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• • April 23, 2016 at 3:49 pm #84220
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    I recently completed Anne-Marie’s training videos on Epub Fundamentals and Create a fixed-layout EPUB with InDesign CC. She says in both videos that ePUBs need to be optimized for a specific device. I’m confused by this because ePUB resellers (iBooks, PlayBooks, etc) don’t sell according to a device. Unless a client requested epubs be made for an iPad, for example, why would I optimize one for a single device and alienate other devices? I can understand optimizing for a particular eReader, since they interpret CSS differently, but I don’t understand why I would optimize for a device.

    I would be grateful if someone would clarify this for me. If my mentor (A-M C) is listening, please chime in!

  • April 25, 2016 at 9:12 am #84262
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Was she talking about “fixed layout epubs” (FXL)? That is very different than reflowable epubs.

  • April 25, 2016 at 11:49 am #84272
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi David,

    I may have spoken incorrectly about FXLs being optimized for a particular device. I went through my notes for Create A Fixed-Layout Epub With Indesign Cc and didn’t find anything on this.

    However, her InDesign CC: EPUB Fundamentals, Chapter 7, the lesson on Previewing for the iBooks app, she talks about optimizing a reflowable for specific devices. This is what confuses me. If you’re making a reflowable epub with the intent of selling it on iBooks, for example, how would you know what dimensions to make this, if it’s intended to playback on multiple devices?

    In the same manner, how does one know what dimensions to make a FXL, if it’s to be sold on a reseller’s website?

  • May 1, 2016 at 5:02 pm #84487
    Janis Friesler

    Member

    iBooks need a special code in the heading section. Other epub sites do not. I am not sure if they differ. Of course, Kindle needs the epubs converted to mobi. Also fixed-layout requires Comic Book Creator. Textbook Creator only accepts pdfs. if you want to know exactly what she meant, just ask her here. She is very good about responding to questions.

    Hope this helps,

    Janis

  • May 25, 2016 at 8:12 am #85206
    Anne-Marie Concepcion

    Member

    Hi Christopher,

    Ideally, epubs need to be optimized for devices because they each have somewhat different support for various EPUB3 functions. For FXL ebooks, the devices also have different aspect ratios, so some designers who want to use up as much of the screen real estate as possible will create one FXL for iOS and a diff one for Android or Kindle. (Yes, Kindles can take FXL that haven’t been created with Comic Book Creator or similar.)

    You don’t need to optimize multiple ebooks for one reseller like Apple, but if you’re going to sell the same reflowable EPUB on the iBookstore and the Kindle store, then yes, ideally you’d optimize for either platform if possible.

    But Christopher, you are right that most middleman distributors like Ingram Spark only accept one EPUB file and distribute it to every ebook reseller. So it’s only those designers or publishers who work directly with Kobo, Apple, Amazon etc. who have the option to upload diff files depending on the recipient.

    Hope that helps!
    AM

  • May 30, 2016 at 2:30 pm #85303
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Ann-Marie, thank you so much for clearing this up for me! I have in my notes, from watching your two epub training videos, that not all eReaders support the various features of the current standard. Now it makes perfect sense to tailor the ePUB for the intended platform.

    Is there a best-practice as far as document dimensions go?
    InDesign CC 2015 has a six different apple device presets for Digital Publishing. I am of the mind to use a larger size, rather than a smaller one, so images don’t pixelate. Any recomendations on this?

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