Does Kindle Previewer 3 simulate iphone or android phones?

[impasto]

The problems appeared in Kindle paperwhite 4, 2018. The biggest problem was that the links in toc didnt point to the correct location. I will probably be able to sort it out. Maybe there was a thread on this for fixed layout (sorry, fixed layout is much more appropriate for my ebook)?
I cant keep asking the guy for help, and will probably buy the latest paperwhite.

[phillipgessert]

I wasn't aware Paperwhite could even read a fixed-layout. Learn something new every day. Well, it seems you're ready for the inevitable pushback on that, but I wanted to add that while you may feel the book is best served that way, if Amazon disagrees you will still have a problem. In any case, the problem you're describing does not sound like one you'd be able to diagnose by trying different devices. Something has gone wrong earlier in the process.

ETA: I see now from another post this is a book of single-panel comics, I doubt Amazon would take issue with that being fixed-layout.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by impasto

The problems appeared in Kindle paperwhite 4, 2018. The biggest problem was that the links in toc didnt point to the correct location. I will probably be able to sort it out. Maybe there was a thread on this for fixed layout (sorry, fixed layout is much more appropriate for my ebook)?

I cant keep asking the guy for help, and will probably buy the latest paperwhite.

I hate to tell you this--but Phillip, below, is right. A PPW can't download a fixed-layout ebook. Not from the Amazon library/store. Hell, I don't even know how you're sideloading it. The only form of FXL that can be loaded and read on an eInk of any kind is the old "Kindle Kids' book Creator" file. Those that were MOBIs.

If you mean that you used Kindle Create...no, you can't mean that. Are you using Kindle Comic Creator, the old app?

Amazon has basically d/ced using any fixed-layout ebooks on eInks. They do still allow the KKBC books to be read on eInks, but for anything made with KC, KTC, etc., they're limiting downloads to Fire tablets and all the "K4..." apps. K4iPAD, K4PC, K4Mac and so forth.

Is that what you did? You used Kindle Comic Creator, the old Amazon app? From about 2012-2013?

Originally Posted by phillipgessert

I wasn't aware Paperwhite could even read a fixed-layout. Learn something new every day. Well, it seems you're ready for the inevitable pushback on that, but I wanted to add that while you may feel the book is best served that way, if Amazon disagrees you will still have a problem. In any case, the problem you're describing does not sound like one you'd be able to diagnose by trying different devices. Something has gone wrong earlier in the process.

ETA: I see now from another post this is a book of single-panel comics, I doubt Amazon would take issue with that being fixed-layout.

Amazon only takes issue with fxl if a customer complains; (which they do more and more, as increasingly more authors take the lazy way out and load a PDF of a novel into KC and push a button to make Print Replica); but as I mention, above they have rigorously limited what devices may be used to download them, the past 18 months or so.

Hitch

[impasto]

Thanks guys.
Ok, this guy sideloaded the mobi file I gave him- I don't think he used any tricks/hacks.
My workflow was like this:
I created the epub text files from scratch, in part copy/paste from a new project created in KCC (KCC downloaded a few months ago, ver 1.160, so it must be the latest version). I zipped the files into epub, validated the epub, and exported mobi with KP3. The only major difference to make it fixed layout is in content.opf:
<meta content="comic" name="book-type"/>
<meta content="true" name="zero-gutter"/>
<meta content="true" name="zero-margin"/>
<meta content="true" name="fixed-layout"/>
<meta content="portrait" name="orientation-lock"/>
<meta content="horizontal-lr" name="primary-writing-mode"/>
<meta content="732x1196" name="original-resolution"/>
This is in part described in the Amazon Kindle publishing guide.
Not all of these lines are even necessary.

KCC uses fixed layout, and it is an official app from Amazon, so I don't see a problem with using fixed layout in general. I acknowledge that Amazon may restrict download of my ebook to a selection of devices, e.g. may disable download to Kindle paperwhite. This is a separate (and major) issue.

If this happens, would Amazon allow me to provide two versions of my ebook: one in fixed format to Android, iPhone, windows Kindle apps, and a reflow format for all others?
I don't think this can be done with media queries, as they need to be placed in css not in opf file.

