Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book Formats > ePub

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 10-31-2009, 10:22 AM   #1
pdurrant
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
pdurrant's Avatar
 
Posts: 71,367
Karma: 305065800
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
An ePub I'm proud of

I've recently finished the ebook version of a book I've previously published in PoD format.

I'm rather pleased with the ePub version, and so I attach a sample here for others to examine.

The cover is a PNG image in an SVG wrapper. The title page is a SVG graphic incorprating text and a PNG graphic. There are two embedded fonts, encrypted with the Adobe encryption method. Each chapter starts with a drop-cap graphic that resizes with the text, up to a maximum 60% width.

Unfortunately epubcheck doesn't understand the Adobe encryption, so the ePub fails epubcheck. Before the font encryption is applied (using my script uploaded here) the epub passes with no errors or warnings.

I'd be interested to get feedback on any of the formatting.

Does anyone else have an ePub they're proud of? If it's in the Mobileread library, just a link to there would be good. I'm only uploading as an attachment because it's a sample, not the full book.

(If you are moved to buy a copy of the full book, it's available at Smashwords in various formats, but none quite so nice as this hand-crafted ePub, which isn't yet on sale anywhere directly. But if you buy at Smashwords, I'll happily email the full version ePub to you.)
Attached Files
File Type: epub Desbarollda Sample.epub (3.22 MB, 866 views)
pdurrant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2009, 10:32 AM   #2
Elsi
Wizard
Elsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of lightElsi is a glorious beacon of light
 
Elsi's Avatar
 
Posts: 2,366
Karma: 12000
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Texas, USA
Device: Kindle; Sony PRS 505; Blackberry 8700C
I just *have* to check this out. I'm hoping that the Adobe encryption of the fonts does not require using ADE and that I can just load the ePub book directly onto my reader. I currently have two readers that understand ePub: Sony PRS-505 and BeBook Mini. And, of course, I have Calibre installed -- which gives me a Calibre viewer on my PC.
Elsi is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 10-31-2009, 11:08 AM   #3
Steven Lyle Jordan
Grand Sorcerer
Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Steven Lyle Jordan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Steven Lyle Jordan's Avatar
 
Posts: 8,478
Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elsi View Post
I currently have two readers that understand ePub: Sony PRS-505 and BeBook Mini. And, of course, I have Calibre installed -- which gives me a Calibre viewer on my PC.
If you want a third for your PC, try EPUBReader for Firefox. It's already making some fans...
Steven Lyle Jordan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2009, 01:04 PM   #4
pdurrant
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
pdurrant's Avatar
 
Posts: 71,367
Karma: 305065800
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
You will need an ePub reader written by Adobe. But as that includes the ones in the Sony PRS-505 and the BeBook Mini you'll be fine.

You don't need to have Adobe Digital Editions installed on your computer. It's only the fonts that are encrypted, not the ePub itself. (Just like you can have non-encrypted PDFs that have encrypted fonts embedded.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Elsi View Post
I just *have* to check this out. I'm hoping that the Adobe encryption of the fonts does not require using ADE and that I can just load the ePub book directly onto my reader. I currently have two readers that understand ePub: Sony PRS-505 and BeBook Mini. And, of course, I have Calibre installed -- which gives me a Calibre viewer on my PC.
pdurrant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2009, 02:41 PM   #5
Jack Tingle
Punctuation Fetishist
Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Jack Tingle's Avatar
 
Posts: 557
Karma: 1070000
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: The Bluest Commonwealth In East America
Device: Kindle PW, Nexus 7 (2013), Galaxy S5 phone, Galaxy Tab 4 8.0
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant View Post
I've recently finished the ebook version of a book I've previously published in PoD format.

I'm rather pleased with the ePub version, and so I attach a sample here for others to examine.
...
I'd be interested to get feedback on any of the formatting.
Well, you obviously put in a lot of work... But...

On FBreader and Stanza, I'm afraid your work was for nought. The pretty initial caps are missing completely, leading to isspellings. My jetBook is a little kinder, the initial caps do display, but as separate graphics.

On ADE, there are still many misplaced bits of text, including: "The Author, Kingston, Surrey" which is displaced to the right. The upper right hand corner page numbers are inconsistent, sometimes appearing, and sometimes not. A few of the imbedded pictures appear in odd places, such as being alone on a page.

I'm afraid you're a victim of the disparate interpretaions of epub.

Good Luck,
Jack Tingle
Jack Tingle is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 10-31-2009, 03:33 PM   #6
Jack Tingle
Punctuation Fetishist
Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Jack Tingle ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Jack Tingle's Avatar
 
Posts: 557
Karma: 1070000
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: The Bluest Commonwealth In East America
Device: Kindle PW, Nexus 7 (2013), Galaxy S5 phone, Galaxy Tab 4 8.0
Oddly enough, once you unzip the file, Opera reads each chapter fine. It can't put the parts together, but the individual xml and xhtml files show perfectly. Go figure. Makes me wish I liked Opera better.

