutely. The mimetype file is a PITA, because it shouldn't be compressed. I wanted to get something out now just to show the concept.

There's also been no thought whatsoever as to layout: I just wanted to illustrate the concepts. If and when we decide to go with this, we'll get someone who knows what they are doing to create decent CSS for us.

Thanks for the feedback

Dave

[Dave Thomas]

I spent a few hours tidying up the .epub file. Although epubcheck still complains abot the mimetype type, I'm not sure I see what's wrong. But I think you'll find the layout works better on a real Sony reader.

Dave

[Norm Smith]

While the PDF file looks great on my monster screen at work, it is WAY too small for reading when when displayed on my Sony PRS-505 Book Reader to be readable! There is a style suggestion for page size on the Mobile Reader web site (www.mobilereader.com). Also, there is an OpenOffice plugin that formats documents into PDF with font sizes/margins set to work well with the Sony. I'll post links as soon as I can dig them out...

Norm

[Dave Thomas]

Norm:

I think you;re way better off reading ePub format on the Sony. If we decide to go that way, ePub will be an option for our titles.

Dave

[Norm Smith]

FYI, the epub version displays in DE fine. When I move it from DE to my Sony, the book does not show up in the book list. It is in the DE directory. The Sony supports PDF files and epub when loaded via DE.

[Dave Thomas]

Norm:

I never tried using DE to load it: I've used the Sony Reader software, and it appears fine. I think you can also just copy it direct to the device via the mounted filesystem.

I've not been too happy with DE, and I'm not particularly surprised.

Dave

[Norm Smith]

The link to a document for generating PDFs compatible with the Sony is http://www.mobileread.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15647&d=1219778389

[Norm Smith]

Dave,

I found the epub test book on my Sony last night. The Sony decided the name of the book is "Stripes", which I missed because the PDF version was named the filename. The ePub version is much easier to read on the Sony and bumping the font size up retains the formatting.

Thanks for caring enough to put forth the effort to produce ebooks!

Norm