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• • April 4, 2016 at 5:27 am #83682
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    I am a beginner at creating digital publishing documents/ePubs/Ebooks. My original idea for a project I have was to create an interactive PDF with simple hyperlinks and an editable form. This would be used on mobile devices such as iPhones and also tablets like an iPad. I was struggling to work out what size to create the document in, ideally I wanted something responsive to fit both mobile devices and tablets and came across ePubs/ebooks as a possible way to do that. Is that correct?

    The end result of what I’m trying to achieve should be like a magazine. Rich in imagery and visual content, maybe some video content if this supports it. Should I be creating the book in two formats (one for mobile and one for tablet)? Is there some sort of best practice when it comes to this sort of thing?

    Any guidance/advice much appreciated.

  • April 6, 2016 at 6:21 pm #83776
    Sam Sharpe

    Member

    Hi Harshil,

    You are correct in that it’s probably best to make versions for each device if you are looking to do something like a magazine in terms of design and layout with the bonus of everything digital should bring, interactivity, video and animation, audio etc.

    The digital publishing tools were fairly good for delivering to mobile devices in terms of aesthetic freedom (using alternative layouts in InDesign) but now they are taboo from Adobe and replaced with the new solution (forgot what it’s called) that’s not cheap or a long term option to this conundrum based on previous support for digital publications in recent history.

    It will be tricky to do a responsive design without a css and media query / flash like workflow in epub, pdf or as an app. Best would probably be to make it as web pages (and can live with those aesthetic constraints) but it’s no go if you intend to make revenue from it via purchase unless you have a market prepared to pay for pay walled content.

    Best,
    Sam

    • April 7, 2016 at 9:07 am #83791
      Anonymous

      Inactive

      Thanks Sam for your reply. From reading around more I understand that I’d have to create some sort of app or use a tool like Mag+ to create this (but that costs $$$$).

      For now, I’m thinking to create two versions, one optimized for tablet and another optimized for mobile. Do you recommend a common size for both that would achieve minimal letterboxing (the black bars on top and bottom). I might have to create a third ‘retina ready’ version but I understand however I go about it, it won’t be pixel perfect.

      Thanks again!

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