A quick how-to for BookGlutton’s free ePub converter
ePub, the IDPF’s e-book standard, got a nice boost when BookGlutton announced in the TeleBlog that it had come up with a “simple” HTML-to-epub conversion tool. Rob Preece, publisher at BooksForABook, sees possiblities.
And now Keith Fahlgren, writing in the O’Reilly Tools of Change blog, says he likes the free converter as proof of concept. “It’s time for the ‘regular’ folks to step out of the woodwork and give this EPUB thing a try!” he says in a post including some how-to tips for use with the BookGlutton conversion form.
Caveats: No image and CSS support
Keep in mind that the BookGlutton effort is very much in beta. Keith says the beta lacks image and CSS support, and he says a file he produced failed an ePubCheck vetting. But this is still an important start.
The Sony Reader and Adobe angles: The IDPF’s Digital Book 2008 conference could be the setting for some ePub-related announcements and a demo of the Sony Reader’s new Adobe-supplied readerware, which will have ePub capabilities among others. Adobe’s InDesign CSS3 software can give you ePub output. But there isn’t any direct competition with BookBlutton’s approach, which is really more for cash-strapped small publishers and self-publishers and is Web based.Furthermore, BookGlutton’s effort actually could help Adobe by making ePub more valid as a nonproprietary standard, which it will never be if the format is simply an Adobe playground.Related:Â Info from threepress on a TEI to ePub converter (actual download).(Big thanks to Peter Brantley.)
May 13th, 2008 at 12:57 am
That’s quite exciting. I’m very much looking forward to seeing some kind of Adobe Digital Editions on a reader. Hopefully other device makers will then follow.