EPUB2 Font Embedding InDesign

[mattmc]

I want to start by acknowledging that this is a pretty trivial point. Good, that's done.

I'm watching Anne-Marie Concepcion's videos on EPUB creation with InDesign. In two different videos, she states that font embedding is not possible with EPUB2, only EPUB3.

This was pretty confusing to me, because Anne-Marie is one of the most recognized authorities on the InDesign -> EPUB workflow. AFAIK it's perfectly possible to embed fonts in EPUB2...I've been doing it for several years now. Sure, not all e-readers necessarily support it, but the most common ones seem to.

Anyone know what she would be referring to? Just simplifying the "spotty support" into "no support" for the newbies on the eBook scene? I feel like submitting feedback on the course because the statements are wrong and misleading, but I want to confirm that I'm not crazy.

[Turtle91]

I have to admit I dropped InDesign like a hot-potato (after a couple days of trial) many years ago when I discovered Sigil. So my response is pretty much pure conjecture...

Perhaps the InDesign software doesn't have the capability of physically embedding the files into the ePub...because, of course, ePub2/3 DOES support it.

If the software CAN physically do it, then I would wright a critique to the video publisher.

[Toxaris]

If she says that InDesign cannot do it, she might be right (but even that I doubt it). If she makes the statement with regards to ePUB2 in general, she is very wrong of course.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by mattmc

I'm watching Anne-Marie Concepcion's videos on EPUB creation with InDesign. In two different videos, she states that font embedding is not possible with EPUB2, only EPUB3.

Maybe the tutorial was an older version of InDesign?

A quick search lead to this. According to:

http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com/20...ing-fonts.html

One of the most appreciated improvements to InDesign with the new Creative Cloud edition is that it finally embeds fonts in a way that iBooks understands.

[...]

The problem is that InDesign CS 6 doesn't do it right. Whether it's Adobe's fault or Apple's or the IDPF's, I've never been quite sure, but the truth is that there were two major problems: the font didn't get obfuscated properly and InDesign didn't account for iBooks' idiosyncracies (read: non-standard font requirements).

[...]

Apple's com file is totally non-standard (that is, not part of the EPUB3 spec), but regardless, if you want fonts to work in iBooks with an EPUB 2 file, that's what you need, and I think Adobe made a great decision by including that file automatically so we don't have to crack open the EPUB to add it ourselves.

So perhaps that tutorial you watched was conflating all of iBooks's bastardized EPUB with all of EPUB. Wouldn't be surprising since a lot of those InDesign people specifically design EPUBs for iBooks only... bleh.

or this older "What's new in InDesign CS5" document:

http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Ado...n_cs5_epub.pdf

said this:

Note: A number of eBook readers do not support embedded fonts, including the iBooks app on
the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle.

So maybe older versions of InDesign just didn't insert the "com.apple.ibooks.display-options.xml" that iBooks needs.

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

So maybe older versions of InDesign just didn't insert the "com.apple.ibooks.display-options.xml" that iBooks needs.

Adobe used a different font obfuscation technique than Apple for EPUB 2 books, so you couldn't embed obfuscated fonts in an EPUB 2 book and expect ADE and iBooks to both be able to read them.

EPUB 3 resolved that by providing a single obfuscation standard in the spec, and now everybody is on the same page. I'd imagine that's what she meant when she said that font embedding wasn't supported—specifically that font embedding of commercial fonts was dubious in EPUB 2.

[JSWolf]

I would not bother to obfuscate fonts. The best way to handle fonts is to subset them. Not only do you get fonts that cannot be used for anything other than that book, you get smaller fonts for a small size for the book.

[mattmc]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

Adobe used a different font obfuscation technique than Apple for EPUB 2 books, so you couldn't embed obfuscated fonts in an EPUB 2 book and expect ADE and iBooks to both be able to read them.

EPUB 3 resolved that by providing a single obfuscation standard in the spec, and now everybody is on the same page. I'd imagine that's what she meant when she said that font embedding wasn't supported—specifically that font embedding of commercial fonts was dubious in EPUB 2.

Ah, interesting. Yes, I remember that vaguely. Well, in the more recent InDesign versions (CS6 forward, I think) Adobe switched to just using the standard IDPF obfuscation techniques, and they added the right metadata file in, so their EPUB2s with obfuscated fonts can be read just fine by iBooks.

Anyway, you're probably right--thanks!

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would not bother to obfuscate fonts. The best way to handle fonts is to subset them. Not only do you get fonts that cannot be used for anything other than that book, you get smaller fonts for a small size for the book.

I don't disagree with your point that subsetting is more effective than obfuscation at deterring theft, but I feel compelled to point out that your comment is only vaguely, tangentially related to this thread.