Under the hood – Getting techie
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Under the hood – Getting techie
What is an ebook? Digital Publishing’s goal: Create once, re-use
many times To work effectively ebooks today need to:
Support reflowable text Ideally support scalable images (SVG) Be compact and contained in a single file Simple layout (often displayed in black and
white), easily readable Be in a suitable format for e-reader devices
Under the hood
• Most ebooks today are built on a foundation of (X)HTML / XML, the language of the web
• Common formats today: mobi, azw, ePub, PDF
• PDF is adapting with announcement (Feb 09) of reflowable PDF aimed at mobile devices
• Digital Rights Management
– DRM or DRM-free? A key decision for publishers and the industry
Under the hood - HTML/XML
Chapter 1
What is an Ebook?
An ebook is a book without pages.
HTML describes the presentation of your book (or web page). For instance:
Your book is 'marked up' to show the e-reader how to display it
<html>
<body>
<h1>Chapter 1</h1>
<h2>What is an Ebook?</h2>
<p>An ebook is a book without pages.</p>
</body>
</html>
This is what it looks like when viewed in the browser / e-reader
Chapter 1
What is an Ebook?
An ebook is a book without pages.
XML describes the structure
<chapter>
<title>What is an Ebook?</title>
<paragraph>An ebook is a book without pages.</paragraph>
</chapter>
Using CSS to style your document
CSS = 'Cascading Style Sheets' Apply a designated style to the underlying
HTML document The power of CSS comes from being able to
restyle an entire document by just changing its style sheet
– “Create once, re-use multiple times”
– Can allow the same content to be formatted to suit entirely different outputs – eg printer, PC, mobile phone
So, this HTML
<html>
<body>
<h1>Chapter 1</h1>
<h2>What is an Ebook?</h2>
<p>An ebook is a book without pages.</p>
</body>
</html>
Combined with this CSS ...
body {color: black}
h1 {font-family: “comic sans ms”, arial, 'sans serif'}
h2 {color: red}
p {text-align:center}
Produces this style variation
Chapter 1
What is an Ebook?
An ebook is a book without pages.
Metadata – data about the ebook
• As well as creating the book, we need to describe it for selling purposes
– Eg ISBN, author, price, availability, blurb, links to cover image, etc
• E-tailing is driving a need for standardised metadata as computers manage more of the process
• ONIX (ONline Information Exchange) is the book industry standard
– An XML standard, 31 core metadata elements
Bonus: A free website in 5 steps and 15 minutes
No HTML coding needed
Bonus: A free website in 5 steps
1. Go to WordPress.com
2. Sign Up for a free account then Login
3. Go to Appearances | Themes
– Choose a theme (site design) and Activate it
4. Go to Settings | General
– Add your site’s Title and Tagline
5. Go to Posts | Add New
– Write your first story and Publish!
Add PAGES for static information
Instant website (cont.d)
6. (Optional) Go to Pages | Add New
– Write pages for static info (eg Home, About Us, Contact Us)
7. Go to Settings | Reading
– For Front Page Display select A static page
– Choose a Page for the Front page and for the Posts page (ie your news/blog articles)
8. Save Changes. You’re done!
So there it is … in case you’d ever wondered
Thanks!
Martin Taylor
web: digitalpublishing.org.nz
email: [email protected]
blog: activitypress.com/ereport
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