Edited:
Is there something wrong with using KCC? It is recommended in the guide on Amazon www for creating comic books.
Edited:This is the solution to use for comic books when not using guided view. What am I missing?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by impasto

Thanks guys.
Ok, this guy sideloaded the mobi file I gave him- I don't think he used any tricks/hacks.
My workflow was like this:
I created the epub text files from scratch, in part copy/paste from a new project created in KCC (KCC downloaded a few months ago, ver 1.160, so it must be the latest version). I zipped the files into epub, validated the epub, and exported mobi with KP3. The only major difference to make it fixed layout is in content.opf:
<meta content="comic" name="book-type"/>
<meta content="true" name="zero-gutter"/>
<meta content="true" name="zero-margin"/>
<meta content="true" name="fixed-layout"/>
<meta content="portrait" name="orientation-lock"/>
<meta content="horizontal-lr" name="primary-writing-mode"/>
<meta content="732x1196" name="original-resolution"/>
This is in part described in the Amazon Kindle publishing guide.
Not all of these lines are even necessary.

KCC uses fixed layout, and it is an official app from Amazon, so I don't see a problem with using fixed layout in general. I acknowledge that Amazon may restrict download of my ebook to a selection of devices, e.g. may disable download to Kindle paperwhite. This is a separate (and major) issue.

If this happens, would Amazon allow me to provide two versions of my ebook: one in fixed format to Android, iPhone, windows Kindle apps, and a reflow format for all others?
I don't think this can be done with media queries, as they need to be placed in css not in opf file.

Edited:
Is there something wrong with using KCC? It is recommended in the guide on Amazon www for creating comic books.
Edited:This is the solution to use for comic books when not using guided view. What am I missing?

You don't get to tell Amazon which apps your particular book is "meant" to be used with; they tell you. So if you create fixed-layout, then it can be sold to Fire users and K4....users. That's it. It won't be downloaded to eInks.

You can try to create a "reflowable" comic, but the moment Amazon gets complaints, they'll reach out to you and they'll tell you to "fix" it, which means, make a fixed-layout MOBI.

The version of KCC you're using is just the same old version they've had for a while. They're unlikely to update it, given they have Kindle Create, in which you can make Guided View.

The thing you have to realize is that making a fixed-layout comic is shoehorning something that's basically a PDF into a reflowable environment. You'd probably be best off with Comixology--where comic-book readers know what to expect and all that--but if you want to sell on Amazon, directly (rather than Comixology, which they own), then yes, using KCC or KC is probably your path forward.

Not sure why you went through all the brain-damage of making the ePUB, etc., though. Why not just use KCC with a PDF, or KC with a PDF? You won't get appreciably better results (for a comic) with the hand-coding--believe me, I know.

Hitch

[impasto]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You don't get to tell Amazon which apps your particular book is "meant" to be used with; they tell you. So if you create fixed-layout, then it can be sold to Fire users and K4....users. That's it. It won't be downloaded to eInks.

This is a problem for me. I want my ebook (this is a collection of single-panel cartoons, similar category as The Far Side) to be available on portable devices: smart phones (Android and iphone), and Kindle eInks. This is because that's how I want to design the advertising campaign, and because of the market share. Availability on other devices is a bonus, but not absolutely necessary to me.
You just wrote fixed layout won't be possible with kindle einks. Where is it stated how it works for iphone and android? What you wrote appears to mean that even though I'm able to sideload, I may not be able to have it available for download from amazon. Did I understand correctly? At this point I'm getting mixed up with all these scenarios - sorry.
Could you re-state it please what is required for iphone: fixed or reflowable?
And now I'm not even sure about Android phones?

What am I to do to make it available as a second version of the book in reflowable layout on devices that dont accept fixed layout? I can easily prepare it (although it won't look as good as in fixed layout), and I will do it if I don't have another choice.

Originally Posted by Hitch

Not sure why you went through all the brain-damage of making the ePUB, etc., though. Why not just use KCC with a PDF, or KC with a PDF? You won't get appreciably better results (for a comic) with the hand-coding--believe me, I know.
Hitch

I got tired of KCC overriding the changes I made to TOC.ncx, and not being able to keep in the TOC.ncx the chapter titles only, without ALL other pages being listed. Oh, and KCC keeps crushing. Besides, I can add a few text pages in quasi fixed-layout pages, not as images.

One more thought: I remember reading about programs that can send my epub (or mobi?) to my Kindle account. Is this equivalent to demonstrating that it will be available to download from amazon, or this is just another way of side-loading?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by impasto

This is a problem for me. I want my ebook (this is a collection of single-panel cartoons, similar category as The Far Side) to be available on portable devices: smart phones (Android and iphone), and Kindle eInks.

