digital publishing with epub
DESCRIPTION
Thank you for everyone who attended my talk at Miami Design last night! Here's the description from the event:Ebooks are here to stay, with Kindle books now outselling hardcover and paperback combined at Amazon. ePub is quickly becoming the standard format for ebooks because of its similarities to XHTML and its support on popular devices. I discuss what exactly an ePub book is, the possibilities and limitations that come with the format, and some tools that make it easier to create your own ePub books.TRANSCRIPT
Digital Publishing with ePub
Kevin Zurawel@kzurawel
arborwebsolutions.com
Digital Conversion
• Plain text (ASCII)
Digital Conversion
• Adobe .PDF
Digital Conversion
• Microsoft Reader
• .LIT
The Modern Era
ePub
•Developed September 2007 by IDPF
•Based on “Open eBook” (1999)
•Supports DRM
ePub
•“Reading Systems”:
•Windows / OS X / Linux
•Sony Reader / Nook / Kobo
•iOS / Android
•Web
Content Types
What’s Inside?
Tools
Alternatives
Project Time!
Convert a plain-text book to ePub
Converting txt to ePub
•Download the text - Gutenberg
•Paste into Sigil
•Edit the book
•(optional)Make conversions in Calibre
Project Gutenberg...
...to Sigil...
Sigil Workflow1. Paste in the text
2. Make chapter breaks where needed
3. Insert images
4. Edit TOC
5. Add anchor tags / links if needed
6. Apply custom CSS classes / styles
Editing in Sigil
{Editing Mode(WYSIWYG,
Hybrid,Code)
InsertChapterBreak
InsertImage
Chapter Breaks
•“Chunk” your ebook into multiple XHTML files
•Faster loading and reflow
•MAKE CHAPTERS ALL THE TIME
Anchors
• <a name=”ch3” id=”ch3”></a>
• Later...
• <a href=”#ch3”>Go to chapter 3</a>
Custom CSS
•ePub 2 (current spec) uses a subset of CSS 2
•ePub 3 will integrateHTML5 / CSS3
A subset of CSS 2?
It’s not so bad.
It’s not so bad.(ePub reader software isn’t
good enough anyway)
CSS 2 for ePub
• margin
• padding
• border
• display
• float / clear
• width / height
• color
• line-height
• font-size
• font-weight
• text-align
• text-indent
Things to Do with CSS 2
•Drop caps / small caps
•Blockquote / poetry styling
•Chapter headings
•Inline images
•Fleurons
Bulletproofing!
Converting with Calibre
• Add your new ePub to Calibre’s library
• Convert to Kindle / Sony Reader / PDF / etc.
• ???
• Profit!
Helpful Websites
EPUB3
Go make some books!Kevin Zurawel
@kzurawelarborwebsolutions.com