Comments on: The challenges of e-book formatting: Even giants can get it wrong at times http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:06:20 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Moriah Jovan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1044558 Moriah Jovan Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:00:08 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1044558 Grrrr. The paragraph tags and the line break tags. Grrrr. The paragraph tags and the line break tags.

]]> By: Moriah Jovan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1044557 Moriah Jovan Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:59:39 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1044557 Oops. That should have been and the tags, respectively. Oops. That should have been and the tags, respectively.

]]> By: Moriah Jovan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1044552 Moriah Jovan Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:52:15 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1044552 Johan, I can't speak for the book listed, but a simple tag creates the line breaks and the tag does not get the required result. EPUB only honors so many CSS tags and even those are hit and miss. I'd rather people not assume that it's the publisher when it is both the capability (or incapability, as it were) of the EPUB format and the renderer of the file. Johan, I can’t speak for the book listed, but a simple tag creates the line breaks and the tag does not get the required result. EPUB only honors so many CSS tags and even those are hit and miss.

I’d rather people not assume that it’s the publisher when it is both the capability (or incapability, as it were) of the EPUB format and the renderer of the file.

]]> By: Johan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1044463 Johan Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:51:42 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1044463 There is way too much formatting in ebooks already. ePub will just make it worse. There should be no formatting for paragraphs in the ebook it self at all. Just some markup marking the paragraphs. It should be left completely to the reader software and the user. There is way too much formatting in ebooks already. ePub will just make it worse. There should be no formatting for paragraphs in the ebook it self at all. Just some markup marking the paragraphs. It should be left completely to the reader software and the user.

]]> By: karen wester newton http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1043704 karen wester newton Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:43:40 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1043704 I've had a Kindle for about six months. Most of the formatting problems I've encountered have come from free books converted from PDF and from really old but still copyrighted books that the publisher must have slapped up in a hurry and never looked at; in one old Andre Norton from the 60's, all the diacritical marks like tildes and accents were totally screwed! Generally, paragraph indents not showing is the most common problem; it even happens in Word docs I send over. But S J Rozan's REFLECTING THE SKY had a bizarre problem with the opening quote marks for dialog; they appeared two lines above where they should have! None of these problems have been bad enough to make me give up reading on a Kindle, but I do hope publishers start paying more attention! I’ve had a Kindle for about six months. Most of the formatting problems I’ve encountered have come from free books converted from PDF and from really old but still copyrighted books that the publisher must have slapped up in a hurry and never looked at; in one old Andre Norton from the 60’s, all the diacritical marks like tildes and accents were totally screwed!

Generally, paragraph indents not showing is the most common problem; it even happens in Word docs I send over. But S J Rozan’s REFLECTING THE SKY had a bizarre problem with the opening quote marks for dialog; they appeared two lines above where they should have!

None of these problems have been bad enough to make me give up reading on a Kindle, but I do hope publishers start paying more attention!

]]> By: Moriah Jovan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1043269 Moriah Jovan Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:48:59 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1043269 Will do, Michael, thanks. Kirk Biglione had led me in that direction, but I don't have another epub project in the works right now. I'll do that as soon as we start production on the next book. Will do, Michael, thanks. Kirk Biglione had led me in that direction, but I don’t have another epub project in the works right now. I’ll do that as soon as we start production on the next book.

]]> By: Michael Pastore http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1043252 Michael Pastore Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:13:45 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1043252 Moriah, Two things that helped me to make better-looking epubs: 1. Test all the XHTML files using the "strict" setting of the W3C XHTML validator 2. Test the ePub ebook using the Threepress ePub validator That helped my ePubs; maybe it will help yours. Michael Pastore 50 Benefits of Ebooks Moriah,

Two things that helped me to make better-looking epubs:

1. Test all the XHTML files using the “strict” setting of the W3C XHTML validator

2. Test the ePub ebook using the Threepress ePub validator

That helped my ePubs; maybe it will help yours.