Uh...okay. Why didn't you just make it reflowable, with page breaks between each "page" or panel? Why all the fixed-layout brain-damage? ? What is it that you think you get, from FXL, that you wouldn't get from a properly-made reflowable eBook? Hell, for that matter, if you really want finite control, why not put each panel into its own HTML file, inside the ePUB, so that you can control top-margin, thus achieving near-fxl placement on the "page" for lack of a better word?

And secondly, with all due respect, you need more research-fu. You're all this way down the road, you've done a TON of work and now you're finding out that your file won't be downloadable by the millions of eInk readers? Dude...

This is because that's how I want to design the advertising campaign, and because of the market share. Availability on other devices is a bonus, but not absolutely necessary to me.

I'm sorry, but what the hell does the format of the book have to do with advertising campaigns?

You just wrote fixed layout won't be possible with kindle einks. Where is it stated how it works for iphone and android?

It's not. Phones with "Kindle for..." can view pretty much ALL formats of Kindle ebook. It's possible that Amazon may change its mind about that, but...I wouldn't bet on it. There is a chart, in the Kindle help pages, about what's readable where--except, it's wrong and out of date.

What you wrote appears to mean that even though I'm able to sideload, I may not be able to have it available for download from amazon. Did I understand correctly?

Yes, that's exactly right. You can side load it--but that does not mean it's downloadable as a purchased eBook to the same family of devices.

At this point I'm getting mixed up with all these scenarios - sorry.
Could you re-state it please what is required for iphone: fixed or reflowable?
And now I'm not even sure about Android phones?

You should, by and large, be able to download (as a purchaser) both FXL and reflowable ebooks to phones. I suspect that perhaps, you read on your phone a lot? I would not...I wouldn't overestimate the size of the Kindle phone-reading market. FWIW. Do people read on phones? Sure. Hell, I do it when I'm stuck somewhere or in a doc's office, etc. But would I do that by choice? Not on your life and given Amazon's saturation with Kindles, I wouldn't be surprised if many Kindle owners felt that way. (The Hitch rough poll of my customers and others in various and sundry "normal person" forums--not this hotbed of devoted e-Reading forum members--seems to indicate that.)

What am I to do to make it available as a second version of the book in reflowable layout on devices that dont accept fixed layout? I can easily prepare it (although it won't look as good as in fixed layout), and I will do it if I don't have another choice.

You can do that, but you may as well prepare yourself for the inevitable confusion AND, Amazon might put the kibosh on it--they are a bit pissy about publishing the same content twice. Yes, yes, I know, but don't argue with me, argue with them. I will say again that I kinda feel, from what you've said, that you're reinventing the wheel rather than simply making a reflowable correctly for the proposed content, but, hey, it's your book.

I got tired of KCC overriding the changes I made to TOC.ncx, and not being able to keep in the TOC.ncx the chapter titles only, without ALL other pages being listed. Oh, and KCC keeps crushing. Besides, I can add a few text pages in quasi fixed-layout pages, not as images.

Uh...okay. I think you misunderstand the NCX's purpose. Sure, you will get text pages, NOW, but bear in mind, you've either restricted text resizing--or you haven't. You can't mix both in the same eBook.

One more thought: I remember reading about programs that can send my epub (or mobi?) to my Kindle account. Is this equivalent to demonstrating that it will be available to download from amazon, or this is just another way of side-loading?

Yes, it's another way of sideloading, but worse--you'd be using the Kindle Document Service, which auto-converts the content FOR you. So, don't use that.

Hitch

[phillipgessert]

Originally Posted by impasto

Besides, I can add a few text pages in quasi fixed-layout pages, not as images.

If you’re sprinkling ordinary text in, it becomes a pretty good example of a book Amazon will potentially push back on (upon complaint, which I didn't realize until I saw Hitch's comment above). And there probably would be complaints, because the average joe doesn’t really know fixed from reflowable. They’ll just try to resize the text or something and find that the book “doesn’t work right.”

Originally Posted by impasto

This is a problem for me. I want my ebook (this is a collection of single-panel cartoons, similar category as The Far Side) to be available on portable devices: smart phones (Android and iphone), and Kindle eInks. This is because that's how I want to design the advertising campaign, and because of the market share. Availability on other devices is a bonus, but not absolutely necessary to me.

Curious about this: it sounds like maybe you're thinking fixed is ideal for phones, and reflowable is ideal for e-ink? Reflowable is actually ideal for both. In fact phones are probably the worst candidate for fixed. By the way, reflowable is also a lot easier to tinker around with when it's not doing what you expect.

