This free EPUB displayed wrong on InkPad3 (new user)

[b0rsuk]

This is my first day using my InkPad 3. I never used an e-ink device before, I might be making a simple mistake.

It's a game manual. You can download it for free.

https://www.gog.com/game/nox_archaist

In the archive you should find a PDF file and an .epub file. The PDF seems to be displayed correctly, but when you open the .epub it shows up very small in the top left corner of the screen, not much larger than a thumbnail.

I'm using Debian Linux. I copied the files manually, by connecting via micro-usb, using 'mount' command, sudo cp to the English folder. Then I left the directory, unmounted and unplugged it.

I suspect it's the game developer's fault. Other .epub files (that came with the device) display correctly. I haven't bought or otherwise copied any other files yet. Naturally, I looked into reading application settings, zoom level is at 100, switched between fit screen options, but it makes no difference.

[Marco77]

Saw the gdrive link posted by the developer on the Steam forums.

This epub was produced by Adobe InDesign and uses lots of CSS instructions for absolute positioning. For instance, a single-line paragraph looks like this

<p class="Body-small ParaOverride-1"><span id="_idTextSpan118" class="CharOverride-3" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:0px;letter-spacing:0.52px;">Cover: </span><span id="_idTextSpan119" class="Italic CharOverride-5" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:569.04px;text-rendering:optimizeLegibility;">The </span><span id="_idTextSpan120" class="Italic CharOverride-5" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:896.78px;letter-spacing:0.47px;">Demon </span><span id="_idTextSpan121" class="Italic CharOverride-5" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:1511.8px;">Lord </span><span id="_idTextSpan122" class="Italic CharOverride-5" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:1927.89px;letter-spacing:-1.4px;">Vazarath</span><span id="_idTextSpan123" class="CharOverride-3" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:2663.95px;">, </span><span id="_idTextSpan124" class="CharOverride-3" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:2751.92px;">by </span><span id="_idTextSpan125" class="CharOverride-3" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:2983.52px;letter-spacing:0.51px;">Denis </span><span id="_idTextSpan126" class="CharOverride-3" style="position:absolute;top:2760px;left:3487.57px;letter-spacing:1.19px;">Loubet.</span></p>

Just hitting "check book" in the calibre editor made it silently crash, smh.

I suggest they rebuild the epub in inDesign "exporting the book as a reflowable epub"/
See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=335310

It may not look pixel-perfect but will be much more workable for e-readers.

EDIT: iBooks and desktop-based readers (https://readium.org/about/applications.html/ e.g. https://github.com/edrlab/thorium-re...eleases/latest) are able to view those fixed-layout epubs (FXL or FLO).
Inkpads being based on Blink/Chromium, it would definitively be possible, but not at the moment.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Marco77

Saw the gdrive link posted by the developer on the Steam forums.

I suggest they rebuild the epub in inDesign "exporting the book as a reflowable epub

I suggest they don't use Indesign AT ALL for ebooks, it's really designed for PDFs, basically PDFs intended to be only printed!

Wordprocessor -> docx -> calibre -> epub2 (flowable).

You can export it as RTF or maybe docx if no DRM and edit styles/layout in Word or LO Office (a LOCAL program, not a Cloud service) and fix it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I suggest they don't use Indesign AT ALL for ebooks, it's really designed for PDFs, basically PDFs intended to be only printed!

Wordprocessor -> docx -> calibre -> epub2 (flowable).

You can export it as RTF or maybe docx if no DRM and edit styles/layout in Word or LO Office (a LOCAL program, not a Cloud service) and fix it.

InDesign can be used but don't export fixed layout ePub. Also, once the ePub is exported, use Calibre or Sigil to clean it up. It won't take that long to fix the ePub. Just don't export from InDesign and say "I'm done.".

[Quoth]

Yes, but InDesign is an expensive paid for DTP tool designed for PDF creation for Print. It's rubbish compared to Sigil or Calibre. Better to use source without InDesign as it produces crazy CSS & HTML simulating PDF for paper (not even PDF for screens).
Unless you bought it sometime ago it's now an expensive rental package.

I'd only use it for paper publications that are not simple fiction-novel format. PDF out of my word processor is fine for fiction novels on paper.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, but InDesign is an expensive paid for DTP tool designed for PDF creation for Print. It's rubbish compared to Sigil or Calibre. Better to use source without InDesign as it produces crazy CSS & HTML simulating PDF for paper (not even PDF for screens).
Unless you bought it sometime ago it's now an expensive rental package.

I'd only use it for paper publications that are not simple fiction-novel format. PDF out of my word processor is fine for fiction novels on paper.

I've cleaned up a lot of InDesign ePub and it's not that difficult. So I see no reason why not to export as reflowable ePub. It can then be cleaned up/formatted from there. It's not hard to do.

The problem comes when the publisher exports to ePub and is done.