Regards,
Jack Tingle
Jack Tingle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2009, 06:32 PM   #7
pdurrant
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
pdurrant's Avatar
 
Posts: 71,367
Karma: 305065800
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Tingle View Post
On FBreader and Stanza, I'm afraid your work was for nought. The pretty initial caps are missing completely, leading to isspellings. My jetBook is a little kinder, the initial caps do display, but as separate graphics.
I can only think that FBReader and Stanza are not handling the float CSS property correctly. Browsers and ADE handle this correctly, and it's in the ePub spec. I can't think of another way to do the graphical drop caps. Hopefully they'll be improved with time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Tingle View Post
On ADE, there are still many misplaced bits of text, including: "The Author, Kingston, Surrey" which is displaced to the right. The upper right hand corner page numbers are inconsistent, sometimes appearing, and sometimes not. A few of the imbedded pictures appear in odd places, such as being alone on a page.
"The Author" is intended to be on the right, and "Kingston, Surrey" is supposed to be on the left - that's not an ADE flaw, it's correct.

The page numbers are an insane idea of ADE - they're not in the epub itself.

Some of the pictures are intended to be full page pictures. But I take your point that the inconsistency is odd in an ebook. I might revisit that decision.

Thanks very much for taking the time to have a look and give feedback.
pdurrant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2009, 08:11 PM   #8
wallcraft
reader
wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.wallcraft ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
wallcraft's Avatar
 
Posts: 6,975
Karma: 5183568
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mississippi, USA
Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant View Post
I can only think that FBReader and Stanza are not handling the float CSS property correctly.
FBReader does not have a complete implementation of ePub. It does not handle SVG at all, and images are always centered with no adjacent text. In this case, Windows FBReader seems to be confused by the CSS and the graphical 1st letters are not displayed at all. However, OpenInkPot's FBReader does display the graphical letters (stand-alone and centered) and this works reasonably well because the graphical letters are so large.

It would seem that Stanza and Windows FBReader should use the "alt=" option which is present, although I don't know how that would come out on the page.

I agree that it is perfectly ok for ePubs to assume complete implementation of the standard in the Reader. If an ePub has Adobe DRM, all it really needs to do is work in Desktop and mobile ADE.
wallcraft is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2009, 09:01 PM   #9
stxopher
Nameless Being
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan View Post
If you want a third for your PC, try EPUBReader for Firefox. It's already making some fans...
Though oddly enough the plugin only displays the first screen of the title page and not the dedication or first illustration (comparing between ADE and Firefox plug).
  Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2009, 11:32 AM   #10
Valloric
Created Sigil, FlightCrew
Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Valloric ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Valloric's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,982
Karma: 350515
Join Date: Feb 2008
Device: Kobo Clara HD
That's one pretty amazing looking epub. Great job pdurrant.
Valloric is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2009, 11:48 AM   #11
zelda_pinwheel
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
zelda_pinwheel's Avatar
 
Posts: 27,827
Karma: 921169
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Paris, France
Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?
thank you so much for sharing this with us, pdurrant ! it is truly a beautiful book and an inspiration to see.

i highly recommend taking a look at the code as well ; that is what epub code should ALWAYS look like !
zelda_pinwheel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2009, 01:08 PM   #12
mores
Guru
mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.mores knows the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.
 
mores's Avatar
 
Posts: 834
Karma: 102419
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Vienna, Austria
Device: iPhone
Looks awesome in Adobe Digital Editions for Mac. Great job, pdurrant! I agree, all books should look like this!
mores is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2009, 02:03 PM   #13
charleski
Wizard
charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.charleski ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,196
Karma: 1281258
Join Date: Sep 2009
Device: PRS-505
Quite spectacular! You deserve to be very proud of that, and it's a lovely showcase for the sort of stuff ePub can do. I'll be keeping it on my 505 so I can show people.

I only wish more publishers devoted this sort of attention to their eBook editions, adults also appreciate a book that's been laid out with care.
charleski is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-03-2009, 12:23 PM   #14
GeoffC
Chocolate Grasshopper ...
GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.GeoffC ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
GeoffC's Avatar
 
Posts: 27,600
Karma: 20821184
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Scotland
Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW
An extremely high quality production.

Thanks for posting the sample, an excellent source of the standard to which should be attained by all who produce e-books.....

GeoffC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-03-2009, 01:03 PM   #15
pdurrant
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
pdurrant's Avatar
 
Posts: 71,367
Karma: 305065800
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
I'm grateful for your kind words, and the other compliments. The criticism is also welcome.

And today another outlet for ePubs opened up. Lulu.com now allow upload and sale of ePubs!

Now if only Amazon would open up to non-US publishers /and/ reduce the ridiculous 65% cut that they demand.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffC View Post
An extremely high quality production.

Thanks for posting the sample, an excellent source of the standard to which should be attained by all who produce e-books.....

pdurrant is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Classic Proud New Papa!!!!!! boswd Barnes & Noble NOOK 10 05-30-2010 11:15 AM
Proud owner of a new ILIAD-BE!! rhari79 iRex 10 04-23-2009 09:27 PM
Unutterably Silly The Proud Texan Thread Greg Anos Lounge 72 04-08-2009 07:51 AM
Another proud owner of Cybook gen3 mitja_i Bookeen 11 01-05-2008 03:58 PM
Proud to announce our new moderator! Alexander Turcic Announcements 5 12-08-2003 11:18 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:35 AM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.