Michael Pastore
50 Benefits of Ebooks

]]> By: Moriah Jovan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1043241 Moriah Jovan Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:42:27 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1043241 Steve, that's probably true. I wanted to give Penguin the benefit of the doubt because it really is so hellish. I should get a Kindle just to see how it all really works. Steve, that’s probably true. I wanted to give Penguin the benefit of the doubt because it really is so hellish.

I should get a Kindle just to see how it all really works.

]]> By: Steve Jordan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1043235 Steve Jordan Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:25:41 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1043235 I suspect the major publishers get A LOT of direct support from Amazon (and may even have Amazon's people doing the conversions), in order to get what they want. Lesser pubs and indies barely get the time of day from their support staff. It is possible to get a decent product out of DTP, but in my opinion, hardly worth the effort in time and frustration, and one of the reasons I removed my books from DTP. I suspect the major publishers get A LOT of direct support from Amazon (and may even have Amazon’s people doing the conversions), in order to get what they want. Lesser pubs and indies barely get the time of day from their support staff.

It is possible to get a decent product out of DTP, but in my opinion, hardly worth the effort in time and frustration, and one of the reasons I removed my books from DTP.

]]> By: Moriah Jovan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1043195 Moriah Jovan Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:30:05 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1043195 A) This problem should be fixable with simple CSS/HTML, but it's not. Ask me how I know. I don't know how Penguin does it with Amazon, but I upload my books via Amazon's Digital Text Platform. It's ghastly. And a ghastly process. The document you upload looks fine on every other device, but put it on Kindle, and poof, it goes nasty. What I discovered is that if you upload a PRC file (Mobipocket is far more forgiving), it'll work better. B) Yes, you can return e-books to Amazon. I didn't know about the 7 days part. C) I've been fighting with creating EPUB books for the last two months and it hasn't gotten any better. For an e-book creator, EPUB is a nightmare. For an e-book reader, it can still be a nightmare. <a href="http://ebooktest.blogspot.com/2009/04/is-adobe-hindering-ebooks.html" rel="nofollow">Mike Cane has a post about it.</a> This whole situation is so frustrating to me. A) This problem should be fixable with simple CSS/HTML, but it’s not. Ask me how I know. I don’t know how Penguin does it with Amazon, but I upload my books via Amazon’s Digital Text Platform. It’s ghastly. And a ghastly process. The document you upload looks fine on every other device, but put it on Kindle, and poof, it goes nasty. What I discovered is that if you upload a PRC file (Mobipocket is far more forgiving), it’ll work better.

B) Yes, you can return e-books to Amazon. I didn’t know about the 7 days part.

C) I’ve been fighting with creating EPUB books for the last two months and it hasn’t gotten any better. For an e-book creator, EPUB is a nightmare. For an e-book reader, it can still be a nightmare. Mike Cane has a post about it.

This whole situation is so frustrating to me.

]]> By: ~Brian http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1043173 ~Brian Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:55:20 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1043173 MRW, if it's truly not going to work for you Amazon allows returns on books within 7 days. Also they generally will try to get formatting problems fixed with the publisher if possible. IIRC the 'Turncoat' problems weren't just with the Kindle version. MRW, if it’s truly not going to work for you Amazon allows returns on books within 7 days. Also they generally will try to get formatting problems fixed with the publisher if possible.

IIRC the ‘Turncoat’ problems weren’t just with the Kindle version.

]]> By: MRW http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1043150 MRW Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:21:29 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/24/the-challenges-of-e-book-formatting-even-giants-can-get-it-wrong-at-times/#comment-1043150 I just spent $26.00+ for a Kindle version of an important technical book for me on Interaction Design, of all things. I AM LIVID. The important technical diagrams are unreadable and no larger than 2 inches. The multi-line captions are in 4 pt maybe 2 pt type. They wont enlarge. I dont know what to do. I just spent $26.00+ for a Kindle version of an important technical book for me on Interaction Design, of all things. I AM LIVID. The important technical diagrams are unreadable and no larger than 2 inches. The multi-line captions are in 4 pt maybe 2 pt type. They wont enlarge.

I dont know what to do.

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