Re: Out Of Line Epub Mobilism
Vida Hubbert
Hey all! We're getting lots of posts about epubs on Kindle, and particularly formatting questions, so we're going to direct those questions to this new megathread to keep things together. The advice below is taken from various posts on the sub, but feel free to ask questions or share advice.
Fixes for this include using the Modify EPUB plugin for Calibre to set the EPUB character encoding to UTF-8 before sending it to Send to Kindle. Some users also recommend this website to fix encoding on your file - -epub-fix.netlify.app/
I've been working on editing and re-formatting the ePUBs for all the books into better formatted editions (chapter breaks, line breaks, covers, etc.), and I have all the ePUB ones done. Long story short, I was linked to a better formatted set (whoever made the original ePUBs put a LOT of work into them, and didn't sign them with their name or anything), which just needed a few tweaks (title changes to actually read "Animorphs", left-aligned text instead of justified text, and a few cover replacements which higher quality versions). On that note, is there ever a time when Justified text actually looks good? It looks crappy on iPhone screens using iBooks...
DOWNLOAD LINKS:
EPUB Download Link: Dropbox Link
MOBI Download link: Dropbox Link
AZW3 Download Link: Dropbox Link
PDF Download Link: Dropbox Link
Un-Zipped Link (all formats): Dropbox Link
The PDFs came out without margins for some reason, but all the text is on the page still (Calibre did something funky). They're sized as standard Letter-sized paper for ease of reading on PC. If you're on a tablet/etc. the eBook versions will look MUCH better than the PDFs do. If anyone with physical copies wants to check through and make sure that everything lines up properly, that would be AWESOME.
A ZIP-based archive with the file extension .epub bundles the EPUB publication'sresources for distribution. As conformant ZIP archives, EPUB publications can be unzipped by manysoftware programs, simplifying both their production and consumption.
While conceptually simple, an EPUB publication is more than just a collection of HTML pages anddependent assets in a ZIP package as presented here. Additional information about the primaryfeatures and functionality that EPUB publications provide to enhance the reading experience isavailable from the referenced specifications, and a more general introduction to the features ofEPUB 3 is provided in the non-normative [epub-overview-33].
Refer to [epub-rs-33] for the processing requirements for reading systems. Although it is notnecessary that EPUB creators read that document to create EPUB publications, an understanding ofhow reading systems present the content can help craft publications for optimal presentation tousers.
The creation of an EPUB publication often involves the work of many individuals, and maybe split across multiple organizations (e.g., when a publisher outsources all or part ofthe work). Depending on the process used to produce an EPUB publication,responsibilities may fall on the organization (e.g., the publisher), the individualspreparing the publication (e.g., technical editors), or automatic procedures (e.g., aspart of a publication pipeline). As a result, not every party or process may beresponsible for ensuring every requirement is met, but there is always an EPUB creatorresponsible for the conformance of the final EPUB publication.
The spine plane defines resources used in thedefault reading order established by the spine, which includes both linear and non-linear content. The spine instructsreading systems on how to load these resources as the user progresses through the EPUB publication. Although many resources may be bundled in an EPUB container, they are not allallowed by default in the spine.
Inclusion as a core media type resource does not mean that all reading systems will support therendering of a resource. Reading system support also depends on the capabilities of theapplication (e.g., a reading system with a viewport must support image core media typeresources, but a reading system without a viewport does not). Refer to Core media types [epub-rs-33] for moreinformation about which reading systems rendering capabilities require support for which coremedia type resources.
Although data blocks have a separate MIME media type [rfc2046] from their containingXHTML content document, it is not possible to provide intrinsic fallbacks as no suchmechanisms are specified for the [html] script element. It is also not possible toprovide manifest fallbacks because data blocks cannot be defined as standalone files in theEPUB container but are always embedded as inline script elements.
A consequence of embedding is that the data in a data URL is not considered its own uniquepublication resource for manifest reporting purposes (i.e., only its containing publicationresource gets listed). As this data has its own media type, however, it is still subject to foreign resource restrictions. EPUB creators MUST thereforeencode data URLs as core media type resources or provide a fallback using the intrinsic fallbackmechanisms of the host format.
