Epub Questions

I work for a magazine and we're trying to format our publication for eReaders. However, we're fairly image heavy, which I realize is problematic for ePubs in general. What we're trying to do is wrap text around pics and position them inside (not on top or the bottom) the articles. Also, how to format text for italics, bold, etc. Any info I find doesn't describe in layman's terms what we'd like to do. Or is hazy as to whether or not it's even possible. Yes, ePub format discards the wrap around text, but moving the text up or down around an image isn't exactly rewrapping the text. And the brochure for InDesign describing ePubs is lacking in that regard. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

As Bob hinted, wrapping text around an image in an epub is possible with CSS using the float property.
Let me fix that for you:
Wrapping text around an image in an epub is ONLY possible with CSS using the float property.

Similar Messages

Two ePub Questions

Hello,
I am formatting a novel to epub format. Everything has gone perfectly using character and paragraphy styles, etc. My two questions are as followes:
1. I've used the first page of the document to be the book cover without problem, however, where do I assign an icon for the epub file itself? For example, if I drag my epub file into iTunes > Books, there is only a default icon until I associate an icon with the book in iTunes. What am I missing? Is there a way to associate an icon with the epub file, so it automatically shows up in iTunes, iBooks, etc. without having to manually associate a file with it in iTunes?
2. In the book there is some foreign language. (Russian) This of course only renders out as ???????? in the epub file. I tried to trick ID into creating the text in the epub by using the Type > Create Outlines on the offending bits of text. That didn't work. It went from ???????? to deleted text. Any ideas how to make the foreign text viewable in the epub in the foreign language?
Thanks.

Thanks DerekC1000. I actualy just went through and deleted the offending Russian text. There wasn't a ton, and just couldn't find a way to make it show properly. As for the cover image however, I'm not sure you understood my first question, or I may not have clearly explained what my question was. The first page of my ebook is the cover. All is well there...
However, when I drop my epub into my iTunes Book library, there is just a generic iTunes icon. To correct this, I have to upload artwork to iTunes to correct this. What I'm wondering is, how do I make my epub file have a proper default icon for the book when brought into a reader?

Conversion to epub questions

I have IDCS5.5 and 6. I had in .id file which was done in CS3 opened and saved in 5.5 I need to convert to epub. I'm working in 5.5 using the articles window and I'm in the process of anchoring the images in. The book is 300 pages but I'm just setting up and checking a test for one chapter.
I notice that after converting the css file is HUGE! With all the text overides and fonts. Since from what I read and see, the fonts will default to the readers fonts and my concern is the book has alot of italics used in quotes, bold text used for names etc. In the test epub I see these styles are retained and need to know if I should be concerned with the large css file slowing down the ebook itself?
RD

If you're using InDesign's CSS, there definitely is unnecessary code there. You can use the techniques that Anne-Marie Concepcion talks about in her Lynda.com videos and that Elizabeth Castro talks about in her ebooks to pare that down.
Or you can create your own CSS file.
Nonetheless, I've never heard that a large CSS file would "slow it down."

ID CS5.5 or CS6 to Epub Question

I have a client who has an IdCS6 file he wants to have made into an epub. When doing an Id file from scratch and then converting to E pub is one thing but this id file has a lot of text and I see a lot of fonts as well which is probably why my ID6 crashes when I try to export to epub.
I tried to take the pages from the original and put them in the articles panel, before I export. I also tried to copy and paste two pages at a time into a new CS6 doc and create articles. When I export those I get an epub with no crash, I first notice that when I open the id6 file ( its from a pc , I'm on a mac I get the fonts missing and find fonts I just ignore.
Is there a set way or procedure to follow when getting ID files that were made for print or with a lot of fonts?
As for the export I did with only two copied pages, when I open in an epub editor I see there are at least 8 fonts and have to manually delete to try to keep the fonts down to 1 or two. A way to do this BEFORE exporting to epub would be nice
any help on doing this right?
Rd

Well,
Duplicate the file (save as) with another name.
Let's suppose a file with 300 pages. file1 "save as" to file2.
In the file1 go to page 151, and clean all the rest of the text and pages.
In the file2 go to page 150, and clean the text before the page 151 and delete the white pages.
Remember, delete pages don't clean the text, you have to delete the text too.
Create a book (File/New/Book...), give a name and add the file1 and file2, automatically, the pages are been renumerated.
Att.

