Haiola now generates epub files

[Kahunapule Michael Johnson]

Rejoice! We now have epub files for almost all of the freely redistributable Bibles on our web sites! I'm still working on 3 of 641 redistributable epubs, but that leaves 638 epub files that are good to go right now, as far as I know. Please let me know if you find problems that need to be fixed in any of these epub files.

The version of Haiola currently on Haiola.org generates epubs for most proper input files. Currently the handling of incomplete works and some variations of versification found in the Apocrypha/Deuterocanon needs to be improved. (Some of those incomplete works may never be completed, like the Jabem Shorter Bible.) Those may result in dead chapter links.
Next up on my Haiola work list is fixing the incomplete Bible handling and integrating Jim Albright's latest cross reference link parser, which should fix some of the issues with incorrect hot links being generated from human-readable text in cross references, footnotes, parallel passage links, and peripheral matter.

I plan to make a proper index of the current epubs, but for now, the raw server index is in service at https://eBible.org/epub/ for epub files named after their Haiola IDs and at http://Bibles.pw/epub/ for epub files named after their FCBH/DBS ids. The key to what goes with which identifier in either case is at https://eBible.org/Scriptures/translations.csv. (The file translations.csv is best opened in LibreOffice Calc, as it gets the defaults right, but Microsoft Excel works if you make sure it reads in the UTF-8 character set and delimits columns with commas.) Obviously, the user interface to find these Bibles has some room for improvement. One thing at a time. :-)

Also, there is a link to each translation's epub3 file from the index page of each mobile HTML Bible on the web sites I operate, like those at http://PNGScriptures.org, http://VanuatuBibles.org, etc.

Note that these files are built to the epub 3 specification, but they also have the old NCX index file required in the epub 2 spefication, so they should open and the main text should be readable in readers that conform to that specification. Some formating and features (like pop-up footnotes) don't work in the older readers, but the most important part, which is the canonical text of the Holy Bible is fully readable.

Best results can be had when reading these epub books in an epub3 reader like:

• Gitden (Android, iOS)
• Google Play Books (Android)
• iBooks (iOS, MacOS)
• Readium (Plugin for Google Chrome, which runs on Windows, MacOS, etc.)
• Azardi (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

Beyond those, these should be readable on epub 2 devices, like older Nook tablets, etc. Reading on an Amazon Kindle requires conversion to .mobi or .azw format. You can do that with Calibre. (I haven't tested that, yet, and don't know which formatting features survive the conversion, but the text should be fine.)

Rejoice with me! This makes me happy, because non-DRM epub files are:

• freely sharable as one neat file,
• totally usable offline,
• safer to use in creative access countries than any app with engagement monitoring,
  
• usable on a wide variety of hardware and operating systems,
• easy to download and install,
• easy to explain how to get on various devices,
  
• easy to share with or without an Internet connection,
• quickly searchable on the better epub3 readers,
• nice looking,
• adjust well to different font sizes and screen sizes,
• quick to navigate to any chapter,
• support bookmarks,
• are a format that many people have asked for,
  
• and are a great format for just plain reading.

--

	Your partner in electronic Bible publishing,

MICHAEL JOHNSON 1215 S KIHEI RD STE O-728 KIHEI HI 96753-5220 USA Verizon Wireless Mobile: +1 808-333-6921 Skype: kahunapule or +1 719-387-7238

Bibles.pw eBible.org MLJohnson.org PacificBibles.org PNGScriptures.org TokPlesBaibel.org VanuatuBibles.org