10-23-2018, 02:26 PM | #1 |
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What exactly is a kepub?
I suspect this thread will quickly go over my novice-level knowledge, but:
I more or less understand that Kobo renders ePub/kepub with two different rendering engines (ADE/Nickle) which is why kepubs have features ePubs don't. Kepubs appear to be ePubs with a bunch of different Kobo spans in them. I know I can open and edit kepubs with Sigil. So what do those spans do that an ePub can't do? Is there not a way for Kobo to have their engine just handle ePubs with kepub features rather than creating a new format? The thing I most rely on kepubs for (pages left in chapter rather than pages left in book) can be handled on the Nook using regular ePub files. I suspect most other features could also be handled by tweaking the engine rather than requiring a new format. |
10-24-2018, 01:18 PM | #2 |
Wizard
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The Kepub rendering engine does not include the Adobe SDK. Even if they tweaked the engine so it can figure out position without the spans, the one thing it can't do is open Adobe DRM books. (Twill be good ridance as far as I'm concerned.. I'm honestly surprised Kobo is still paying Adobe their ridiculous fees for book servers...
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10-24-2018, 02:32 PM | #3 | |
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Quote:
Nooks read ePub and features available only in kepub on Kobo are available on the Nook. I guess I'm wondering if they should have just included the Adobe stuff in Nickle and used a single engine for a single format with all the bells and whistles available. I freely admit I may be looking at this the wrong way, due to lack of knowledge. I know just enough to be dangerous. |
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10-24-2018, 07:52 PM | #4 |
Wizard
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Part of the reason for kepub originally was support for vertical (vs left to right) languages (i.e. Japanese which was a key market for Kobo). This is stretching beyond my detailed knowledge, but roughly speaking the epub 2 standard doesn't support that and is what the adobe renderer included is based on. Kepub is close the epub 3 standard instead and it allows vertical languages. Since they were going to have to make their own renderer anyway, they probably figured (at least in part) that it was easier to put everything they wanted into it rather than split development between the 2 different renderers.
And I'm in the same boat that I know just enough to be dangerous |
10-25-2018, 01:00 AM | #5 |
Wizard
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and having their own not-quite-epub format made the books in their store harder to pirate ( they thought), and made it more likely that readers would buy kobo readers to read them on.
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10-25-2018, 01:11 AM | #6 |
Bibliophagist
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I would also mention using the ACCESS renderer makes reading an epub3 fixed layout book possible. Admittedly, I only own 4 FLO epubs but one friend of mine now owns about 30 for his 4 and 6 year old munchkins.
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10-25-2018, 01:12 AM | #7 | |
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Quote:
One of the advantages of their own format and provisioning system is that they will avoid the Adobe licence fee for any books that are downloaded directly to the device. And still offer DRM protection (for what it is worth). |
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10-25-2018, 01:14 AM | #8 |
Bibliophagist
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10-25-2018, 01:09 PM | #9 |
Wizard
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DNSB: Awesome analogy! Love it! :-D
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