Exporting InDesign Book to Epub (general questions)

Re: InDesign CC
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=opfguides.htm
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=cover.htm
I've created a 366 page book using about 32 individual .indd files and have some general exporting-to-epub questions.
1. Images.
My images are placed .ai and .psd files that have names I can understand, such as picture-of-this.ai and picture-of-that.psd. When InDesign exports to epub, the images are renamed to something that a species whose native language is binary can understand. For example, this and that get renamed to 12345.jpg and 67890.jpg. And then there is also a funky naming convention that keeps the original name but adds _fmt.jpeg to it.
Is it possible for me to export to epub and keep original file names?
2. content.opf metadata
Ultimately my epub needs to be converted into Kindle format. Amazon provides a Kindle Previewer that converts the file into their required .mobi format and that works, but some minor customization is required to get it to work right. The minor customizations include assigning the cover page, the table of contents (toc), and in my opinion, an even more important start page.
My cover page, toc, and start page exist as individual .indd files.
According to the mobipocket references (provided above), I need to add a few items to the content.opf file:
For the cover:
<metadata> <meta name="cover" content="my-cover-image" /> </metadata>
<manifest> <item href="MyCoverImage.jpg" id="my-cover-image" media-type="image/jpeg" /> </manifest>
For the table of contents:
<guide> <reference type="toc" title="Table of Contents" href="mytoc.html"/> </guide>
For the start page:
<guide> <reference type="start" title="Start here" href="starthere.html"/> </guide>
So, I can use Dreamweaver easily enough to open the content.opf file and manually insert those codes, but is there a way I can pre-code their key values into the InDesign page so that they are automatically placed in the proper positions on export?

Hi Michael.
That's a good suggestion about inserting jpg's into the InDesign document and then exporting to epub. I've done that before and it's worked quite well, especially with consideration to file size. However, this particular book has over 130 graphics and it's also going to the printing press... so I'm trying to keep my workload to be as efficient as possible. So you wouldn't have known that, and again, that's a great suggestion.
I have not been able to get that plugin to work, and it's also no longer necessary. Kindle has a previewer that automatically converts the file to .mobi format, and allows the user to view the .mobi file through viewing screens that represent the Kindle device:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000765261
Thanks for the info on the ALT text. I need to do that.... I've also looked through the File Info window tabs and did not find any area that seemed to allow me to enter that information.
I have previously created and published on Kindle one book that was one single InDesign file, and as you suggested, had the cover and TOC with everything else. Unfortunately, there too, I had to manually enter the cover, start, and toc code using Dreamweaver.
It looks like at this time there's no easy way to get around manually updating the .html files.
Thanks for making the time to reply.

InDesign CS5 ePUBS Image Consistency across platforms

Hello!
I have a question I've been asking myself for months, and finally made an account here for the Adobe Forums, which seems to be pretty much the only place with useful information about ePubs.
I work in a company that's planning on transferring over 70 print modules (between 80-150 pages each) to be available on iPad and Android tablets / phones.
InDesign CS5 helps a lot, especially with being able to choose Header 1s as Page Breaks.
But, I seem to be having some issues with a couple of things that's preventing us from publishing these documents to the Apple Store and Androind Market.
1) Superscript / Subscript not appearing correctly on final product (Though this has been achieved by using Sigil to hack the CSS)
2) Bullet alignment (The bullets are all aligned perfectly, just not along with the first line, creating a secondary weird indent bug that looks terrible)
The main issue is pictures. I am using PNG images. A few months ago, the problem was solved - If I chose NOT to automatically format my images, they appeared perfect on the iPad/iPhone/Galaxy Phone and Galaxy Tab.
However, we took some time off this project, and now that I'm back on it, Aldiko has a new version, and it seems to break the images. Now my images in Aldiko are displaying huge, and previously, you'd be able to hold a finger on an image and it would open up full screen to get a closer look, but all of that seems gone now, and I'll only get half of my image at best.
Checking off to automatically format the images results in terrible low quality images that are so small you can barely see them.
I've done some research and apparently Aldiko is one of the most used free e-readers for android, so I'd definitely like for our products to display fine on it.
Any suggestions? Anyone else that experiences similar problems?

