ePub Straight to the Point

by George M. Engel

George Engel Why am I interested in ePub, and what the heck is it anyway? As to the why, it's because I just paid $100.00 to have my book "the Naked Serviceman" converted to an ePub and submitted to Apple and Kindle for me. I already had my ISBN number so I didn't need that done for me.

Naked Serviceman in DeliciousWhen I saw this "EPUB..." book, I figured that I had to know more about it as some people in the User Group were bound to ask me questions as to what it is.

After going through this book, it appears that the average Mac User would use either Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign CS4 or CS5 to work in it. There is another that I'll get to a little bit later.

Using Word or InDesign CS4, you'll have to get familiar with things like using Styles and HTML and CSS things. Supposedly, in Word, the more you use Styles to format your document or book, instead of local formatting, the easier it will be to generate HTML files for use with ePub. Well, it appears that ePub can't deal with Word file directly, so you have to export the document from Word, then retouch them slightly so that ePub could use them.

Well, crap! So forget that one and let's look at InDesign. Since I'm using InDesign3, it appears to be easier than Word, but harder than InDesign5, which exports directly to an ePub file! However, there's still Styles and other things you'll have to learn. Saving as Chapters, etc; appear to be kind of important if your book is over 300k; as well as having illustrations in it. For ePub, think Text FLOW!

Font styling for bookAlso, from what the book says, Apple's iBook and Kindle use different ePub formats. Darned if I know about that. I'm glad I paid my $100.00 and had it done for me. It's kind of confusing. I say that because I read a tiny, tiny blurb somewhere about iWorks 'Pages' updated 4.0.4 being able to export to ePub.

book in iPhoneWell, now, says I, that's interesting; time to update! Just for drill, I converted my book to Pages format, added the front cover (sounds easy, doesn't it) and exported it to an ePub format (less illustrations) to see what happened. I took it from the Desktop and dragged it over to my iTunes, after I hooked up my Touch. Then I 'sync'ed' my Touch and went to my application 'iBook' on the Touch. Whoa! It appeared on the Shelf under 'Books,' Cover jacket and all.

That was cool, and hardly any work at all. Thank you, Pages, and the new updated 4.0.4.

Note in my screen snaps that the Search function and the Font choice functions work great and the text scrolls very smoothly for the duration of the whole book. 'Pages' exports like a dream with no knowledge of HTML stuff at all. Go with Pages and the new update 4.0.4 folks! This is a good book, but you'll have to work at it to understand it. Or, just buy 'iWorks!'

ePub Straight to the Point ePub Straight to the Point:
      Creating ebooks for the Apple iPad and other ereaders
(book OR ePub)
      by Elizabeth Castro
      Dimensions: 7 X 9; Pages: 190, Pub: 2010 - $29.99 U.S.

George EngelMore on my paid ePub when it's done, and how it compares to... See the NEXT page

George Engel The Naked Serviceman

About the author: George Engel has been a computer guru probably longer than he will admit -- as a computer expert, he authored The Naked Serviceman book, about his journey through the history of Apple's Macintosh as owner/founder of an authorized Apple Service Center. He owned one of the first Apple II computers as well as one of the first Macintosh 128s. He hangs out with the Lakeland User Group in sunny Florida.


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MORE from George Engel ...
Book Review: Decoding Design: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual Communication
Typography: What's my Font?
Insight: Graphics Programs (other than Photoshop)
Book Review: Adobe Type Library Reference Book
Software Review: Serif PagePlus
Business: Customers & Gaboon Vipers
Computing: 25th for 128 WOW
Review: Klix (Image Recovery)
Hardware: Viewsonic VX2235 LCD Display

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