05-12-2018, 03:51 AM | #16 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 5,584
Karma: 22735033
Join Date: Dec 2010
Device: Kindle PW2
|
Quote:
|
|
05-12-2018, 09:14 AM | #17 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,496
Karma: 84420419
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Tampa Bay, Florida
Device: Kindles
|
When Amazon introduced the KF8 (aka .azw3) format in 2011, the rendering engine for that format was not added to the iOS app, perhaps due to Apple's insistence on apps using the built-in Safari rendering engine for HTML. Instead that app uses a similar format (AZK/KCR) created for viewing books using a web browser (Kindle Cloud Reader). This causes books in the iOS app to be formatted differently from the other Kindle apps/devices in some cases.
In 2015 Amazon introduced another new format, KFX (aka Enhanced Typesetting). KFX is not based on HTML and the same rendering software is present in all Kindle apps and devices updated since then, including the iOS app. So if you publish a book on Amazon and it shows "Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled", as most books will, then iOS users running the Kindle app will receive the book in KFX format and it will be displayed using the KFX rendering engine. However, this may not be relevant to you at this point. KFX is a language-specific format and I don't believe that it supports Japanese yet. So if you are publishing a Japanese language book then it will not support Enhanced Typesetting and will still be using the older KF8 and AZK (on iOS) formats. In that case what you have been doing makes sense. Added: I have seen hints that Amazon is working on improving Enhanced Typesetting support for Chinese and adding support for Japanese. I don't know when. Last edited by jhowell; 05-12-2018 at 09:25 AM. |
Advert | |
|
05-12-2018, 01:41 PM | #18 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,470
Karma: 13095790
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Grass Valley, CA
Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7
|
Quote:
Dale |
|
05-12-2018, 02:40 PM | #19 | |||||
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
Posts: 11,462
Karma: 158448243
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
You're doing this testing with the Preview MOBI? Sorry--I think you're not, right? You're not uploading the MOBI file (or whatever source doc) to the KDP, then downloading the Preview mobi, and testing that, are you? I can't remember what you said, in the initial posts. And you're sideloading all of these? You're NOT emailing them to your device(s), right? (Emailing to any device will typically get you an unrealistic result). May I ask, what's happening on all the KF7 devices, with this? I can't envision the original intent working very well, so what's your fallback coding? So that it degrades gracefully? Quote:
Yes, the iOS devices use a completely different rendering engine, and all you can do, pretty much, is use media-queries, but even then, you cannot format the entire book to work perfectly on all the devices, if your results are skewing this much, between the KF8s you've tested and the iOS you've tested, unfortunately. There are some things you *can* do--and some you can't. And no way, of course, to segregate the buyers/books. You can't make one file for iOS owners, one for Fire owners, etc. That's what the Media Queries are for--but I'm assuming you know that, based on what you've said so far. Quote:
I'm trying to envision what you've described (as the book), in the Kindle app on an iPhone... Hitch |
|||||
05-16-2018, 12:07 PM | #20 |
Member
Posts: 12
Karma: 10
Join Date: May 2018
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
|
Thanks everyone. I really went down a rabbit hole after I started researching KFX, which does not support Japanese at this time.
Reading Guido Henkel's book "Zen of eBook Formatting" convinced me to dramatically reduce the complexity of my HTML and CSS. I didn't realize how lacking the rendering implementations are, which immediately reminded me of the time I had to work around IE6... I now have most of what I want working on iOS, Mac/Windows, and the Paperwhite. The trickiest thing was to do speech bubbles like you see in a chat app. Due to a lack of support for CSS positioning, I ended up implementing each bubble as a paragraph with drop caps (using the chat avatar icon instead of a capital letter), which looks reasonably close to a chat and doesn't break. Thanks again for setting me the right down the right path! |
Advert | |
|
05-16-2018, 12:54 PM | #21 | |
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
Posts: 11,462
Karma: 158448243
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2
|
Quote:
Hitch |
|
05-17-2018, 08:43 AM | #22 |
Member
Posts: 12
Karma: 10
Join Date: May 2018
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
|
@Hitch I have no idea, but KF7 devices were never sold in Japan and, to my knowledge, Japanese language support began with KF8.
|
05-17-2018, 09:48 AM | #23 |
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
Posts: 11,462
Karma: 158448243
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2
|
|
05-17-2018, 11:56 AM | #24 |
Member
Posts: 12
Karma: 10
Join Date: May 2018
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
|
@Hitch Most likely the books will only be sold on the Japan store, but even if they are sold on other stores, I imagine it will not be a problem because (as far as I know) KF7 does not support the Japanese language anyway, so no Japanese books work on those devices.
I have a second generation Kindle and it can't open any of the Japanese language books in my Amazon account. |
05-17-2018, 01:21 PM | #25 | |
Bookmaker & Cat Slave
Posts: 11,462
Karma: 158448243
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2
|
Quote:
But, I guess we'll find out when you/your client publishes. It would be good if you could keep us updated on it. Hitch |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
IOS 11 and iTunes update | Stu109 | Calibre Companion | 45 | 10-23-2017 08:20 PM |
Troubleshooting tips for azk file on iOS | dougfetch2 | Kindle Formats | 6 | 07-30-2017 10:07 PM |
Issues sideloading AZK to Kindle for iOS | evergreen | Kindle Formats | 4 | 01-01-2016 03:10 PM |
Calibre now supports sideloading to Kindle for iOS on iDevices | GRiker | Apple Devices | 1 | 09-24-2013 09:12 AM |
Warning: Kindle 3.0 update for iOS breaks sideloading and whispersync, collections | scoiattolo49 | Amazon Kindle | 84 | 10-11-2012 03:00 PM |