Editing XML in ePub files (also posted in ID forum)

Question

Hi all
I posted this in the InDesign forum a few days ago but got no response, so I'm trying here. My apologies for the double-up.
I'm about to start preparing ePUB files (from InDesign CS4) for a particular distributor whose instructions state:
"Text encoding should all be in UTF-8 (this can be checked in the OPF, the first line should be “<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>” ".
When I check my initial test files using PDFXML Inspector (with pretty printing turned off — thanks Gabriel Powell) the first line states only “<?xml version="1.0"?>”.
I ran a test by simply adding the "encoding="UTF-8""  bit to that line and everything seems to work fine in Calibre and Digital Editions (as it did with the unedited version — there seems to be no difference).
BUT, is this the correct way to do things or am I inadvertently setting myself up for disaster?
Does InDesign automatically export with text encoded as UTF-8 — or some other format?
Are there other settings in InDesign which alter the way text is encoded and the XML is generated?
AND — my other question...
This distributor is also asking for additional metadata entries.
Can I integrate them anywhere within the metadata or are there particular ordering protocols that need to be adhered to?
As you can see, I'm an XML ignoranti and any assistance will be most gratefully received.
d.

Answer 1

Hi Frances,
Please be aware that I have not got any ePubs to the retail stage as yet, I was working flatout on a bunch of ePubs for a few months when the project got put on the backburner — so my experience is limited.
I'm not sure what your process is, but InDesign CS4 does an OK job of creating ePubs — just so long as you set the files up correctly (eg. the easiest way to get page breaks between chapters is to save each chapter as a separate InDesign file and then combine them in a book. ALSO, everything should be styled using paragraph, character and oject styles)
Unless CS5 has SIGNIFICANT upgraded support for ePub, you might be wasting your money.
Check out the excellent tutorials by Gabriel Powell
He gives the most outstanding introduction to ePUB from InDesign I've yet seen.
PDF
http://www.creativepro.com/article/making-ebooks-indesign-part-1
Video
http://instantindesign.com/index.php?view=413
A couple of things I found I needed to do to get ePubs looking right in anything other than ADE:
• I got a better result if I wrote my own CSS — InDesign does not do a good job of this at all, AFAIC. Export style names only and use these as the basis for your CSS.
• Indesign fails to list fonts in the manifest, so if you want to specify your own fonts you need to add them manually and reference them in the manifest. Don't bother trying to embed fonts at export — it causes too many problems, it seems.
• The only thing I need to do in the xhtml files is fix a few non-alpha characters sometimes (like bullets, apostrophes, quotes, etc) I've no idea why these sometimes fail and sometimes don't.
FYI:
I use both Calibre and ADE to view ePubs — because they will each highlight different issues.
I built my CSS and a few other bits and pieces in Text Edit — this makes it easy to re-use things like the CSS for multiple publications.
I use PDFXML Inspector to do the editing — this allows siginificant editing capability without the need to unpack the ePub.
And I use Terminal to repackage ePubs (ie. after adding a fonts folder, or whatever) — using the command lines in Gabriel Powell's tutorial.
ie. I've spent nothing on additional software — it's all either free or already on the Mac.
It's a very steep, frustrating learning curve — LOTS of trial and LOTS of error. But it's also fun.
Good luck
d.