Does Amazon do some extra formatting on their books?

[jocampo]

I buy most of my computer books from Amazon. Today, I didn't. I bought the same book from Microsoft Press just because it comes with PDF as well.

Boy! The MS press, which technically speaking is the same book, looks like crap, especially the TSQL code. Here's an example:



And this is Amazon's sample:



The MS version has italic and the font is "busy". The SQL code is in ugly pink.

To me, it seems Amazon is doing extra coding?

How I can fix this, via Calibre? The book is DRM free.

[elemenoP]

In the example you posted, it looks to me like the first version (is it epub?) has LESS formatting than the Amazon version, not more. Both use a different font for the code, and the MS version ALSO changes the color. It's just that you don't like the aesthetic choices they made. (The pink makes the code stand out more, but I have to agree with you that I have never seen italic used to represent code, that's weird).

In order to change it, open in a text editor and see what the tags around the code samples are. Then you can try to set up a new CSS definition for that tag. That's the general idea.

eP

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

In the example you posted, it looks to me like the first version (is it epub?) has LESS formatting than the Amazon version, not more. Both use a different font for the code, and the MS version ALSO changes the color. It's just that you don't like the aesthetic choices they made. (The pink makes the code stand out more, but I have to agree with you that I have never seen italic used to represent code, that's weird).

In order to change it, open in a text editor and see what the tags around the code samples are. Then you can try to set up a new CSS definition for that tag. That's the general idea.

eP

It's MOBI, no ePub. As a matter of fact, I've not seen yet an online store (not Amazon) selling computer books in ePub, but that's another story.

Anyway, so I need to change the CSS definition? Is that on one place?

You're right, is due aesthetic. I've never seen code in italic and pink. It's hard to read, at least for me.

[HarryT]

Amazon doesn't format any books; the formatting is done by the publisher.

Originally Posted by jocampo

It's MOBI, no ePub. As a matter of fact, I've not seen yet an online store (not Amazon) selling computer books in ePub, but that's another story.

Anyway, so I need to change the CSS definition? Is that on one place?

You're right, is due aesthetic. I've never seen code in italic and pink. It's hard to read, at least for me.

If the formatting was done in a manner which a sane person would have done it, then there might be a single CSS class definition for all code in the book, and each paragraph tag that contains code will have class="something" where something represents the class name. But if the creator of the mobi used an application like MS Word to create the book then had it generate HTML for the eBook, it will likely be a mess to correct. Even some of the large publishing houses turn out total garbage for eBooks by simply converting Word docs to HTML.

Personally I still prefer to see code represented in a monotype font.

ETA: I don't know about mobi7, but Amazon's KF8 format recognizes the HTML [CODE] tag. Seems to me it would be smart to use that tag for code in eBooks. The eBook creator could easily modify the results of the CODE tag via CSS. However, looking at your sample I doubt the eBook creator used the CODE tag.

[susan_cassidy]

O'Reilly books sells in every format, including ePub, .mobi, and pdf.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by jocampo

It's MOBI, no ePub. As a matter of fact, I've not seen yet an online store (not Amazon) selling computer books in ePub, but that's another story.

Anyway, so I need to change the CSS definition? Is that on one place?

You're right, is due aesthetic. I've never seen code in italic and pink. It's hard to read, at least for me.

So... Did the publisher create two formats? One for MS and other one for Amazon? That doesn't make sense.

By the way, MS press contacted me (I'm surprised, I wasn't expecting any follow up) they asked for screenshots and ISBN. They will investigate.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

O'Reilly books sells in every format, including ePub, .mobi, and pdf.

True, but I they stopped selling MS press like one month ago; they even notified on front page. I'm guessing, but I think is because MS press will sell them by themselves now and they don't want competition.

The only other place where I can find MS books (ebook format) is Amazon. But I like the PDF as well. With the PDF I can work on my Mac and do exercises , using copy paste for the code, then execute on SQL 2012. That's hard to do with Kindle for Mac.

[Cady Heron]

I know this is a slightly old thread but I figured I'd chime in. I'd be really interested in knowing if you ever got a reply back for them.

I think the second example looks like the typical display of one of the more basic kindles. They don't/didn't display pink text, just black and white. That is also the default font they used.

Maybe the publisher made a version that would display better on those kindles or simply used that example from one of the older kindles.

[rem736]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

O'Reilly books sells in every format, including ePub, .mobi, and pdf.

and once you buy the book, you can download in all formats, all drm-free.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by Cady Heron

I know this is a slightly old thread but I figured I'd chime in. I'd be really interested in knowing if you ever got a reply back for them.



I think the second example looks like the typical display of one of the more basic kindles. They don't/didn't display pink text, just black and white. That is also the default font they used.



Maybe the publisher made a version that would display better on those kindles or simply used that example from one of the older kindles.

Yes. They even asked for screenshots, but nothing happens after that.