iBooks sans-serif weirdness

[xrm0]

Although by the title it may look this is the same as the thread at Sans-serif fonts and iBooks it isn't.

I've got an epub show text in sans in iBooks without embedding fonts nor adding com.apple.ibooks.display-options.xml but somehow in one file, a line of text in sans serif is rendered as serif.

There's a test case epub attached. You'll see three pages, nearly identical:

Section0001:

<p>no font family specified</p>
<p class="serif">serif</p>
<p class="sans">sans-serif</p>
<p class="serif"><span class="sans">initially serif, overridden with sans-serif</span></p>

Section 01 screenshot:


Section0002:

<p>no font family specified</p>
<p class="serif">serif</p>
<p class="sans">sans-serif</p>
<p class="sans"><span class="serif">initially sans-serif, overridden with serif</span></p>

Section 02 screenshot:


And here's what I don't understand.

Section0003:

<p>no font family specified</p>
<p class="serif">serif</p>
<p class="sans">sans-serif</p>
<p class="serif"><span class="sans">initially serif, overridden with sans-serif</span></p>
<p class="sans"><span class="serif">initially sans-serif, overridden with serif</span></p>

Section 03 screenshot:


In this last file, the <p> with the text "sans-serif" is rendered as serif. Does anyone know why this happens? Am I doing something wrong or it's a bug?

The serif and sans css classes are defined as:

.serif {
  font-family: serif;
}

.sans {
  font-family: sans-serif;
}

Spoiler:

After finishing writing this post I've realized I had a typo (overriden), I've changed it in the post/epub but not on the screenshots!

[dgatwood]

Adding the following com.apple.ibooks.display-options.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<display_options>
    <platform name="*">
        <option name="specified-fonts">true</option>
    </platform>
</display_options>

in the META-INF folder appears to fix this problem, so this is probably a curious quirk behavior designed to avoid some problem that the iBooks folks saw with old, broken eBooks.

I would strongly suggest just adding the file. It will save you lots of problems and head scratching.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

Adding the following com.apple.ibooks.display-options.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<display_options>
    <platform name="*">
        <option name="specified-fonts">true</option>
    </platform>
</display_options>

in the META-INF folder appears to fix this problem, so this is probably a curious quirk behavior designed to avoid some problem that the iBooks folks saw with old, broken eBooks.

I would strongly suggest just adding the file. It will save you lots of problems and head scratching.

Thanks for the information. Could you point me please to some source where I can read up on this file?

[dgatwood]

If you're registered as a book publisher with iTunes, download the iBookstore Asset Guide. Otherwise, the following links cover it fairly well:

http://authoradventures.blogspot.com...s-part_24.html

http://ideate.verioiponly.com/Noir%2...sMiniguide.pdf

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

If you're registered as a book publisher with iTunes, download the iBookstore Asset Guide. Otherwise, the following links cover it fairly well:

http://authoradventures.blogspot.com...s-part_24.html

http://ideate.verioiponly.com/Noir%2...sMiniguide.pdf

Thanks, dgatwood. I'm not an Apple user, so I looked at the two guides. Is the file only used in fixed layout ePubs?

[Turtle91]

From what I understand it fixes some quirkiness on flowable books as well. I just include it in all my ebooks in case someone really wants to use iBooks. It's a very small file and doesn't add to the size of the book anymore than some of the other 'hacks' we have to do to accomodate devices/apps inconsistent implementations.
I just have the file already incorporated into my template when I create a new ePub (I use Sigil) so I don't ever have to think about it being there.

Cheers!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Thanks, dgatwood. I'm not an Apple user, so I looked at the two guides. Is the file only used in fixed layout ePubs?

No. Many fonts won't work on iBooks reflowable without it.

Hitch

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Thanks, dgatwood. I'm not an Apple user, so I looked at the two guides. Is the file only used in fixed layout ePubs?

No, but with the exception of the specified-fonts option, all the other options are specific to fixed-layout EPUB books, IIRC.

In other words, the snippet I posted is pretty much everything that reflowable book authors need to know or care about, AFAIK.

[AlexBell]

Thanks again.