We’ve fixed a long-standing limitation in the online EPUB validator that prevented files with non-ASCII characters from being validated. (The bug was actually not in our code but at a lower level; I’ve posted a fix that simply works around it.)
If you had problems before receiving “Site error” when uploading an EPUB with accented [...]
The first version of EPUB used the NCX format to describe an accessible, machine-readable Table of Contents. NCX had come to EPUB from DAISY’s DTBook standard and was a crucial navigational aide. Unfortunately, NCX was rarely understood and is not very human-readable. As part of the alignment with wider web standards, EPUB 3 has dropped [...]
EPUB 3 is tricky to experiment with today. Like any brand-new specification, there aren’t many of the resources we often take for granted, from books to software to validation tools. However, if you’re already comfortable getting your hands dirty you can get meaningful validation for your EPUB 3 documents now. In the future, we’ll probably [...]
The new flexibility in metadata for EPUB 3 is a strength. Instead of locking down the set of permitted metadata schemes and schemas (like EPUB), it allows us to use a range of definitions. While this flexibility comes with some dangers (see the discussion in the comments here about what to do when there isn’t [...]
This is part two of a series on using author-friendly word-processing tools with native EPUB export. Part 1 was about Apple Pages.
Part two: Scrivener
I first became aware of Scrivener’s support for EPUB export in November of 2010, when they released a special edition for NaNoWriMo (and the less said about my novel-writing experiment, the better). [...]
Yes, but it may require a Mac.
The IDPF board met on the last day of the Digital Book 2011 conference at Book Expo America. One of our topics for discussion was what the IDPF as an organization should do to further the adoption of EPUB. I brought up an issue that’s been concerning me [...]
Update: I should have been clearer that the “bare” use of subtitle without referencing a scheme is really suboptimal. Using already-defined properties/definitions and referencing them explicitly (like the ONIX codelist example below) is a much better technique, but I did not come up with a compelling property for subtitle, hence the call for better options. [...]
Now that EPUB 3 is an IDPF Proposed Specification it seems like a good time to update some of our EPUB blog posts. One of the most popular was Best practices in ePub cover images, which helped clarify how to include a cover image for most ebook readers. While cover image markup wasn’t specified in EPUB, I’m happy to report that EPUB 3 clearly explains how to include a dedicated cover image.
Liza and I have long been interested in making ebooks more accessibile. Both Bookworm and Ibis Reader reflect that goal (with limited success—accessibility can almost always be improved). However, our focus has always been on improving the web version of Ibis Reader rather than the installable HTML5 App that many people use on their iPhones, [...]
I presented at Digital Book World 2011 about using EPUB3 to produce multimedia and interactive ebooks that will be compatible with multiple devices and software ereaders.
Anyone who’s ever been to a digital publishing conference knows that there is always a bewildering array of products that create and display enhanced content: ebooks that contain video, audio, [...]