Almost overnight, EPUB has become the favored standard for displaying digital text on ereaders. The EPUB specification is a powerful method for creating gorgeous ebooks for EPUB-capable readers such as the iPad, Nook, and Kindle. Alas, it is far from perfect, with frustrating limitations, sketchy documentation, and incomplete creation tools. This extensively researched guide to creating EPUB files by best-selling author Elizabeth Castro shows you how to prepare EPUB files, make the files look great on the screen, work around EPUB weaknesses, and fix common errors. In this essential book, Liz shares her hard-earned experience for how to:
- Create EPUB files from existing Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign files, or from scratch.
- Tweak EPUB files to take full advantage of the power of EPUB in each respective ereader.
- Control spacing, indents, and margins.
- Insert images and sidebars and wrap text around them.
- Create links to external sources and cross-references to internal ones.
- Add video to ebooks for the iPad.
Author(s): Elizabeth Castro
Series: One-Off
Edition: 1
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 192
Table of Contents......Page 4
Introduction......Page 8
Print vs. ebook vs. website......Page 9
Appearance......Page 10
The order of things......Page 11
Searchability......Page 12
Highlighting and sharing passages......Page 13
Buying new books......Page 14
Navigating a sea of ereaders......Page 15
Anatomy of an iBooks page......Page 17
Who is this book for?......Page 19
using Word to write EPUB......Page 20
Styling your Word document......Page 21
Setting up styles in Word......Page 22
Applying styles......Page 27
Saving Word files as HTML......Page 29
Declaring the file to be XHTML, not HTML......Page 32
Moving style data to its own file......Page 34
Adding quotation marks around attributes......Page 42
using InDesign to create EPUB......Page 46
About using InDesign for EPUB......Page 47
One file or many?......Page 48
Styles in InDesign......Page 49
Creating styles......Page 50
Applying the main Body style......Page 51
Applying headers, quotes, and other special styles......Page 53
Replacing local formatting with styles......Page 54
Drop Caps and Nested Styles......Page 58
Add images......Page 62
Placing an image......Page 63
Creating text wrap within the flow......Page 65
Creating a style for links......Page 71
Hyperlinks......Page 72
Cross-references......Page 74
Preparing your book in order to create the navigational TOC......Page 77
Creating a Table of Contents Style......Page 78
Add metadata to your ebook......Page 81
Export EPUB from InDesign......Page 83
Exporting EPUB from InDesign CS4......Page 84
Exporting EPUB from InDesign CS5......Page 88
Inside an EPUB file......Page 92
Unzipping an EPUB......Page 93
The files that make up an EPUB......Page 95
The OEBPS folder......Page 96
XHTML and CSS files......Page 97
The toc.ncx file for the navigational TOC......Page 99
Writing the content.opf file......Page 104
Creating the cover......Page 114
Organizing files before rezipping......Page 120
Rezipping after edits......Page 121
Getting the new EPUB file to the iPad......Page 123
Further editing, rezipping, and testing......Page 125
Validating your EPUB file......Page 127
Converting EPUB to Kindle’s Mobi......Page 129
Advanced EPUB Formatting......Page 130
Ensuring ereaders use your CSS......Page 131
How InDesign writes XHTML......Page 132
How InDesign writes CSS......Page 133
Choosing fonts......Page 139
Fonts available for ebooks on the iPad......Page 142
Ornaments, dingbats, and symbols......Page 151
Using non-English fonts......Page 152
Embedding fonts......Page 153
Controlling text alignment......Page 155
Keeping elements together......Page 156
Keeping captions with their images......Page 157
Setting widows and orphans properties......Page 158
Setting page break options......Page 159
Having CSS mark the first letter and line......Page 160
Tagging the first letter and first line explicitly......Page 162
Controlling spacing......Page 164
Controlling indents......Page 165
Formatting short lines......Page 166
Creating a sidebar......Page 170
Adding soft hyphens......Page 172
Using left-aligned text......Page 173
Size......Page 174
Wrapping text around images......Page 176
Wrapping text around sidebars......Page 178
Creating links......Page 180
Creating tables......Page 182
Creating your video......Page 184
Adding code for the video......Page 185
C......Page 188
G......Page 189
I......Page 190
S......Page 191
Z......Page 192