Your question is rather an advanced one. I've observed that most of us who reply to ePUB questions here are still learning to make ePUBs.
I've been told by someone more knowledgeable about it than I that the link below to the MobileRead Forums would lead you to more experienced ePUB creators who may be more helpful:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/

Convert pdf to epub

Trying to convert a pdf file to ePub to read on iPad and eventually upload to the Apple store. I have tried Calibre, Wondershare (paid version) and pdf to epub converter. I also have the native inDesign file used to create the pdf and tried exporting it as an ePub file. Of course it worked but when viewed on the iPad, the formatting was off. Every ePub file I have created has had formatting issues when viewed on the iPad. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

What George said is right, you will get much better results from ID > EPUB if you prep the file a bilt in ID, and if you make some tweaks in the resulting EPUB files.
In addition to Liz's boks, you might check out the video tutorials I've done on lynda.com for this, called InDesign CS to ePub and the iPad. There are 3 diff. titles, one each for InDesign CS4, CS5, and CS.5. Working on another for CS6. Here's the link to the CS5.5 one: http://j.mp/lynda_cs55epub
it's a subscription site ($25 for a month) but each of the titles has some free sample videos. Or you can get a free week's trial of the entire site: http://lynda.com/freepass/amconcepcion
Another good place to ask InDesign > EPUB questions (or any epub question) is on Twitter with the #eprdctn hash tag; ebook production folk use that tag. Not sure if you're into Twitter or not, but it's worth it for that alone.
AM

Why not pop-up note in Ibooks ?

Why not pop-up note in Ibooks
in the OS X and iPad ?
inDesign CC 2014

I've moved your question to the InDesign EPUB forum since it appears to be an EPUB question.
What kind of popup note are you referring to you?
Have you updated to the latest InDesign CC 2014 update (2014.2, released February 2015)?
Are you exporting Reflowable or Fixed Layout EPUB?

HT4168 Pages export to ePub - unwanted question marks

When I export a Pages doc to ePub, a question mark appears at the end of every line. How can I avoid that? If I take the Export to ePub doc from Apple and export it, no problem. If I add some lines of my own at the end and then re-export, question marks appear at the end of the lines I have added. It's driving me nuts! Any advice would be appreciated.

How did you buy Pages?
Which MacOs system do you have on your computer?
What is the exact message you get?
Which version of Pages do you have?
Please answer all questions and if you don't know how ask again.

Exporting a table to an EPUB (a beginners question)

Epub beginner.
I trying to teach my self how to create an EPUB, I have watched many tutorials
from Adobe and beyond all very useful and educational.
I am using Indesign CS5.5
Question 1:
What is the best way to export a ‘table’ to an EPUB doc’ that has dingbats/bullets/ticks in columns,
when I create a EPUB the bullets/dingbats/ticks change to a font. Would it be better to make a ‘jpeg’
of the ‘table’ then import back into indesign via the Articles Panel?
Question 2:
As a side issue, Is there a way by just using the bullets command to have a single bullet with no text
so to use in a table instead of using Wingdings etc?
Thanks in advance for your help.

