10-31-2009, 10:22 AM | #1 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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An ePub I'm proud of
I've recently finished the ebook version of a book I've previously published in PoD format.
I'm rather pleased with the ePub version, and so I attach a sample here for others to examine. The cover is a PNG image in an SVG wrapper. The title page is a SVG graphic incorprating text and a PNG graphic. There are two embedded fonts, encrypted with the Adobe encryption method. Each chapter starts with a drop-cap graphic that resizes with the text, up to a maximum 60% width. Unfortunately epubcheck doesn't understand the Adobe encryption, so the ePub fails epubcheck. Before the font encryption is applied (using my script uploaded here) the epub passes with no errors or warnings. I'd be interested to get feedback on any of the formatting. Does anyone else have an ePub they're proud of? If it's in the Mobileread library, just a link to there would be good. I'm only uploading as an attachment because it's a sample, not the full book. (If you are moved to buy a copy of the full book, it's available at Smashwords in various formats, but none quite so nice as this hand-crafted ePub, which isn't yet on sale anywhere directly. But if you buy at Smashwords, I'll happily email the full version ePub to you.) |
10-31-2009, 10:32 AM | #2 |
Wizard
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I just *have* to check this out. I'm hoping that the Adobe encryption of the fonts does not require using ADE and that I can just load the ePub book directly onto my reader. I currently have two readers that understand ePub: Sony PRS-505 and BeBook Mini. And, of course, I have Calibre installed -- which gives me a Calibre viewer on my PC.
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10-31-2009, 11:08 AM | #3 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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10-31-2009, 01:04 PM | #4 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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You will need an ePub reader written by Adobe. But as that includes the ones in the Sony PRS-505 and the BeBook Mini you'll be fine.
You don't need to have Adobe Digital Editions installed on your computer. It's only the fonts that are encrypted, not the ePub itself. (Just like you can have non-encrypted PDFs that have encrypted fonts embedded.) Quote:
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10-31-2009, 02:41 PM | #5 | |
Punctuation Fetishist
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Quote:
On FBreader and Stanza, I'm afraid your work was for nought. The pretty initial caps are missing completely, leading to isspellings. My jetBook is a little kinder, the initial caps do display, but as separate graphics. On ADE, there are still many misplaced bits of text, including: "The Author, Kingston, Surrey" which is displaced to the right. The upper right hand corner page numbers are inconsistent, sometimes appearing, and sometimes not. A few of the imbedded pictures appear in odd places, such as being alone on a page. I'm afraid you're a victim of the disparate interpretaions of epub. Good Luck, Jack Tingle |
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10-31-2009, 03:33 PM | #6 |
Punctuation Fetishist
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Oddly enough, once you unzip the file, Opera reads each chapter fine. It can't put the parts together, but the individual xml and xhtml files show perfectly. Go figure. Makes me wish I liked Opera better.
Regards, Jack Tingle |
10-31-2009, 06:32 PM | #7 | ||
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Quote:
Quote:
The page numbers are an insane idea of ADE - they're not in the epub itself. Some of the pictures are intended to be full page pictures. But I take your point that the inconsistency is odd in an ebook. I might revisit that decision. Thanks very much for taking the time to have a look and give feedback. |
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10-31-2009, 08:11 PM | #8 | |
reader
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Quote:
It would seem that Stanza and Windows FBReader should use the "alt=" option which is present, although I don't know how that would come out on the page. I agree that it is perfectly ok for ePubs to assume complete implementation of the standard in the Reader. If an ePub has Adobe DRM, all it really needs to do is work in Desktop and mobile ADE. |
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10-31-2009, 09:01 PM | #9 | |
Nameless Being
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11-01-2009, 11:32 AM | #10 |
Created Sigil, FlightCrew
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That's one pretty amazing looking epub. Great job pdurrant.
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11-01-2009, 11:48 AM | #11 |
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
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thank you so much for sharing this with us, pdurrant ! it is truly a beautiful book and an inspiration to see.
i highly recommend taking a look at the code as well ; that is what epub code should ALWAYS look like ! |
11-01-2009, 01:08 PM | #12 |
Guru
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Looks awesome in Adobe Digital Editions for Mac. Great job, pdurrant! I agree, all books should look like this!
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11-01-2009, 02:03 PM | #13 |
Wizard
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Quite spectacular! You deserve to be very proud of that, and it's a lovely showcase for the sort of stuff ePub can do. I'll be keeping it on my 505 so I can show people.
I only wish more publishers devoted this sort of attention to their eBook editions, adults also appreciate a book that's been laid out with care. |
11-03-2009, 12:23 PM | #14 |
Chocolate Grasshopper ...
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An extremely high quality production.
Thanks for posting the sample, an excellent source of the standard to which should be attained by all who produce e-books..... |
11-03-2009, 01:03 PM | #15 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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I'm grateful for your kind words, and the other compliments. The criticism is also welcome.
And today another outlet for ePubs opened up. Lulu.com now allow upload and sale of ePubs! Now if only Amazon would open up to non-US publishers /and/ reduce the ridiculous 65% cut that they demand. |
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