For example, URLs like :12345/ or :12345/ honor these properties. But URLs like :12345/path/to.epub/,file:///path/to.epub#path=/, or jar:file:/path/to.epub!/EPUB/do not (parsing the URL string ".." with these three examples as base wouldreturn :12345/path/, file:///path/, and a parsingerror, respectively). It is the responsibility of the reading system to assign a URL to theroot directory that complies with the properties defined above.
Although the EPUB container provides the ability to reference more than onepackage document, this specification does not define how to interpret, or selectfrom, the available options. Refer to [epub-multi-rend-11] for moreinformation on how to bundle more than one rendering of the content.
The linear attribute allows reading systems to distinguish content that a usershould access as part of the default reading order from supplementary content which a readingsystem might, for example, present in a popup window or omit from an aural rendering.
Specifying that content is non-linear does not require reading systems to present it in aspecific way, however; it is only a hint to the purpose. Reading systems may present non-linearcontent where it occurs in the spine, for example, or may skip it until users reach the end ofthe spine.
EPUB creators should use unprefixed properties and reading systems should supportcurrent CSS specifications. This specification retains the widely used prefixedproperties from [epubcontentdocs-301] but removes support for the less-used ones. EPUBcreators should use CSS-native solutions for the removed properties wheneveravailable.
EPUB creators should note that supportfor container-constrained scripting in reading systems is only recommended inreflowable documents [epub-rs-33]. Furthermore, reading system support infixed-layout documents is optional.
EPUB creators should note that support for spine-level scripting in reading systems is only recommended in fixed-layout documentsand reflowable documents set toscroll [epub-rs-33]. Furthermore, reading system support in all other contextsis optional.
The EPUB navigation document is not exclusively for machine processing, however. There are norestrictions on the structure or content of the EPUB navigation document outside of the specializednavigation elements (i.e., EPUB creators can mark the rest of the document up like any other XHTMLcontent document). As a result, it can also be part of the linear reading order, avoiding the needfor duplicate tables of contents. EPUB creators can hide navigation elements that are only formachine processing (e.g., the page list) with the hidden attribute.
Although the headings and links in nav elements allow any [html] phrasing content, app-based reading systems often only support simple text labels. Because these appscreate their own navigation widgets that are not based on HTML rendering, they often cannotretain embedded images and multimedia, MathML, inline styling and other element- andattribute-based rendering instructions. EPUB creators should avoid using these types of elementswhere their absence may lead to usability issues.
The epub:type attribute is REQUIRED on a element descendants of thelandmarks nav element. The structural semantics of each link target within thelandmarks nav element is determined by the value of this attribute.
EPUB navigation documents MAY contain one or more nav elements in addition tothe toc, page-list, and landmarks nav elements defined inthe preceding sections. If these nav elements are intended for reading systemprocessing, they MUST have an epub:type attribute and are subject to the content modelrestrictions defined in 7.3 The nav element: restrictions.
EPUB publications, unlike print books or PDF files, are designed to change. The contentflows, or reflows, to fit the screen and to fit the needs of the user. As noted in Rendering and CSS "content presentationadapts to the user, rather than the user having to adapt to a particular presentation ofcontent." [epub-overview-33]
Reading systems typically restrict or deny the application of user or user agent stylesheets to pre-paginated documents because dynamic style changes are likely to haveunintended consequence on the intrinsic properties of such documents. EPUB creatorsshould consider the negative impact on usability and accessibility that theserestrictions have when choosing to use pre-paginated instead of reflowable content.Refer to Guideline 1.4 - Provide textconfiguration [uaag20] for related information.
The seq element MUST contain an epub:textref attribute. As seq elements do notprovide synchronization instructions, this attribute allows a reading system to matchthe fragment to a location in the text.
Both the epub:textref attribute and the text element's srcattribute may contain a URL-fragment string that references a specific part (e.g., anelement via its ID) of the associated EPUB content document.
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