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This half-day workshop covers, in plain language, what you need to know to get started producing ebooks. It’s designed as an overview that will help you understand the technical issues, the process involved and some of the specific ways you can get started. You’ll learn: * What’s under the hood of an ebook * The jargon you need to know * Options for creating ebooks – DIY or outsource * Some of the tools to do-it-yourself, their advantages and limitations * Formats for ebooks, their advantages and disadvantages * Managing combined digital and print workflows * Design and cover design tips for ebooks The session will also include an interactive Q&A in which you’ll be able to discuss your own issues and challenges and learn directly from others. Workshop leader Gerard Reid has a unique perspective and experience in book and ebook production. He is managing director of Pindar New Zealand, one of Australiasia's most experienced producers of books and other documents. Gerard has been involved with digital publications for 12 years and has a background in traditional book publishing stretching back many more years. This places him in an ideal position to understand the requirements of both traditional and digital publishers, how to maximise the value of their content assets, and how to manage the multi-format production process that today’s publishing environment demands. Venue: Jubilee Hall, Jubilee Building, 545 Parnell Rd, Auckland. Date: 3 September 2009
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eBooksRevolution or evolution?
Ink on paper is a book
But so is digital images on screen
Oh no, not again!
The arrival of a new medium
does not replace existing media
it only displaces them
relative to each other
Theory of Relative Displacement of Media
•
If the form doesn’t define the book what does?
The content!
Raw content; sometimes in
Multiple word files or locked
Documents
Images format variables and conditions
Com
bin
e a
ll conte
nt
Books
XML
E-PUB
Web based
POD
Content creators Production resource Multi-purposed output
Standard Generalised Mark-up Language
1998 XML
eXtensible Mark-up Language
1980s SGML
The separation of logical and physical structures
The availability of grammar-based validation (DTDs)
The separation of data and metadata
Mixed content
The separation of processing from representation
The default angle-bracket syntax < >
Working group’s goals:
General-purpose usabilitySGML compatibility
Easy development of processing softwareMinimization of optional features
LegibilityFormality
ConcisenessEase of authoring
Internet usability
What XML is
An environment that allows a clear separation between content, structure and
format
Content is what the author delivers to the publisher
Structure is what the editor does to it to make it comprehensible
Format is what the typesetter does to make it legible and appealing
DTD (Document Type Definition) or Schema
Describes what the various components of the mark up do and how they relate to each
other
opening and closing tags, e.g. <head></head>
the angle-brackets they are encased in
entity codes for unusual characters e.g. &oq; for opening quote
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<!mimetypeapplication/epub+zipPK META-INF/container.xml<?xml version="1.0"?>
What XML is not
a good database tool
a typesetting or formatting platform
What XML does
Nothing at all itself
Enables things to be done to the file
A stable legacy format
A robust base for multi-purposing
Software tools
Microsoft Word for input
Adobe InDesign for structuring
BBedit for GREP
Oxygen for error-checking and validation
Adobe Digital Editions
Apple script
Adobe Photoshop
Epubcheck
Stuffit
Visual inspection
Make sure text is all styled
No missing links
Images are grouped with their captions
Visual inspectionExport through filter to rough XML
Clean up via custom script
Create file of entity codes
Create master file
Final clean up
Validate against DTD/Schema
Generate XML ids
Package files
What is ePub?
IDPF standard
Free
Non-proprietary
Open Publications Structure (OPS) 2.0 for formatting of content
Open Packaging Format (OPF) 2.0 for the structure of the ePub in XML
OEBPS Container Format (OCF) 1.0 collects files as a zip archive
Making an ePub from XML
Transform tagging
Run tidy-up script
Create ePub file structure
Create content.opf file
Create toc.ncx file
But wait … we’re not finished
Last minute checks
Check spine
Page turn
Road test
Google test
Problems and issues
Keep each file below 100kb
Use only free open type fonts
Special rules relate to use of macrons
Not all readers treat fonts the same
Always consider file size issues
Hyphenation
General comments
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