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Old 02-14-2011, 07:10 PM   #1
sarah_pnix
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do you try to optimize for different devices?

I work for a small publisher and we want to publish nice ebooks. It's frustrating and overwhelming how different devices display things differently. I try to keep my files pretty basic, but still struggle with image size, etc. You've got different screen sizes, different zoom capabilities, different automatic re-sizing by the device. My question: is it even possible to have one epub file that will work on all devices? Or do you try to optimize for Apple (in particular) and then have a separate file for other readers? And, I won't even get into Kindle/mobi, another whole separate deal. Is anyone else spinning their wheels on this stuff? In particular, I'm wondering what image size (pixels) you use. I've got images that are split on two pages on the iPad and just get cropped off on the Nook.

Anyway, I appreciate any feedback or suggestions on workflow.

Thanks!
Sarah
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Old 02-14-2011, 07:14 PM   #2
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Sarah,

Other than the image size issues, there's not a huge amount you can do, though perhaps you can fit a separate CSS/style-sheet for different devices though that'll likely lead you down the road of insanity ultimately as well.

We've found, the less you mess with it the better it works out.

For the images, you might try go with setting its width in the style based on page-width or similar, rather than absolute pixels. Of course, this is no guarantee, especially if the ereader doesn't support image scaling.

Wish you the best of luck.

Paul.
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Old 02-15-2011, 04:08 AM   #3
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I use the same formatting for each device. I try to keep it non-device specific. For images I use a size which should work on all devices. On high resolution devices they will be smaller, but I think it is better than the other way round.
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Old 02-15-2011, 05:01 AM   #4
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I don't optimize for a specific device, not even for the device I have. I format the books hoping that they'll work fine in spec-compliant devices, even in future ones. This means I still use "font-variant: small-caps" even though ADE does not support it, and sometimes the illustrations don't quite fit the screen, but I expect a future device will have the option to zoom/scan the picture independently.

If you create a book with additional features not included in the ePUB format, please don't call the result an ePUB book
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Old 02-16-2011, 03:50 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jellby View Post
I don't optimize for a specific device, not even for the device I have. I format the books hoping that they'll work fine in spec-compliant devices, even in future ones. This means I still use "font-variant: small-caps" even though ADE does not support it, and sometimes the illustrations don't quite fit the screen, but I expect a future device will have the option to zoom/scan the picture independently.
I do the same. Though I instead of using small-caps I actually do it the hard way by making them uppercase then decreasing the font size to 80%. Its ideal and takes time doing a bunch of GREP search and replaces, but hey the client sees what they expect to see.

So basically I code for iBooks knowing that if it displays in iBook then there is a very good chance it will display on other devices
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Old 02-16-2011, 05:05 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by Adjust View Post
Though I instead of using small-caps I actually do it the hard way by making them uppercase then decreasing the font size to 80%. Its ideal and takes time doing a bunch of GREP search and replaces, but hey the client sees what they expect to see.
If it's for a client and that's what they want, they get what they deserve

But for the "future" it has some problems: It decreases readability (and searchability) of the code, it might make case-sensitive search not work as expected, it prevents CSS override, it prevents the use of real small-caps fonts if available[*].

[*] which reminds I still have to try definind a small-caps font in ADE, maybe that would work. I mean, using @font-face to define a custom font as small-caps, I'm suspecting ADE fails at synthesizing small-caps, but could use a pre-defined font...
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