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How to Make an eBook: XML and other mysteries revealed

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This half-day workshop covers, in plain language, what you need to know to get started producing ebooks. It’s designed as an overview that will help you understand the technical issues, the process involved and some of the specific ways you can get started. You’ll learn: * What’s under the hood of an ebook * The jargon you need to know * Options for creating ebooks – DIY or outsource * Some of the tools to do-it-yourself, their advantages and limitations * Formats for ebooks, their advantages and disadvantages * Managing combined digital and print workflows * Design and cover design tips for ebooks The session will also include an interactive Q&A in which you’ll be able to discuss your own issues and challenges and learn directly from others. Workshop leader Gerard Reid has a unique perspective and experience in book and ebook production. He is managing director of Pindar New Zealand, one of Australiasia's most experienced producers of books and other documents. Gerard has been involved with digital publications for 12 years and has a background in traditional book publishing stretching back many more years. This places him in an ideal position to understand the requirements of both traditional and digital publishers, how to maximise the value of their content assets, and how to manage the multi-format production process that today’s publishing environment demands. Venue: Jubilee Hall, Jubilee Building, 545 Parnell Rd, Auckland. Date: 3 September 2009

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eBooksRevolution or evolution?

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Ink on paper is a book

But so is digital images on screen

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Oh no, not again!

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The arrival of a new medium

does not replace existing media

it only displaces them

relative to each other

Theory of Relative Displacement of Media

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If the form doesn’t define the book what does?

The content!

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Raw content; sometimes in

Multiple word files or locked

Documents

Images format variables and conditions

Com

bin

e a

ll conte

nt

Books

XML

E-PUB

Web based

POD

Content creators Production resource Multi-purposed output

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Standard Generalised Mark-up Language

1998 XML

eXtensible Mark-up Language

1980s SGML

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The separation of logical and physical structures

The availability of grammar-based validation (DTDs)

The separation of data and metadata

Mixed content

The separation of processing from representation

The default angle-bracket syntax < >

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Working group’s goals:

General-purpose usabilitySGML compatibility

Easy development of processing softwareMinimization of optional features

LegibilityFormality

ConcisenessEase of authoring

Internet usability

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What XML is

An environment that allows a clear separation between content, structure and

format

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Content is what the author delivers to the publisher

Structure is what the editor does to it to make it comprehensible

Format is what the typesetter does to make it legible and appealing

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DTD (Document Type Definition) or Schema

Describes what the various components of the mark up do and how they relate to each

other

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opening and closing tags, e.g. <head></head>

the angle-brackets they are encased in

entity codes for unusual characters e.g. &oq; for opening quote

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<!mimetypeapplication/epub+zipPK META-INF/container.xml<?xml version="1.0"?>

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What XML is not

a good database tool

a typesetting or formatting platform

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What XML does

Nothing at all itself

Enables things to be done to the file

A stable legacy format

A robust base for multi-purposing

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Software tools

Microsoft Word for input

Adobe InDesign for structuring

BBedit for GREP

Oxygen for error-checking and validation

Adobe Digital Editions

Apple script

Adobe Photoshop

Epubcheck

Stuffit

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Visual inspection

Make sure text is all styled

No missing links

Images are grouped with their captions

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Visual inspectionExport through filter to rough XML

Clean up via custom script

Create file of entity codes

Create master file

Final clean up

Validate against DTD/Schema

Generate XML ids

Package files

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What is ePub?

IDPF standard

Free

Non-proprietary

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Open Publications Structure (OPS) 2.0 for formatting of content

Open Packaging Format (OPF) 2.0 for the structure of the ePub in XML

OEBPS Container Format (OCF) 1.0 collects files as a zip archive

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Making an ePub from XML

Transform tagging

Run tidy-up script

Create ePub file structure

Create content.opf file

Create toc.ncx file

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But wait … we’re not finished

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Last minute checks

Check spine

Page turn

Road test

Google test

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Problems and issues

Keep each file below 100kb

Use only free open type fonts

Special rules relate to use of macrons

Not all readers treat fonts the same

Always consider file size issues

Hyphenation

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