[impasto]

Thanks for the new comments.
I'm a bit hesitant if I should be replying to some of the comments. I noticed some people are quite passionate to convince others, and I don't want you to think I'm an ungrateful listener. So please treat my responses as FYI. I don't have any intention of changing your minds. I'm just explaining my rationale.

What car is better: subaru wrx or corvette? There is no right or wrong here. Subaru is better in rally driving, but corvette is better in road racing. To me it's similar with fixed layout and reflowing. The former is better for image heavy ebooks, and the latter for text or text with occasional images.

Originally Posted by Hitch

Uh...okay. Why didn't you just make it reflowable, with page breaks between each "page" or panel? Why all the fixed-layout brain-damage? ? What is it that you think you get, from FXL, that you wouldn't get from a properly-made reflowable eBook?

When you open (on a small-screen device) a comic-like ebook formatted as reflowable, you'll have to use zoom a lot. Unfortunately, first you have to double-click the image. When you want to go to the next page, first you have to close the image that you had open on the screen. It's just clumsy, and not too pleasant if you have to do it with every page. The reading experience for comic-like ebooks is much nicer with fixed layout: pinch zoom works immediately, and turning pages works without any issues. Try it if you don't believe me.

There is another reason, which might be due my lack of experience: I'm unable to get rid of wide white margins. Real estate on a phone screen is precious. I tried a few things, including negative margins, resets in css,
and <meta content="true" name="zero-margin"/> in content.opf
So far no luck when I display it on my phone.

Originally Posted by Hitch

Hell, for that matter, if you really want finite control, why not put each panel into its own HTML file, inside the ePUB, so that you can control top-margin, thus achieving near-fxl placement on the "page" for lack of a better word?

That's how I did it. I also read somewhere that this is a preferred method as readers don't need to load the entire book at once, just one html file (i.e. one page) at a time. It's faster. I use this method in both layout options of my test ebook.

Originally Posted by Hitch

Phones with "Kindle for..." can view pretty much ALL formats of Kindle ebook.

Totally happy to read this! Extremely important.

Originally Posted by Hitch

There is a chart, in the Kindle help pages, about what's readable where--except, it's wrong and out of date.

I'll try to find it.

Originally Posted by Hitch

I wouldn't overestimate the size of the Kindle phone-reading market. ... The Hitch rough poll of my customers and others in various and sundry "normal person" forums--not this hotbed of devoted e-Reading forum members--seems to indicate that.

Do you share these results? A link? That would be super informative to read.

[phillipgessert]

<snip> My reply here was all snark and not particularly helpful. Apologies.

[impasto]

Originally Posted by phillipgessert

<snip> My reply here was all snark and not particularly helpful. Apologies.

Absolutely no problem. It's a great discussion here.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by impasto

Thanks for the new comments.
I'm a bit hesitant if I should be replying to some of the comments. I noticed some people are quite passionate to convince others, and I don't want you to think I'm an ungrateful listener. So please treat my responses as FYI. I don't have any intention of changing your minds. I'm just explaining my rationale.

I'm not passionate to "convince you." It's your time to waste or spend and your book.

What car is better: subaru wrx or corvette? There is no right or wrong here. Subaru is better in rally driving, but corvette is better in road racing. To me it's similar with fixed layout and reflowing. The former is better for image heavy ebooks, and the latter for text or text with occasional images.

No...sorry, I disagree. Fixed layout is ALWAYS the format of last resort. The limitations and inherent reader disagreeableness is always a problem. Does FXL solve some problems? Yes, sure. But it creates many more. Depending on what happens when KDP processes your file in the PW--the Publishing Workflow--which is something that you CANNOT pre-test or sandbox, you may find out that the way the comic works is different than you are expecting. You keep assuming that what you're seeing, now, is how it will work, when on-sale,but when KDP encounters that FXL metadata, other things will occur.

You have a book that is entirely images. In your circumstance, sure...perhaps FXL is the 'best" route. We just made 4 books for someone, with comic panels, one to a page and I would never have cut him off from the entire eInk reading market by making that set of ebooks in FXL.

When you open (on a small-screen device) a comic-like ebook formatted as reflowable, you'll have to use zoom a lot. Unfortunately, first you have to double-click the image. When you want to go to the next page, first you have to close the image that you had open on the screen. It's just clumsy, and not too pleasant if you have to do it with every page. The reading experience for comic-like ebooks is much nicer with fixed layout: pinch zoom works immediately, and turning pages works without any issues. Try it if you don't believe me.

