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#1 |
Groupie
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Master Format for multi-format eBook Generation?
Mainly because I realize we are still in the "eBabel" stage of eBook formats, I'm wondering which format, so far, has proven to be most reliable and flexible when being used as a master or archival format for generating or being transformed into the many output formats (PDF, ePub, mobi, lit, lrf, etc., etc., etc.)? (And yes, I understand, your choice of output formats is still determined by what tools are actually available.)
XML Based: ePub seems to be the dominant choice for a output format, but it doesn't feel quite rigorous enough yet for the master format (even in something as simple as confusion over using <q> vs " for quotes (related DTBook solves this the wrong way, by using both) -- but then, this is simply a matter of giving it time to mature). TEI looks interesting and has been around for awhile, has the maturity, and has a couple useful implementations. TEI-Lite being the most well known. At one point, Project Gutenberg was working on PGTEI, but the status of that seems to be unknown at this point although documentation is clear and easy to understand. Then there's the father (DocBook) and the grandfather (SGML) formats ... TeX Based: Mainly the LaTeX macros (and I love Donald Knuth's writing style and rigorous attention to detail). And while TeX can be output to almost anything, the conversion process between TeX and XML seems to still be pretty vague (although its ability to generate table-of-contents from full files would be very useful for the multi-file format of ePub). |
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#2 |
Guru
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I would say plain html and associated images if they exist.
[I personally also keep a copy of it in word (1997-2003), txt and pdf, just in case - but that is just me…] Best |
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#3 |
Resident Curmudgeon
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Given all the eBook formats out there, the best format right now is ePub. You can take this ePub and use it to convert to LIT, Mobipocket, and LRF using Calibre. Plus, you'd have it in ePub already.
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#4 |
Wizard
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if you have a perfect copy. Epub is a good storage format.
If you have a non perfect copy, HTML or RTF, are good storage and editable formats |
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#5 |
hopeless n00b
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For fiction, I'm leaning towards something XML-based for a master/source format. The structure lends itself quite well to digital publishing/ebook transformation. epub's a good example of that. Even Microsoft's .LIT is somewhat XML based, albeit, encapsulated in a prioprietary DRM format. I didn't check the numerous implementations but I think for a master file, an XML with a simple layout would be ideal.
Code:
<xml>
<title>some title</title>
<author>some author</author>
<cover>some cover.jpg</cover>
<published>some date</published>
<description>summary</description>
<toc>
<entry>
<title>Chapter 1</title>
<description>short chapter summary?</description>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Chapter 2</title>
<description>summary/whatever</description>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Chapter 3</title>
<description>summary/whatever</description>
</entry>
</toc>
<entry>
<title>Chapter 1</title>
<content>Chapter 1 text here (possibly in HTML/XHTML format)</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Chapter 2</title>
<content>Chapter 2 text here</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Chapter 3</title>
<content>Chapter 3 text here</content>
</entry>
</xml>
<content>Chapter 1 text here (possibly in HTML/XML format)</content> can be changed to <link rel="alternate" href="chapter1.html" /> Mind you, I'm not very familiar with XML as evidenced above, but the sample layout should give you a general idea. From the XML, it would be fairly trivial to convert to other formats. I think the least formatting available on the master XML, the better since that gives ebook creation/conversion utilities final say in how to handle style, flow, etc. For reference and technical material, I think TeX is the obvious choice. Edit: Oh, whoops. Misunderstood the question. Just goes to show if you can barely keep your eyes open, you have no business replying on forums. To answer your question, given currently available software and utilities, I'd keep ebooks in both ePub and single HTML format. ePub for the metadata, cover, etc. Single HTML files for ease of editing and reading on the computer. As much as I love Calibre for general ebook management, I don't really like its built-in viewer. Last edited by ilovejedd; 03-12-2009 at 03:14 AM. |
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#6 |
eBook Enthusiast
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For me it's a folder for each book, containing HTML source and whatever images are used in the book.
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#7 |
book creator
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Epub (or zipped xhtml) which is basically the same
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#8 |
Grand Sorcerer
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I am currently in the process of creating all my HTML files into an epub format directory structure. Which will give me a directory per book (which can contain other directories)
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#9 |
Addict
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I currently use html though I also find it's not rigorous enough.
I hate that things like chapter headers are marked up merely by convention instead of properly and would really like to find a good format that does allow proper markup without being excessively complicated or rigid. |
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#10 | ||
Groupie
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Quote:
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#11 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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#12 |
Addict
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#13 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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#14 | |
Groupie
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Quote:
Found this comparison yesterday, XML Models for Books (PDF) on O'Reilly. The simplistic view looks like science and technology are sticking with DocBook or LaTeX. Humanities likes TEI. Publishers are starting to lean towards ePub. |
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#15 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
TeX > PDF conversions are of course standard and easy, and with the right packages, I imagine it's pretty easy to make properly eBook-sized and formatted .PDFs. But what about TeX > other eBook formats, like Mobi, ePub and LRF, etc.? Anyone have any experience with this, or know of any good tools/packages, etc., for it? How well do these support the features a TeX user typically expects, like decent looking mathematical formulae, footnotes, etc.? |
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