@Derek – just some questions on this:
How about converting the table to a row of text frames grouped together and anchored to the main story?
Just a "wild" idea, I know. Would that better the situation? I mean not to be forced to render the table to pixels? That could be an ugly thing.
Or would be grouped text frames also be rendered to pixels by InDesign CS5.5's export to EPUB?
And about the bulleted paragraphs:
What, if we convert the bullets to live text?
Ok, we'll likely get a font rendering issue with a font that cannot be included or if included cannot be rendered on the device. Only the substitute of that font, whatever that subsituted font will be.
Or forget about the bullets formatted with text attributes and use vector shapes or anchored images in PNG format (PNG with transparency maybe)?
Uwe

Question: Design help Epub FXL

Hello friends.
I'm building a fixed layout epub with the newest version of indesign. So far it's pretty amazing, but there are a couple of things I would like to do, but don't know how. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
1. I'm adding a video to some spreads. They autoplay on page load and I've added a 2 second appear animation to avoid the reader seeing the load and play button on the video player before it actually starts playing. Can I add another event to the same element -the video- on the same spread? For instance a disappear animation delayed five seconds? (so the video appears, plays and disappears again)
2. Can I make audio play across several spreads (and not be cut off on page turn)?
All the best,
//Thue

So, I figured the first question out myself. It's resolved here.
The second question remains:
Can I make an audio-clip continue after page turn?
I found the "Stop on page turn" - but it doesn't seem to work. It's not clicked and the music still stops on page turn. I've tried both options, and it doesn't change anything.

EPub Output Questions

We recently upgraded to FM 12, and I am playing around with the ePub output function. I have two questions:
1. We use track text edits to show our audience recent changes to our publications. When I publish to ePub, it essentially accepts all of our edits (we lose the visibility - i.e. different colors/strikethrough). Any thoughts on how to keep our tracked edits showing in the ePub?
2. We are having issues with anchored frames. One anchored frame contains an image (a jpeg, I believe), and it is not carrying over into the ePub (i.e. it is blank where the anchored frame/image should be). The other anchored frame we have contains a flowchart with hypertext markers linking to various URLs. None of the links are carrying over into the ePub. Thoughts?
Any help is always greatly appreciated!

2. Anything different about the JPG that you're using? From what application was it created (or is it a camera image) and what are it's specifics?
I also don't think that image maps are supported in ePub, especially jumps to URLs or external files (as there's no guarantee that an eReader device can access those). You could try to create simple numbered callouts on a test graphic and then add a list of numbered hyperlinks after the image to see what ePub will support.
You might want to have a look at some of Scot Prentice's (Leximation) presentations on ePubs and their limitations. You can find the links to his papers and presentations at: Leximation: About Scott Prentice

Question - Saving as ePub in Digital Editions

I have digital editions installed to manage by ebooks. Since I am having issues with some books being too small to read comfortably on screen in pdf format, I was going to try and purchase a couple of new books and "save" them in epub format. It seems like they keep automatically saving in .pdf, and I can't figure out how to get them into epub format. When I buy the books, it reports the books as supporting adobe formats or whatever, but there doesn't seem to be anything that specifies if that is pdf or epub. How can I either specify that, or have digital editions do that conversion so that I have the reflowable read. My device (Kobe reader) supports either.

