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nhmuse · 09-02-2011, 07:08 AM

Hello - nhmuse here. I am using InDesign CS5 on a Mac. So far I've done 3 epubs that validate using threepress.org's free service. I have yet to try using epubcheck via the command line. All 3 of these books were destined for print first with pretty much straight text, no images except the cover, and only chapter headers, straight body text, and extracts. I set up styles in InDesign for every element and I didn't use any overrides. So I've successfully converted 2 novels, and a biography. These are fairly simple documents although they all have poems and extracts. Each entire book's text is all in one InDesign file, one story, and covers are done separately.
I used Liz Castro's Epub book to guide me for the most part, setting up a Chapter of contents style by going to Layout > Table of Contents Styles... give it a name, and choose the style name I used for the chapter heads.
I then go to File > File Info... and add a little metadata. I don't go hogwild here because I actually create a lot of the mandatory metadata (to pass validation) in Sigil after export from InDesign.
I try to keep everything as simple as possible. Then I go to File > Export for > Epub, and enter more information. I haven't embedded any fonts yet.
The resulting epub I then open in Sigil and add the cover, and add chapter breaks to the frontmatter, which also breaks the xhtml files up into separate files representing where I want page breaks and what I want in the TOC. I rename the xhtml files by their contents, for example, Cover, TitlePage, PublisherInfo, Dedication, Preface, Contents, Ch1, Ch2 Ch3, Author, etc. Then I open the toc.ncx file and modify that. And the content.opf to reflect the items I want to appear in the generated TOC. I also add the anchors (links) in the contents.xhtml file to the appropriate files. So I have a generated TOC like what ADE would use, and a separate linked TOC page in the book.
I do a minimal amount of fixing the .css style document. Then save the epub, validate it, fix any warnings or errors in Sigil, save again, revalidate, then test in ADE.
So far the epubs I have generated have been accepted by the distributor, which means I must be doing okay.
I have more to write here but I have to go out now. I'll be back later!
I highly recommending that you get Liz Castro's Epub book if you are using InDesign. But also get Sigil and start playing with it.
You need a solid knowledge of CSS and xhtml though, and an understanding of how xml works. More later about .mobi export...

09-02-2011, 07:08 AM	#9
nhmuse Member Posts: 17 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Rye, NH Device: ADE, Kindle, ipod	Hello - nhmuse here. I am using InDesign CS5 on a Mac. So far I've done 3 epubs that validate using threepress.org's free service. I have yet to try using epubcheck via the command line. All 3 of these books were destined for print first with pretty much straight text, no images except the cover, and only chapter headers, straight body text, and extracts. I set up styles in InDesign for every element and I didn't use any overrides. So I've successfully converted 2 novels, and a biography. These are fairly simple documents although they all have poems and extracts. Each entire book's text is all in one InDesign file, one story, and covers are done separately. I used Liz Castro's Epub book to guide me for the most part, setting up a Chapter of contents style by going to Layout > Table of Contents Styles... give it a name, and choose the style name I used for the chapter heads. I then go to File > File Info... and add a little metadata. I don't go hogwild here because I actually create a lot of the mandatory metadata (to pass validation) in Sigil after export from InDesign. I try to keep everything as simple as possible. Then I go to File > Export for > Epub, and enter more information. I haven't embedded any fonts yet. The resulting epub I then open in Sigil and add the cover, and add chapter breaks to the frontmatter, which also breaks the xhtml files up into separate files representing where I want page breaks and what I want in the TOC. I rename the xhtml files by their contents, for example, Cover, TitlePage, PublisherInfo, Dedication, Preface, Contents, Ch1, Ch2 Ch3, Author, etc. Then I open the toc.ncx file and modify that. And the content.opf to reflect the items I want to appear in the generated TOC. I also add the anchors (links) in the contents.xhtml file to the appropriate files. So I have a generated TOC like what ADE would use, and a separate linked TOC page in the book. I do a minimal amount of fixing the .css style document. Then save the epub, validate it, fix any warnings or errors in Sigil, save again, revalidate, then test in ADE. So far the epubs I have generated have been accepted by the distributor, which means I must be doing okay. I have more to write here but I have to go out now. I'll be back later! I highly recommending that you get Liz Castro's Epub book if you are using InDesign. But also get Sigil and start playing with it. You need a solid knowledge of CSS and xhtml though, and an understanding of how xml works. More later about .mobi export...