[clug] Apple and ePub

Alex Satrapa grail at goldweb.com.au
Thu Jun 24 22:48:01 MDT 2010


On 25/06/2010, at 12:11 , Paul Wayper wrote:

> OK, but for example Terry Pratchett occasionally uses interesting fonts and
> typographical techniques for additional effect.  Is it Apple's right to take
> that away …

Do not expect typography to be preserved in an ePub. The first feature that most software readers provide is to allow the user to select a different font to apply to the whole publication. It's not just Apple "taking away people's rights."  It's not part of the spec that a device must honour the CSS presented. It is only in the spec that the device must not break when fancy stuff is presented.

Here's a guide from Smashwords about getting books published in electronic formats: 
  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52

The main tips are: don't try fancy tricks. ePub is about portable content, not form.

> Apple has to let go of their products and accept that people don't blame them if someone else's application isn't perfect.

Except that people *do* blame the operating system for faults in software that runs on it. When a YouTube video breaks, people file bug reports against Safari, not Flash. When a book looks wrong in iBooks, people file a bug report against iBooks, not some author's non-conformant XHTML.

I know people who still talk about "editing a document in Windows."  They don't care for the distinction between Windows and Word - in fact, some of them don't care about the distinction between "Windows" and "Dell".

Alex



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