2-page spread

Sandara01 · 10-13-2011, 08:45 AM

Hi. Sandra Kischuk here.

I am a writer/editor and need to convert a children's picture book to Kindle and Nook formats. I would like the 2 page spread because some of the illustrations spread across both pages. (landscape format) This was posted on an old thread, with much hot discussion about why anyone would want a 2 page spread. . .but this is how picture books work.

I have been experimenting with Calibre. . .with 2 distinct problems.

1) I cannot create a 2 page spread with realistic page-turning functionality. I've seen children's books on Nook, and yes, it has been done. My question is, how?

2) Although, in my experimenting, I converted from .pdf, figuring the text would stay "nailed" over the pictures if I locked it in with .pdf. It didn't work that way. Calibre split the text and the pictures so everything is strung together in a very unsatisfactory presentation. Yech. My next thought was to reconstruct the pages in .html and see if that worked better, but I figured I needed to resolve the page layout first since I didn't know if the right and left pages had to be coded separately or if I needed to code them as a unit. I don't think coding as a unit would result in the correct "paging action."

So there it is. A bunch of techie questions from someone who's just getting started. YIKES!

Sandra

pdurrant · 10-13-2011, 09:17 AM

Hi Sandra, Welcome to MobileRead.

A two-page spread on a 6" screen doesn't really work very well.

However, to answer your question: I don't believe that there's any way to force landscape (i.e. two-page) display through any standard ebook format. Even in PDF the best you could do would be to make large landscape single pages of each double page spread.

It might be that Apple have introduced some special ePub extensions (i.e. non-standard) that might allow you to do what you want. But then that book would only work in Apple's iBooks application, which is only in iPad/iPhone/Ipod Touch, and could only be sold through the iTunes store.

Sandara01 · 10-13-2011, 09:47 AM

Thank you for your response. Nook Color has a 7" screen. The children's picture books I have seen on it in two-page spread are actually quite delightful . . . probably because these books have a limited number of words on a page. (Two page spread with a lot of words would be IMPOSSIBLE to read.) The book pages turn like a regular book (hinging at the center, rather than at the left edge), so there has to be some tricky coding going on in the background.

Also, do you have any idea how to keep the words ON TOP OF THE TEXT? Calibre will give me a picture, followed by the text that was on top of it, then another picture, then more text. . . Again, this is another "picture book" problem since most adult books keep the pictures and the text separate. Thanks.

Rob Lister · 10-13-2011, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandara01

Hi. Sandra Kischuk here.

I am a writer/editor and need to convert a children's picture book to Kindle and Nook formats. I would like the 2 page spread because some of the illustrations spread across both pages. (landscape format) This was posted on an old thread, with much hot discussion about why anyone would want a 2 page spread. . .but this is how picture books work.

I certainly don't know the answer to your technical question so I'm commenting only to say that I can't picture what it is you're trying to achieve. Since an e-reader has only one screen, your 2-page spread doesn't seem useful...regardless of how meat-type picture books work. Are you trying to do panning?

Sandara01 · 10-13-2011, 10:09 AM

I'm not sure what panning is. The book has pictures which span two pages. One, in particular has a wide swimming pool with characters stepping into it, walking down the side, across the bottom, up the other side and getting out of the pool.
_x__x_ oooooooooooooooo __x_
=====|x-oooooooooooo-x|=====
=====|__x__x___x__x__x|=====
(Obviously, breathing not a problem.) And a single page format wouldn't get across the silliness of the whole thing.
_x__x_ ooooooo
=====|x-ooooo
=====|__x__x_

oooooooo__x_
oooooo-x|===
_x__x__x|===

Maybe I'll try contacting B&N to see what they recommend?

Thank you.

ImogenRose · 10-15-2011, 08:31 AM

Hello and welcome to MR!

Imogen

Gunnerp245 · 10-22-2011, 08:55 AM

Welcome to Mobileread!

calibre creator, Kovid Goyal, is extremely responsive in the calibre forums, as are all the calibre developers! If you haven't already, visiting there would provide some assistance.

