Infogrid Pacific have made a major feature update release to
AZARDI, the reference ePub Reader with Release 2. It remain a strict ePub reader, but
AZARDI now contains a full ePub Package checker and a component editor.
That means from your desktop you can open a book, conformance check the package, edit the XHTML files, CSS, and OPF package files, save your changes and with one click, repackage the book and be reading in only seconds, all in a single desktop environment.
Download AZARDI Release 2 here. For more information read the
FAQ page here and the
Blog post here.
The problem with any highly specified file+zip packaged format, like ePub, is that even the smallest defect or change means going back through the packaging process. Add to this that the competent tools currently available for checking (the Online epubcheck service) are a bit opaque and you don't really know whats going on.
AZARDI not only lists its specific package checks, it gives a detailed printable report that includes full file statistics. In future versions the quantity and detail of the checks will increase, especially for more advanced ePub books.
AZARDI doesn't give specific recommendations for file size and devices because devices and their capabilities will continue to change and we don't want our validation locked into any specific platform. The detailed file reports let you decide if any resource is too large for your target reader.
We made ePub publishing/republishing as easy as it can be with eScape (ODT to ePub Packager), but only if you formatted your book using the eScape methods in the first place. For those who use manual techniques or other production systems, unzipping the file, making manual changes, and then repackaging in the right sequence is just a bit tedious. To bring a bit of fun back into optimizing your ePubs, or making those last little tweaks to the CSS, you now have the option of using
AZARDI Release 2.