Indesign to fixed layout epub very slow

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JohannesM

The printed book itself exists and will exist in the future as well obviously. And epub is not limited to iPads, I see it more like an opportunity to sell digitized textbooks to students (parents) who have the means to use any device they like.

It's diversifying means not replacing oldschool books. That's why I'm dealing with indesign - the printed book has already been designed and laid out, now I'm just customising it to another readable format. I doubt the publisher (client) would've made the decision to digitize the textbook if the demand wasn't there.

I meant, are you designing/converting this for ePUB format, only? No MOBI version?

Originally Posted by HarryT

But how many devices and apps support FXL?

And therein lies the rub. FXL specs are pretty much device-specific. The FXL that INDD outputs is pretty much Apple-centric, although it also works on Kobo, because Kobo simply took Apple's standards and made them work therefor. It was a smart move on their part to snag distribution.

But I have no idea if the fxl that works on an iPad will work on the millions of other ePUB-reading devices that are out there. That's not been my understanding, but it's not something I've delved into.

Hitch

[HarryT]

Thanks, Hitch. That was very much my point: PDF is a true standard that can be read on any device. FXL isn’t.

[JSWolf]

But, if the PDF is created t be letter sized with headers/footers and wide margins, then on a lot of small portable devices, the PDF is going to display very poorly.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Spoiler:

And before everybody leaps to defend iPads, they are CLEARLY a tool for consumption, not really creation. I have one, for testing purposes,
and sure, it's nice, but I most certainly don't use it for any type of actual work. Yes, yes, I know, some people attach keyboards to them, etc.,
but the vast majority of real, live people that I see out in the wild are watching movies, playing games, reading social media, etc.

Hitch

@Hitch, have to respectfully disagree, at least in terms of what I see around my haunts.

Spoiler:

I see students using iPads and 'droid tablets to do assignments, write music, draw buildings etc, most days of the week. I also see people using them to do their jobs: mobile bankers visiting clients, real estate agents talking to buyers, supplier agents checking super market shelves, local govt workers photographing broken sidewalks, insurance workers assessing damage to cars, houses, infrastructure etc, utility workers checking power poles, fixing leaking water mains etc.

Seems to me almost everyone uses them to do their work, I've even seen restaurant waiters take orders on them, and concrete delivery truck drivers use them to bid for jobs.

Oh, and little kids playing games and doing other stuff. My neighbours six year old granddaughter wrote me a letter on her tablet a couple of weeks ago, which her mother copied and emailed to me. It wasn't typed - it was written/drawn using digital crayons.

David Hockney paints on his iPad, single edition prints sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

What you said re 'watching movies, playing games, reading social media, etc.' is certainly true of smart phone usage around here. But you forgot 'taking selfies and then spending time culling them' and 'rearranging their app icons'

BR

[dwig]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But, if the PDF is created t be letter sized with headers/footers and wide margins, then on a lot of small portable devices, the PDF is going to display very poorly.

While true, anyone who creates a letter sized PDF that is intended for use on an ereader or phone is a fool and they need to learn their craft.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Hitch, have to respectfully disagree, at least in terms of what I see around my haunts.

Spoiler:

I see students using iPads and 'droid tablets to do assignments, write music, draw buildings etc, most days of the week. I also see people using them to do their jobs: mobile bankers visiting clients, real estate agents talking to buyers, supplier agents checking super market shelves, local govt workers photographing broken sidewalks, insurance workers assessing damage to cars, houses, infrastructure etc, utility workers checking power poles, fixing leaking water mains etc.

Seems to me almost everyone uses them to do their work, I've even seen restaurant waiters take orders on them, and concrete delivery truck drivers use them to bid for jobs.

Oh, and little kids playing games and doing other stuff. My neighbours six year old granddaughter wrote me a letter on her tablet a couple of weeks ago, which her mother copied and emailed to me. It wasn't typed - it was written/drawn using digital crayons.

David Hockney paints on his iPad, single edition prints sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

What you said re 'watching movies, playing games, reading social media, etc.' is certainly true of smart phone usage around here. But you forgot 'taking selfies and then spending time culling them' and 'rearranging their app icons'

BR

When I first got mine, I was curious--and so conducted an informal poll of everyone I met, clients, etc., who had one. My answers were very different than yours. {shrug}. Obviously, we see and hang out around different people.

I will say that in the last decade, seriously, I haven't seen a single person use an iPad at work. Perhaps it's a regional thing. Not one. I've seen people use iPhones, to take payments from me, but that's it.

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by dwig

While true, anyone who creates a letter sized PDF that is intended for use on an ereader or phone is a fool and they need to learn their craft.

The problem is that you cannot make a single PDF for Readers. You have Different resolution and different screen sizes.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that you cannot make a single PDF for Readers. You have Different resolution and different screen sizes.

That's not relevant here, though. The page of the OP's ebook is a digital copy of the page of the printed book. That's pretty much mandates that one requires a reasonably large screen to read it on.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's not relevant here, though. The page of the OP's ebook is a digital copy of the page of the printed book. That's pretty much mandates that one requires a reasonably large screen to read it on.

... if the printed book is a large book.

Textbooks, in recent decades, do tend to be rather large. Even a half century ago, my school textbooks were larger than my dad's college textbooks. This day and age, publishers desiring to publish both print and electronic editions of textbooks should design the book for the electronic edition first and then port to print.

I reviewed my dad's college textbooks that I have, all engineering topic full of diagrams and formulas. They were all single column text on pages with a diagonal measure of 9-10.5", the size of the smaller current iPad Pro. They were all very functional and all would have been easy to convert to PDF had they been produced today in the likes of InDesign.

My high school and college textbooks were often on larger pages with 2 columns. This is a style that should no vanish completely from the textbook world.