12-05-2022, 06:28 PM | #1 |
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Broken characters in iBooks
This happens when my client opens her FXL e-book in iBooks on her macOS machine. The e-book is created in Sigil on the Windows 10 platform. Is it:
Any suggestion to solving this issue is appreciated. |
12-06-2022, 09:30 AM | #2 |
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Wow! a Fixed-Layout e-book on Sigil?!?!? That must have taken some effort!!
At a quick glance it looks like a font issue. It looks like the same letters are being replaced with the same character. I've seen this when I change a lowercase glyph to uppercase (or vice-versa) and the font I'm using has been subset. If the font file doesn't have that particular glyph then it will use a fall-back font. Are you embedding the font? I honestly don't know if iBooks supports embedded fonts... |
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12-06-2022, 10:13 AM | #3 |
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If FXL then fonts and font metrics must be absolutely identical. Therefore embedding the font is almost absolutely required to have it work on multiple ereaders.
What does it look like using the Bluefire reader on iOS. If it works there then it could be iBooks is replacing the font with a font with different metrics. |
12-06-2022, 10:13 AM | #4 |
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iPad os and iOS books app only supports headings with embedded fonts, not body text since os 16. It may be similar on modern Mac OS?
It is VERY annoying. As Kevin said, using a different reader app might help to determine the problem. Last edited by Martinoptic; 12-06-2022 at 10:15 AM. Reason: Referenced Kevin’s post |
12-07-2022, 05:14 PM | #5 | ||
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Quote:
Quote:
I'll ask my client to test the e-book on a different reader, like Bluefire. |
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12-07-2022, 05:55 PM | #6 | |
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12-08-2022, 09:12 AM | #7 | |
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Quote:
And how did you set the pixel offsets, for the words? The reason that FXL is so bloody limited is because (by design) it's limited to a specific set of devices. That Kobo's FXL layout "matches" Apple's is only because they literally mooched Apple's. You can't run an FXL ePUB, for example, made with InDesign, designed for iOS, on a Kindle, no matter how you get it there. It crashes and burns and yes, corrupts the layout as seen here. So, I am not sure how you actually designed that, to be FXL, without taking into account all the various parameters? Did you size it by her custom requirement, to a specific screen and reader? It would seem not, as she's getting corruption on her device. ???? Hitch |
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12-08-2022, 09:46 AM | #8 |
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If you need fixed layout I suggest that PDF would be a better option then EPUB.
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12-08-2022, 11:37 AM | #9 | |
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But it would be a cold day in hell, or a mighty paycheck, that would tempt me to try to make a One File Rules Them All FXL file. It's just...it's really impossible. You can't do it. I mean...do you design for an iOS full-size iPad? A Mini? What about a Nook? Color Nook? Nook Color HD? Droid tablet? Phone? A 1:1.3 aspect ratio? (IPad). A 1:1.6 (half the Fires). A 1:1.7? (the other fires). What about every "reader" out there, that resizes itself to fit a screen of (whatever) size? How can that even remotely work? Sure, you can create text boxes--but how do you know if the box will work in environment X? And if you don't design for a target device or, at the very very least,, aspect ratio, how the hell can the thing work, unless all the text--all of it--is images of text, not real text? (n.b.: we do make SIMPLE FXL ePUBs, [like, one small paragraph of text on a page, floating over an image] for those folks that come to us with illustrated children's books, that will work in the Kindleverse. It's rare. We do it in unusual circumstances. Nonetheless, nobody should try that without a LOT of FXL experience, because even doing that is nuts. And every client that now, or ever, got a file like that from us, received 90-bajillionty disclaimers about it working.) Hitch |
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12-08-2022, 12:17 PM | #10 |
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12-08-2022, 12:20 PM | #11 |
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There are definitely some things, like a pedigree chart, that would not work so well reflowable. I would put those in as an image. Other items, like images of people and stories/comments about them are certainly doable as reflowable. I’m not sure what aspects of the book require fixed layout???
@AntoniDol I sent you a private message - maybe I can help. Last edited by Turtle91; 12-08-2022 at 12:32 PM. |
12-08-2022, 01:18 PM | #12 |
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Is there a specific issue that you’ve found doesn’t work with reflowable format?
Cheers, Dion Issues were: the figcaptions in figures not sticking with the images, "hero" - images not visible next to chapter openings, images not bleeding of the sides of the pages, chapters not starting on recto pages, no running headers or pagenumbers... I have a flow version of the book, perfectly accaptable to me, but not to my client. Essentially, the client wanted a copy of the printed boek, which I created successfully in the end, apart from these strangely broken characters... |
12-08-2022, 01:26 PM | #13 | ||||
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Hitch |
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12-08-2022, 01:27 PM | #14 |
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I chose a fixed size of 1200 x 768 and created verso and recto containers for the pages and I pasted the figures and text into those containers. The book looks fine in every reader I've tried, including Thorium and ADE. Readers deny enlarging fonts for FXL e-books.
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12-08-2022, 01:57 PM | #15 | |
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Hitch |
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