But be forewarned PDF is a terrible format to convert from see 'Read this before Posting PDF Questions' thread.

10-13-2011, 08:45 AM	#1
Sandara01 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: none	2-page spread Hi. Sandra Kischuk here. I am a writer/editor and need to convert a children's picture book to Kindle and Nook formats. I would like the 2 page spread because some of the illustrations spread across both pages. (landscape format) This was posted on an old thread, with much hot discussion about why anyone would want a 2 page spread. . .but this is how picture books work. I have been experimenting with Calibre. . .with 2 distinct problems. 1) I cannot create a 2 page spread with realistic page-turning functionality. I've seen children's books on Nook, and yes, it has been done. My question is, how? 2) Although, in my experimenting, I converted from .pdf, figuring the text would stay "nailed" over the pictures if I locked it in with .pdf. It didn't work that way. Calibre split the text and the pictures so everything is strung together in a very unsatisfactory presentation. Yech. My next thought was to reconstruct the pages in .html and see if that worked better, but I figured I needed to resolve the page layout first since I didn't know if the right and left pages had to be coded separately or if I needed to code them as a unit. I don't think coding as a unit would result in the correct "paging action." So there it is. A bunch of techie questions from someone who's just getting started. YIKES! Sandra Last edited by Sandara01; 10-13-2011 at 08:46 AM. Reason: typos

10-13-2011, 10:09 AM	#5
Sandara01 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: none	I'm not sure what panning is. The book has pictures which span two pages. One, in particular has a wide swimming pool with characters stepping into it, walking down the side, across the bottom, up the other side and getting out of the pool. _x__x_ oooooooooooooooo __x_ =====\|x-oooooooooooo-x\|===== =====\|__x__x___x__x__x\|===== (Obviously, breathing not a problem.) And a single page format wouldn't get across the silliness of the whole thing. _x__x_ ooooooo =====\|x-ooooo =====\|__x__x_ oooooooo__x_ oooooo-x\|=== _x__x__x\|=== Maybe I'll try contacting B&N to see what they recommend? Thank you. Last edited by Sandara01; 10-13-2011 at 10:14 AM. Reason: format errors

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10-13-2011, 09:17 AM	#2
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 73,859 Karma: 315126578 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	Hi Sandra, Welcome to MobileRead. A two-page spread on a 6" screen doesn't really work very well. However, to answer your question: I don't believe that there's any way to force landscape (i.e. two-page) display through any standard ebook format. Even in PDF the best you could do would be to make large landscape single pages of each double page spread. It might be that Apple have introduced some special ePub extensions (i.e. non-standard) that might allow you to do what you want. But then that book would only work in Apple's iBooks application, which is only in iPad/iPhone/Ipod Touch, and could only be sold through the iTunes store.

10-13-2011, 09:47 AM	#3
Sandara01 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: none	Thank you for your response. Nook Color has a 7" screen. The children's picture books I have seen on it in two-page spread are actually quite delightful . . . probably because these books have a limited number of words on a page. (Two page spread with a lot of words would be IMPOSSIBLE to read.) The book pages turn like a regular book (hinging at the center, rather than at the left edge), so there has to be some tricky coding going on in the background. Also, do you have any idea how to keep the words ON TOP OF THE TEXT? Calibre will give me a picture, followed by the text that was on top of it, then another picture, then more text. . . Again, this is another "picture book" problem since most adult books keep the pictures and the text separate. Thanks.

10-15-2011, 08:31 AM	#6
ImogenRose PORTAL Posts: 7,204 Karma: 2884640 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Kindle 1, Kindle 3 (3G), iPhone	Hello and welcome to MR! Imogen

10-22-2011, 08:55 AM	#7
Gunnerp245 Gadget Freak Posts: 1,169 Karma: 1043832 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: US Device: EE, Note 8	Welcome to Mobileread! calibre creator, Kovid Goyal, is extremely responsive in the calibre forums, as are all the calibre developers! If you haven't already, visiting there would provide some assistance. But be forewarned PDF is a terrible format to convert from see 'Read this before Posting PDF Questions' thread.

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