Kindlegen v2 released for KF8

nickredding · 01-11-2012, 05:50 PM

Amazon has released Kindlegen V2 to generate Kindle documents with the enhanced KF8 format. At the moment the KF8 features will only work on Kindle Fire, although Amazon promises future support for KF8 by other "latest generation" Kindles. I took a quick look at the output from Kindlegen V2 and I see that it produces a MOBI that is mainly the MOBI header records and HTML. Almost all of the binary index content of standard Kindle files is absent, so I'm assuming Kindle Fire will be using HTML-driven navigation for KF8 files, which is good. I'll add to this thread when I've had a chance to analyze the format and how it's interpreted on the Fire.

For anyone interested in the tools, here is the email I received from Amazon.

Quote:

We’re pleased to announce that Kindle Publisher Tools with Kindle Format 8 (KF8) support are now available for download. Kindle Format 8 is Amazon’s next generation file format offering a wide range of new features and enhancements – including HTML5 and CSS3 support that publishers can use to create all types of books. KF8 adds over 150 new formatting capabilities, including drop caps, numbered lists, fixed layouts, nested tables, callouts, sidebars and Scalable Vector Graphics - opening up more opportunities to create Kindle books that readers will love. Kindle Fire is the first Kindle device to support KF8 - in the coming months KF8 will be rolled out to our latest generation Kindle e-ink devices as well as our free Kindle reading apps.

Publishers have created thousands of KF8 titles already and customers are enjoying the improved formatting and reading features across all types of books. Additionally, KF8 features such as Kindle Panel Views and Kindle Text Pop Up enable great fixed layout books including graphic novels, comics and children’s books. We’ve updated our Kindle Publishing Guidelines to help publishers get started with Kindle Format 8.

Please download the new versions of KindleGen (http://www.amazon.com/kindleformat/KindleGen) and Kindle Previewer (http://www.amazon.com/kindleformat/KindlePreviewer) to get started today. More information about KF8, Kindle Publishing Tools & Guidelines can be found at http://http://www.amazon.com/KindleFormat.

kovidgoyal · 01-11-2012, 09:17 PM

Although I haven't spent much time on it, KF8 seems to contain fully functional MOBI (with index records) + HTML5 in text records that are separated by a BOUN record from the rest. Logically it must contain all indexing info, since it is intended to work without modification on older kindles.

nickredding · 01-11-2012, 09:35 PM

Interesting. Today was the first time I'd had a look at KF8 files (created by Kindlegen v2) and I didn't see all the usual stuff, but I'm guessing my 010 Editor template didn't line up with the new format properly. I'm not sure how KF8 files could be expected to display on older kindles because what would those devices do with all the html5 and css3? Amazon has said KF8 is only for Kindle Fire right now with support by "later generation" e-ink kindles coming in the future. Anyway, user_none sent me a script that unpacks KF8 so I'm already half way there! Unless someone else is up for it I'll plan to develop a KF8 writer.

kovidgoyal · 01-11-2012, 10:05 PM

You can decompile KF8 with

calibre-debug --inspect-mobi file.mobi

KF8 files contain both the mobi markup and the HTML5/CSS3 in separate sets of records, separated by a BOUN record.

Go ahead and work on a writer, it's on my TODO list, but I wont be able to get to it for a while. Though if I was you, I'd first work on properly decompiling KF8 files (add the code to mobi/debug.py with is what --inspect-mobi does).

nickredding · 01-11-2012, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You can decompile KF8 with

calibre-debug --inspect-mobi file.mobi

KF8 files contain both the mobi markup and the HTML5/CSS3 in separate sets of records, separated by a BOUN record.

Go ahead and work on a writer, it's on my TODO list, but I wont be able to get to it for a while. Though if I was you, I'd first work on properly decompiling KF8 files (add the code to mobi/debug.py with is what --inspect-mobi does).

