Question: What does my book look like on your devise?

wannabee · 11-04-2010, 09:38 PM

I need a little help from my friends here on MR. The books I'm converting contain many lists so I've been using tables to format them. What do they look like on your devise? Especially chapter 3.

There are two versions. One with resized formatted images and the other with original sized images.

iBooks resizes images so they fit the page and some of them are detailed so you can double tap them and they enlarge on the ipad but then other devises might display them full size ruining the formatting. I don't know so I'm asking you guys for some feedback.

I've been searching for similar examples here and elsewhere but can't seem to find any books with similar formatting and wondered if I've gone out on a limb here. I've many more books to convert and I don't want to go down the wrong path.

Has anyone else been formatting chapters like this?

Thanks

wannabee · 11-07-2010, 08:41 AM

Oh Boy! Can someone suggest better placement for this request because this sure ain't working?

pholy · 11-08-2010, 10:25 AM

Sorry, it was a busy weekend...

Using a BeBook 1 with ADE software upgrade (6", 600x800):

Original pictures -
The table only showed two columns, and only one or two rows per page.
The body type pictures took up half the height of the page, and about half the width. The included labels were quite legible.

Formatted images:
The table showed all three columns, and had many rows per page. It was quite usable.
The body type pictures were tiny (perhaps an inch high) and pixilated. The lables were unreadable.

A very interesting result. It looks like tables can be useful, if the device limits are discovered and respected. I'm not sure how non-typical (iPad?) devices might be different, however. And it looks like the treatment of image resizing needs more investigation.

I also looked at the files with Lucidor, which showed the table correctly, but failed to display some images in the original-images files (perhaps it does not resize images at all).

Hope this helps. I know pictures would help more, but I'm not too good at uploading pictures...

wannabee · 11-08-2010, 05:21 PM

Thank you for taking the time to look at my files Pholy, it's a bit of a worry trying to foresee a book with formatting working on so many different devices. I would sure like to hear from any one else that could give me feed back.

Pholy, did the rows show alternating colour background? (does a BeBook even show greyscale?)
i.e. every second row was coloured yellow so that when the row spanned more than a page you could determine the end of the row and the start of the next?

pholy · 11-08-2010, 06:37 PM

Hi Wannabee - The pale yellow shows up on my computer, but not on the BeBook (2-bit greyscale) nor the Kobo (3-bit greyscale). On the other hand, it's pretty clear that ADE is not breaking rows across page boundaries, so it doesn't really matter.
Since most e-ink readers use ADE for epub, I suspect my results will be fairly representative for e-ink readers. Smart phones and iPads usually use a webkit based reader, so they may well look different. I can't test those, not having any.

wannabee · 11-08-2010, 06:39 PM

Thanks Pholy, I've got an iPad and it looks great on that and is interactive. Do you know if the eReaders you mentioned recognise hyperlinks?

pholy · 11-08-2010, 11:00 PM

The Kobo doesn't do links at all; I'm not sure about my BeBook. All the links I found were external links, so they wouldn't be useful on the BeBook, Sony, Cybook Gen3, or any other reader without an active net connection.

By the way, I noticed that what should be list-bullets near the end of part 3 (Important Notes) show up as â€¢, and the apostrophe in Crohn's shows up as â€(trademark)... so there are some encoding problems. These are probably caused because you don't have this line in your <head> section:
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

I didn't try adding it and rebuilding the file....

wannabee · 11-08-2010, 11:29 PM

Thanks Pholy

That's been bugging me for three months. I knew it was an encoding issue and for the life of me searched hi and low for a solution. I'll try that string. I've been editing them out one chapter at a time and just when I think a book is done and all the code has been painstakingly edited the author makes a change and the job get exported from indesign again the the editing starts all over again.
Guess I shouldn't complain. I get paid by the hour.

