KF8: force landscape mode on Kindle Fire?

[Doitsu]

1. Is there any way to force landscape mode in a KF8 .mobi file?
2. Does the Kindle Fire automatically switch to landscape mode if a fixed-layout KF8 .mobi file cannot be fully displayed in portrait mode? (The Kinde Fire Previewer does, but I was wondering whether the actual device does this too.)

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

1. Is there any way to force landscape mode in a KF8 .mobi file?
2. Does the Kindle Fire automatically switch to landscape mode if a fixed-layout KF8 .mobi file cannot be fully displayed in portrait mode? (The Kinde Fire Previewer does, but I was wondering whether the actual device does this too.)

Hi,

Check out the "orientation" metadata value that can be set before conversion to KF8 mobi. It should take care of that (at least that is what is implied in the fixed format sample and guide).

[Hitch]

Doitsu:

1. Yes. You can find the guidelines in the Amazon Publisher's Guide, and see an example of how it works with a sample book that Amazon provides (and view it on Publisher, too): http://amzn.to/HLkKW2
2. No, it makes a gigantic mess. ;-)

HTH,
Hitch

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Check out the "orientation" metadata value that can be set before conversion to KF8 mobi. It should take care of that (at least that is what is implied in the fixed format sample and guide).

Thanks. I found the relevant section in the Publisher's Guide.

Originally Posted by Hitch

1. Yes. You can find the guidelines in the Amazon Publisher's Guide, and see an example of how it works with a sample book that Amazon provides (and view it on Publisher, too): http://amzn.to/HLkKW2

Thanks for the link. I had looked at the sample KF8 file before I wrote my post, and while it explains, for example, how to do drop-caps Kindle style, I don't think that it mentioned anything about orientation metadata.
OTOH, the Publisher's Guide, mentions orientation metadata, but only in the fixed layout section, which makes me wonder whether it'll be ignored for non-fixed layout KF8 files.

Originally Posted by Hitch

2. No, it makes a gigantic mess. ;-)

I asked because Kindle Previewer is unfortunately not 100% reliable. I tested a (hybrid) KF8 .mobi file with it and when I switched from Fire mode to Kindle mode, it displayed one of the paragraph formats incorrectly. I.e. it looked wrong in the previewer, but OK on the actual Kindle.

[Hitch]

I have, thus far, found it 100% on the mark for both my Fire and my e-ink devices, less for for Apple reading apps, but that's hardly surprising. When you say "hybrid," do you mean MasterMobis? Fallback coding for K7?

[KevinH]

Hi,

I asked because Kindle Previewer is unfortunately not 100% reliable. I tested a (hybrid) KF8 .mobi file with it and when I switched from Fire mode to Kindle mode, it displayed one of the paragraph formats incorrectly. I.e. it looked wrong in the previewer, but OK on the actual Kindle.

Yes, I have found a number of bugs in the Kindle Previewer. For example, in standalone KF8 ebooks, the Table of Contents is not recognized at all (it seems to take it only from the old mobi - which is not there) yet if you load that same KF8 ebook into Kindle for PC 1.9.X or Kindle for Mac 1.9.x or an actual Fire, the Table of Contents shows up just fine.

I have found similar issues with images that are floated and with some tables. So Although the Kindle Previewer is useful, you might want to take a look at what you seen with an actual Fire device and the latest K4PC and K4Mac to see how users will view your ebook with those devices.

[Hitch]

Kevin:

You mean FF books, rather than Combo books? I load all of our books onto Previewer, and then onto the Fire and the K2, to test, and I've not had these issues? I never use K4PC or K4Mac, as my experience with them is that they are only useful for convincing clients that the books look completely different than they actually do. ;-)

I assume you're using 2.4?

[KevinH]

Hi,
No not fixed format ebooks. Just KF8 ebooks just like the ones you download to a Fire or K4PC / K4Mac. These ebooks are not like the ones generated by kindlegen in that they do not have both an old mobi and a new kf8 mobi inside the same .mobi file. The TOC feature in the Previewer only seems to work for dual kindlegen generated KF8s and not the ones direct from Amazon.

I have found other bugs with floating of images and wrapping text around it that differ between the Fire, K4* and Kindle Previewer.

I am not sure which version of Previewer I have but it did just update itself last week and the problems still exist.

KevinH

Originally Posted by Hitch

Kevin:

You mean FF books, rather than Combo books? I load all of our books onto Previewer, and then onto the Fire and the K2, to test, and I've not had these issues? I never use K4PC or K4Mac, as my experience with them is that they are only useful for convincing clients that the books look completely different than they actually do. ;-)

I assume you're using 2.4?

[Hitch]

Hmmmm. That's interesting. I haven't had that problem, but the only KF8 "only" books I'm doing are Fixed-Format (kids') books, really; I'm making MasterMobi's for everything else, to cover the bases. My guide items (go to's, for noobs stumbling across this) seem to work, but I'll try some experiments. Thanks.