While discussing myths about ePub, ePUBSecrets presents a pretty concise update on how thoroughly the major vendors support ePub specs and how much cross-vendor compatibility exists today:
http://epubsecrets.com/reviewing-epu...p#comment-3288
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On August 22, Aptara (@aptara) hosted a Webinar titled “eBook & App Device Compatibility: Separating Fact from Fiction” with Joshua Tallent (@jtallent), CEO and Founder of eBook Architects, and Jean Kaplansky (@JeanKaplansky), a Solutions Architect at Aptara. It was an informative Webinar, and if you missed it you can view the recording by registering here: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistra...epage=register
You should also be able to download the slides from the presentation once you launch the Webinar. I encourage you to watch the Webinar since there is a lot of great content in it on the current state of eBooks and what is and is not supported.
Tallent and Kaplansky looked at reflowable files and fixed-layout files on the major retailers, with Tallent covering Kindle and iBooks and Kaplansky covering B&N’s Nook and Kobo. The Webinar used a Myth and Reality format to share the information. Here are the myths that two of them presented.
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The whole article is worth reading. For some, tracking down the webinar may be worth the while.
Conclusions?
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Tallent’s key takeaways included:
Reflowable files are the best option for the majority of eBooks.
Kindle Format 8 (KF8) is NOT EPUB.
Fixed layout: children’s titles work well in Apple, Amazon, B&N; non-fiction fixed layout currently only works well in Apple.
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Kaplansky’s key takeaways included the following:
There will never be “one EPUB file to rule them all.” Retailers and device manufacturers differentiate themselves and their product by the details of their implementations. Be aware of the details!
Handle fixed layout with care and planning. Know your target devices and do what is right for the text rather than the design‑unless the two are intrinsically linked.
Users prefer annotation and highlighting functionality over fixed layout when it comes to textbooks and non-fiction.
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The Upshot
So what does it all mean? These were my takeaways on the myths and Tallent and Kaplansky’s takeaways.
1. The only retailers that matter are Amazon, Apple, B&N, and Kobo
While the Webinar looked at fixed layout and reflowable and what each retailers supports, and even more telling item is the four retailers that were selected. There were other out there, but these are the four for whom eBook designers are currently designing. They are setting the agenda, and ultimately, they will determine if EPUB3 in its entirety ever comes to maturity in the marketplace.
2. We are currently caught in a limbo state between EPUB 2.0.1 and EPUB3
3. The major retailers are moving further apart, not coming together over EPUB3
4. The major retailers do not have the same support across their own devices and apps
The major retailers have multiple devices with different capabilities in the
marketplace and have apps for all the major platforms. The retailers support of their own implementations is not 100 percent across all of their devices.
Providing a single EPUB to each vendor even with media queries to determine what kind of device the reader has is difficult at best.
5. Outside of iBooks Author, fixed layout for non-fiction is probably not a good idea
6. This does not scale and removes the cost benefits of EPUB
Publishers can not afford to produce four different versions of EPUB for four different retailers (and more for additional retailers in the future). The cost of EPUB creation will increase as the retailers specs diverge further. This will likely mean many pubs will make a choice of targeting Amazon and KF8, and a single other retailer, likely Apple, with a single EPUB file. The other retailers will have to take what they can get in terms of the EPUB or go without. The future this leads to: Amazon and Apple will be the main, possibly only, eBook retailers.
7. Publishers and the IDPF need to pressure retailers to support and accept the full EPUB3 spec now or it will never be implemented
We are at a crossroads. Either EPUB3 is supported in the marketplace and the full spec is implemented by retailers, allowing publishers to produce one file for everyone, or the retailers will continue to take a pick-and-choose approach to the spec, leading to different formats and different capabilities for each retailer’s devices and apps. It is time for publishers and the IDPF to exert whatever influence they have to right the EPUB ship, convince the retailers to fall in line behind the full EPUB3 spec, and prevent a further splintering of the format.
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My takeaways are shorter:
1- ePub is far from being a universally-compatible format for commercial ebooks even in the non-Kindle market.
2- The lack of teeth behind the IDPF approach to "standards" is coming back to haunt everybody.
3- For the forseeable future, talk of "ePub" at the consumer level will mean ePub 2.0.1 not ePub3.
I'm not ready to say that long-term the market for commercial ebooks will come down to just Amazon and Apple but that outcome is not out of the question. Especially if Apple prices the mythical iPad Mini low enough and locks out other reader apps from its appstore.
Comments?
Alternate data sources?