I seem to be caught between various support organizations with something I don't understand. When I click on the info for the book on the Penguin website, it reports that book is "eBook: Adobe reader", it doesn't specify either .pdf or .ePub. I get the .acsm file, and dowload the book in Adobe Digital Editions, and the result is that I have a .pdf book on my PC hard drive that I can then use digital editions to connect to the device and transfer. Penguin support seems to be stuck on it being a digital editions problem. Here was their response, of course it was less than helpful and I sent another question into them. I guess bottom line is if I could tell if a book was .pdf or .ePub before I bought it, or could specify the format it was retrieved in, I would continue to purchase, barring that I can't continue. Would you have any advice on how I could phrase my question to them?
Consumers using Adobe/Acrobat Reader Version 8 or earlier may not be able to open certain eBooks and should attempt to download and install the latest version of Digital Editions, which provides the eBook capabilities integrated with previous versions of Acrobat and Reader.
Our eBooks are digitally rights managed (DRM) and can be opened with Adobe Digital Editions--.ascm is the file extension used by Adobe Digital Editions to read DRM eBooks--such as ePub or PDF. Please confirm that you have registered and activated Adobe Digital Editions with your adobe ID. If you have already done so, please provide the specific error message you are getting when you try to open the .ascm file with adobe digital editions.
Please refer to the Adobe Digital Editions help site for more information:
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/help/
Please note: Apple Products such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch do not currently support the Adobe Digital Editions DRM used in the Adobe and ePub formats that are available on our site.
For instructions on how to open your eBook purchase using a Adobe Digital Editions with the Nook, Kobo or Sony Reader, please see Answer ID #2612.
http://penguingroup.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22/session/L3NpZC93Y1JoTWo0aw%3D% 3D
The Adobe and ePub formats that are sold on the Penguin Group (USA) web site cannot be transferred Kindle or to Apple devices; however, eBooks offered in eReader format are supported by Apple devices through the use of applications such as eReader and Stanza.
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/faq/

Question: Indesign Crashes on export to epub

I have had trouble on more than one previous occasion when exporting a file to epub from cs6, when the Indesign crashes part way through the export process. I am now having this repeatedley with a file containg a large number of inline graphics. It keeps crashing. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this problem?

We improved our EPUB export in CC and continue to do so for the next CC update.
I would like to see if this still fails in CC so we could fix it - would you be willing to share your files with the EPUB team for our internal use only?
Even if it now works in CC we should be able to tell you why it is crashing in CS6.
Douglas Waterfall
Architect, InDesign Engineering
[email protected]

Epub formatting questions.

Hi,
I've read that the epub format does not support tabs. What should I do as a substitute? Does it support actual regular spacebar spaces instead?
How about for paragraph returns...do I use the 'return' key to add large gaps of space between content if needed? Thinking if I have a title page with title in upper half of "page", and then author name on lower half.
Finally, I've read there are no page breaks (for obvious reasons), but to separate out my chapters intentionally, what's the technique to use? I read somewhere that you can make a picture frame box, rasterize it, etc... Looking for best practice; what's the standard method?
Lastly, if someone is pretty good with HTML / CSS, should one even bother using InDesign? Is it best to layout in Dreamweaver with an accompanying stylesheet?
Thanks for your input!

If you are comfortable with html and css I would not use InDesign for epub publishing - unless you happen to have an existing library of books created in InDesign and/or it is part of a publishing workflow to multiple platforms.
There are, btw, many free and commercial epub editing and publishing tools available:
Sigil, for example (which I like to use for general epub editing), has some very nice features like a code editor and wysiwyg editor combined with toc generator, index generator, validators, svg import, css editor, and so on. It is far more comfortable to be editing in Sigil than in InDesign (and faster), because it is its primary focus. And it happens to be free :-) It also works very well together with other code editors and image editors. I happen to use Netbeans in combination with Sigil for this type of work. Another drawback of InDesign CS6 is that I cannot import SVG files and have them exported in my epub files. Sigil has no such issues - I can even open the svg code for inspection and edit it if required. Arguably you also have much more control over the content and exact image quality/optimization in Sigil (since you would be working directly with these files, rather than relying on InDesign's optimization).
Sigil: https://code.google.com/p/sigil/
BookType is a collaborative e-publishing platform that goes beyond a simple editor. It allows a team of authors to work on books, and outputs to pdf, epub, mobi, odt and html, and services like Lulu.com. BookType is free (open source), though since it is "cloud" based to install it on your own machine you will have to run it in your own webserver.
BookType:
http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/booktype/
These will probably serve as more focused epub publishing environments. Of course, you can always export epub files from InDesign, and check/clean things in Sigil, for example. Up to you.
No matter whether you use InDesign or not, I would invest some time to get aquainted with html and css to gain full control over epub editing and publishing.

Epub Questions

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