MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Questions about best practices: InDesign CS5 to ePub (file formatted for printing)

mtrahan · 05-14-2011, 02:15 PM

I'm working for a small publisher who wants to make available ePub versions of the books he publishes. I'm getting better and better at ePub formatting but until now I've always started with text very simply formatted.

I've read Liz Castro's book, and also this one: http://www.amazon.com/Create-eBook-A...5396233&sr=1-1 Both covers the process of going from InDesign to ePub, but they start with very simple formatting so the process is quite straightforward.

I'm not an InDesign specialist. I'm ready to put the time and energy it takes to learn to do this the best way possible. The publisher gave me a couple hours of training so I can understand how his books are formatted exactly. My problem is that the .indd file has very complex formatting, ready to be printed as a paper book. For example, there are many, many different paragraph and character styles that are not needed for simplified ebook formatting. What is the best way to proceed? Between a) try to simplify the formatting by removing some styles while preserving formatting or b) create a simplified template file for ePub versions and import the text in it? If you have general advices on this part it will be much appreciated.

If I understand correctly, one of the most important thing here is to remove all the local formatting?

To export in ePub, does the book have to be all "linked"? By that I mean that the main text is a very long text box all linked, but for example the very first pages (title, copyright, etc.) are separate are different masters (not 100% sure it is the good term though). Do I have to do something special here or I can leave them like this?

Finally, about fonts: there are many different fonts in the print-version, some PostScript, some TrueType, etc. I don't want to embed fonts, so I will uncheck this in ePub export from InDesign. My question is: do I need to change all the styles to an OpenType font before exporting or something (that's what the publisher thought)? Or if I choose to not embed fonts, InDesign will just ignore all fonts selection anyway so no need to change the formatting there? Not too sure I'm clear.

After the ePub export my plan is to finish the editing with Sigil. All advices are appreciated—and if you got more reading suggestions, I would appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for your help.

05-14-2011, 02:15 PM	#1
mtrahan Colonel Mustard Posts: 90 Karma: 1426 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Montreal Device: iPhone 6, Kindle Paperwhite 2, iPad 2	Questions about best practices: InDesign CS5 to ePub (file formatted for printing) I'm working for a small publisher who wants to make available ePub versions of the books he publishes. I'm getting better and better at ePub formatting but until now I've always started with text very simply formatted. I've read Liz Castro's book, and also this one: http://www.amazon.com/Create-eBook-A...5396233&sr=1-1 Both covers the process of going from InDesign to ePub, but they start with very simple formatting so the process is quite straightforward. I'm not an InDesign specialist. I'm ready to put the time and energy it takes to learn to do this the best way possible. The publisher gave me a couple hours of training so I can understand how his books are formatted exactly. My problem is that the .indd file has very complex formatting, ready to be printed as a paper book. For example, there are many, many different paragraph and character styles that are not needed for simplified ebook formatting. What is the best way to proceed? Between a) try to simplify the formatting by removing some styles while preserving formatting or b) create a simplified template file for ePub versions and import the text in it? If you have general advices on this part it will be much appreciated. If I understand correctly, one of the most important thing here is to remove all the local formatting? To export in ePub, does the book have to be all "linked"? By that I mean that the main text is a very long text box all linked, but for example the very first pages (title, copyright, etc.) are separate are different masters (not 100% sure it is the good term though). Do I have to do something special here or I can leave them like this? Finally, about fonts: there are many different fonts in the print-version, some PostScript, some TrueType, etc. I don't want to embed fonts, so I will uncheck this in ePub export from InDesign. My question is: do I need to change all the styles to an OpenType font before exporting or something (that's what the publisher thought)? Or if I choose to not embed fonts, InDesign will just ignore all fonts selection anyway so no need to change the formatting there? Not too sure I'm clear. After the ePub export my plan is to finish the editing with Sigil. All advices are appreciated—and if you got more reading suggestions, I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance for your help. Last edited by mtrahan; 05-14-2011 at 02:16 PM. Reason: Title was too long.