Perhaps I should introduce myself--I own an eBook company that's made more than 6,000 ebooks and I'm quite familiar with how they work.

Yes, I'm well aware that you have to tap-zoom images in reflowable ebooks--but on the other hand, it would gain you easy entrance to the literally millions of eInks. To me, that's a pretty no-brainer trade-off, but hey, it's your book.

The other problem is, you're entirely focused, as I suspected on PHONES. I mean...there's an entire Kindleverse of devices out there, aside from Phones, which are the very smallest of "Kindle" screens. (My operating assumption is that you haven't coded this to operate in panel view, as you apparently only have one image/panel per page.) So, yes, you eliminate a keystroke, the tap prior to the zoom and the tap to close it.

(For reference, for those who don't work in these formats, Amazon's own Kindle Comic Creator and Kindle Kids' Book Creator, which enable panel view, do NOT allow further panel zooming or page-based pinch-zooming.)

There is another reason, which might be due my lack of experience: I'm unable to get rid of wide white margins. Real estate on a phone screen is precious. I tried a few things, including negative margins, resets in css,
and <meta content="true" name="zero-margin"/> in content.opf
So far no luck when I display it on my phone.

You're probably not going to be able to do that, because you're not setting a background image size and resolution, as one does with panel view. All you're doing is putting an image INTO an empty background--so there isn't anything that creates the "full bleed effect" that you're seeking, if you see what I mean.

That's how I did it. I also read somewhere that this is a preferred method as readers don't need to load the entire book at once, just one html file (i.e. one page) at a time. It's faster. I use this method in both layout options of my test ebook.

It is faster. In a regular book, you'd do sections or chapters, not every page, but...{shrug}.

Totally happy to read this! Extremely important.

Well, if you cut yourself off from the eInks, you're going to need it.

I'll try to find it.

You can if you want, (It's here under the Comparison Chart: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202101750 ) but honestly...it's worthless. I just had a go-round with Amazon about this, because I had a furious customer that felt I'd "misled" him about where FXL could be read. Amazon itself told him that the book we made for him was coded perfectly and they also told him that the section in the HELP pages was outdated, but...he was still adamant that I had some obligation to tell him that their chart was wrong--a chart I never knew he'd consulted and I had WARNED him that FXL couldn't be read on all devices. See where it says that FXL without popups can be read on eInks? Yeah, nope.

Do you share these results? A link? That would be super informative to read.

No; I'm a commercial bookmaker, not a pollster. While I share a lot of stuff here and on other forums that I've garnered in my travels, proprietary information or coding techniques, for example, that I've paid to develop, (like perfect dropcaps for all forms of Kindle) I keep to myself.

Hitch

[salamanderjuice]

Uhh, maybe I'm incredibly naive here but aren't the gajillions of manga available on the Kindle store and work on the eInk readers fixed layout? I no longer have my Kindle PW but I seem to remember that being the case.

If the book you're making is strictly images I'd take a look at how those do it.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Uhh, maybe I'm incredibly naive here but aren't the gajillions of manga available on the Kindle store and work on the eInk readers fixed layout? I no longer have my Kindle PW but I seem to remember that being the case.

If the book you're making is strictly images I'd take a look at how those do it.

Previously, Kindle comic Creator and the original KKBC allowed the output to be read on eInks. The ebooks, themselves, are still readable, by and large, on the devices, but Amazon chose to stop the downloading to the eInks. I suspect it has to do with the panel zoom function. The eInks do not work well with the panel functions. So, to simplify things--again, this is speculation on my part--Amazon simply issued a fiat that FXL made with KC (Kindle Create) can't be used on an eInk.

Hitch

[impasto]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Uhh, maybe I'm incredibly naive here but aren't the gajillions of manga available on the Kindle store and work on the eInk readers fixed layout? I no longer have my Kindle PW but I seem to remember that being the case.

If the book you're making is strictly images I'd take a look at how those do it.

This is a very interesting thought. I found a few ebooks on amazon, including manga, and downloaded the samples, and they look fixed layout without panel popups. I ordered kindle paperwhite, and will be able to check how these ebooks work on kindle in a few days.

From what Hitch wrote, it sounds I should be able to get my fixed layout (without panels), as Im coding html myself, and not relying on KCC.

I dont know how to examine how this manga file was created.