I think you saying calibre-debug decompiles the standard mobi content from a KF8/MOBI file and I should add code to decompile the html5/css3 (KF8 proper) content. If so I agree. Is this correct?

kovidgoyal · 01-11-2012, 10:35 PM

Yes, currently it just dumps the KF8 content as binary records, dumping them as text would be useful. In particular, I'm curious how it handles images and link anchors.

nickredding · 01-11-2012, 10:42 PM

OK good, the scripts that user_none shared with me will probably give me a major head-start on this.

KevinH · 01-11-2012, 10:43 PM

Hi,

K8 mobi files use special additional indexes (a skeleton index and a div table index for lack of better names) that can be parsed to recreate the original xhtml file structure. It also uses FDST records info to split out flow items. If you use the latest mobi_unpack.py and support code (should be identical or close to what user_none gave you) and turn on all DEBUG settings you can see almost everything.

Focus on the code in mobi_k8proc.py and mobi_html.py to see how to unpack the K8 mobi and build an epub from it.

If you have questions about the code, ask in the Mobi Decoder topic in the Mobi forum (or pm me directly and I can explain it and the format).

Take Care,

KevinH

nickredding · 01-11-2012, 11:14 PM

KevinH - many thanks, I'm sure I'll be taking you up on that!

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01-11-2012, 09:17 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,857 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Although I haven't spent much time on it, KF8 seems to contain fully functional MOBI (with index records) + HTML5 in text records that are separated by a BOUN record from the rest. Logically it must contain all indexing info, since it is intended to work without modification on older kindles.

01-11-2012, 09:35 PM	#3
nickredding onlinenewsreader.net Posts: 324 Karma: 10143 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Phoenix, AZ & Victoria, BC Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Fire, IPad3, iPhone4, Playbook, HTC Inspire	Interesting. Today was the first time I'd had a look at KF8 files (created by Kindlegen v2) and I didn't see all the usual stuff, but I'm guessing my 010 Editor template didn't line up with the new format properly. I'm not sure how KF8 files could be expected to display on older kindles because what would those devices do with all the html5 and css3? Amazon has said KF8 is only for Kindle Fire right now with support by "later generation" e-ink kindles coming in the future. Anyway, user_none sent me a script that unpacks KF8 so I'm already half way there! Unless someone else is up for it I'll plan to develop a KF8 writer.

01-11-2012, 10:05 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,857 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	You can decompile KF8 with calibre-debug --inspect-mobi file.mobi KF8 files contain both the mobi markup and the HTML5/CSS3 in separate sets of records, separated by a BOUN record. Go ahead and work on a writer, it's on my TODO list, but I wont be able to get to it for a while. Though if I was you, I'd first work on properly decompiling KF8 files (add the code to mobi/debug.py with is what --inspect-mobi does).

01-11-2012, 10:35 PM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,857 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Yes, currently it just dumps the KF8 content as binary records, dumping them as text would be useful. In particular, I'm curious how it handles images and link anchors.

01-11-2012, 10:42 PM	#7
nickredding onlinenewsreader.net Posts: 324 Karma: 10143 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Phoenix, AZ & Victoria, BC Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Fire, IPad3, iPhone4, Playbook, HTC Inspire	OK good, the scripts that user_none shared with me will probably give me a major head-start on this.

01-11-2012, 10:43 PM	#8
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 7,644 Karma: 5433388 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Hi, K8 mobi files use special additional indexes (a skeleton index and a div table index for lack of better names) that can be parsed to recreate the original xhtml file structure. It also uses FDST records info to split out flow items. If you use the latest mobi_unpack.py and support code (should be identical or close to what user_none gave you) and turn on all DEBUG settings you can see almost everything. Focus on the code in mobi_k8proc.py and mobi_html.py to see how to unpack the K8 mobi and build an epub from it. If you have questions about the code, ask in the Mobi Decoder topic in the Mobi forum (or pm me directly and I can explain it and the format). Take Care, KevinH

01-11-2012, 11:14 PM	#9
nickredding onlinenewsreader.net Posts: 324 Karma: 10143 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Phoenix, AZ & Victoria, BC Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Fire, IPad3, iPhone4, Playbook, HTC Inspire	KevinH - many thanks, I'm sure I'll be taking you up on that!

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