It must be getting your bedtime Pholy

11-08-2010, 11:29 PM	#8
wannabee Media Bloke Posts: 2,381 Karma: 113956855 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NSW - Australia Device: iOS	encoding issues Thanks Pholy That's been bugging me for three months. I knew it was an encoding issue and for the life of me searched hi and low for a solution. I'll try that string. I've been editing them out one chapter at a time and just when I think a book is done and all the code has been painstakingly edited the author makes a change and the job get exported from indesign again the the editing starts all over again. Guess I shouldn't complain. I get paid by the hour. It must be getting your bedtime Pholy

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
If you were to get another reading devise....	CarolB	Sony Reader	41	02-04-2010 03:00 PM
Library book question...	radamo	Sony Reader	22	03-29-2009 06:13 PM
Book Designer question	lady_morana	Workshop	5	06-21-2007 08:43 PM
Question on connect book	Aprilbeginnings	Sony Reader	8	12-29-2006 04:02 PM
µbook question	bruceathome	Reading and Management	1	02-09-2006 07:40 PM

11-07-2010, 08:41 AM	#2
wannabee Media Bloke Posts: 2,381 Karma: 113956855 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NSW - Australia Device: iOS	Oh Boy! Can someone suggest better placement for this request because this sure ain't working?

11-08-2010, 10:25 AM	#3
pholy Booklegger Posts: 1,801 Karma: 7999816 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Device: BeBook(1 & 2010), PEZ, PRS-505, Kobo BT, PRS-T1, Playbook, Kobo Touch	Sorry, it was a busy weekend... Using a BeBook 1 with ADE software upgrade (6", 600x800): Original pictures - The table only showed two columns, and only one or two rows per page. The body type pictures took up half the height of the page, and about half the width. The included labels were quite legible. Formatted images: The table showed all three columns, and had many rows per page. It was quite usable. The body type pictures were tiny (perhaps an inch high) and pixilated. The lables were unreadable. A very interesting result. It looks like tables can be useful, if the device limits are discovered and respected. I'm not sure how non-typical (iPad?) devices might be different, however. And it looks like the treatment of image resizing needs more investigation. I also looked at the files with Lucidor, which showed the table correctly, but failed to display some images in the original-images files (perhaps it does not resize images at all). Hope this helps. I know pictures would help more, but I'm not too good at uploading pictures...

11-08-2010, 05:21 PM	#4
wannabee Media Bloke Posts: 2,381 Karma: 113956855 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NSW - Australia Device: iOS	Thank you for taking the time to look at my files Pholy, it's a bit of a worry trying to foresee a book with formatting working on so many different devices. I would sure like to hear from any one else that could give me feed back. Pholy, did the rows show alternating colour background? (does a BeBook even show greyscale?) i.e. every second row was coloured yellow so that when the row spanned more than a page you could determine the end of the row and the start of the next?

11-08-2010, 06:37 PM	#5
pholy Booklegger Posts: 1,801 Karma: 7999816 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Device: BeBook(1 & 2010), PEZ, PRS-505, Kobo BT, PRS-T1, Playbook, Kobo Touch	Hi Wannabee - The pale yellow shows up on my computer, but not on the BeBook (2-bit greyscale) nor the Kobo (3-bit greyscale). On the other hand, it's pretty clear that ADE is not breaking rows across page boundaries, so it doesn't really matter. Since most e-ink readers use ADE for epub, I suspect my results will be fairly representative for e-ink readers. Smart phones and iPads usually use a webkit based reader, so they may well look different. I can't test those, not having any.

11-08-2010, 06:39 PM	#6
wannabee Media Bloke Posts: 2,381 Karma: 113956855 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NSW - Australia Device: iOS	Thanks Pholy, I've got an iPad and it looks great on that and is interactive. Do you know if the eReaders you mentioned recognise hyperlinks?

11-08-2010, 11:00 PM	#7
pholy Booklegger Posts: 1,801 Karma: 7999816 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Device: BeBook(1 & 2010), PEZ, PRS-505, Kobo BT, PRS-T1, Playbook, Kobo Touch	The Kobo doesn't do links at all; I'm not sure about my BeBook. All the links I found were external links, so they wouldn't be useful on the BeBook, Sony, Cybook Gen3, or any other reader without an active net connection. By the way, I noticed that what should be list-bullets near the end of part 3 (Important Notes) show up as â€¢, and the apostrophe in Crohn's shows up as â€(trademark)... so there are some encoding problems. These are probably caused because you don't have this line in your <head> section: <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> I didn't try adding it and rebuilding the file....

Advert

Advert