When to Fit the Mold, & When to Break It: The Possibilities & Limitations of Fixed Layout for E-Books, with Liisa McCloy-Kelley

1February 18th, 2014 | Random House LLC | eBook Development & Innovation

When to Fit the Mold, and When to Break It: The Possibilities and Limitations of Fixed Layout for eBooks

Liisa McCloy-KelleyVP, Director eBook Development & Innovation


Overview of the eBook Format Landscape(for this month at least)


15 Years Later, the User Experiences … For “Basic” eBooks Are Pretty Standard

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• The experience for “Basic” eBooks (linear, 1-color) is not significantly different than the print equivalent

• Retailers typically support:• Basic library organization• Basic navigation • Changes in font size• Changes in font• Changes in background color• Bookmarking• Searching• Highlighting of passages• Note taking• Definitions• Sharing of passages via social media


While User Experiences For “More Complex” eBooks ... Are Not Yet Set Nor Ideal and Can Be Very Inconsistent

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Defining the “Page” and Who Controls WhatIs One of the Biggest Challenges

We are at that point where the content and the reading experience are starting to overlap and standards may need to prescribe what the reading system will do with the content


As We Move Into An “e ≠ p World” Things Change

They may not need:- the same experience- the same pagination- the same navigation

And they may not be for the same audiences

In print, these are all experiences on pages between covers

In e, these are all experiences on screens


Device Type Support Across Reading Platforms

Amazon Kindle

BNNook

Apple iBooks

Kobo Sony GooglePlay

eInk Device

Smart Phone

Small Color Tablet

Large Color Tablet

Web Reader

Desktop Apps

Apps on Other Devices


And Even When We Customize Files, Most Retailers Alter the Files Before

Delivering

Retailer Amazon Kindle

BNNook

Apple iBooks

Kobo Sony GooglePlay

Format provided

EPUB, KF8 or Mobi

EPUB,EPIBPage Perfect PDF

EPUB, PDF or iBooks Author

EPUBor PDF

EPUB EPUBor PDF

Format sold KF8or Mobi

EPUB,EPIBPage Perfect PDF

EPUB, PDF or iBooks Author

EPUBor PDF

EPUB EPUB

Altered in some way before sale?

Yes Yes No (ish) Yes Yes Yes


Beyond “Fixed”, The Features We Consider to Be“Enhancements” Is an Ever Expanding List

• “Enhanced” used to mean an eBook had audio or video added to it

• These days, “Enhanced” can refer to a lot more than that and generally applies to anything that needs specialized code and may not be supported well across the entire eBook retail environment yet

• “Enhanced” eBooks may have:• Audio files/player in line• Video files/player• Synchronized audio that highlights the text• An Audio soundtrack• Slideshows• Interactive elements• Animated elements• Quizzes • Popups• Scrolling text• Embedded HTML widgets that add app-like functionality

February 18th, 2014 | Random House LLC | eBook Development & Innovation

“Fixed Page”- The Varieties In Use Today

• “Please send us your Fixed Page eBooks” • Sounds easy, right?

• It’s not, because fixed page means a lot of different things for different content types and there are few standard ways to code any of this at this point in time

• There are at least 7 different types of “Fixed Page” experiences• For Children’s Picture books there are 3 experiences

• Plain Kids Fixed with text popups• Kids Fixed with Synced Audio• Kids Fixed with Interactivity

• Manga experience• R2L reading, could have 4 quadrant panelization

• Comics and Graphic Novel experience • L2R reading, no panelization or “guided panel view”

• “Print Replica” that matches the trim and exact paging of print• Fixed that is designed to be “Screen Optimized”

• And there are a lot of proprietary ways to format them!

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Genres Where Fixed Page “Print Replica” Works


• As long as the reading system supports R2L Navigation, Manga as Fixed Page works pretty well• For KF8, Panelization into 4 quandrants helps readability• It is important to capture high resolution images

Manga


• Though panelization isn’t well supported in EPUB3, pinch and zoom works reasonably well to enlarge areas for improved readability• For KF8, Panelization helps readability• It is important to capture high resolution images

Graphic Novels


Comics

• Though Comics can be hard to read in spreads, they are reasonable in single page views


• When the “art” IS the page

Some Humor Titles and Other Visually Based Titles


• In EPUB, we’ve all been making Kids books that have the left and right side of spreads built as separate HTML pages

Kids Picture Books


Next Generation Kids Picture Books

• EPUB3• One HTML page per spread• Javascript popups to enlarge text• SVG for text on curves


Where Fixed Page “Print Replica” Doesn’t Work Well


• Examples of “Fixed” – Text Can be small and white space is artificial

Fixed To Maintain Text Formatting For Poetry Is “Iffy”


• In reflow the text can resize and most formatting remains

Fixed In Reflow Can Be Formatted Reasonably Well


• Where there is a lot of text on a page, it becomes too small to read

Lots of Text on the Page Can Be Problematic


•Navigation on pages like this with too much small info becomes difficult

Over-sized Trims Cause Too Small Text and Too Much Info


• Square or unusual trims leave a lot of unused screen space

Odd-sized Trims Don’t Effectively Use The Screen


• When text is captured as part of the image, it is not always sharp when pinched and zoomed

Poor Experiences When Text Is Captured As Part Of Images


What Other Options Are There?


• These 4 pages from print re-designed as reflow

You Can Focus On Well Designed Reflow


• These 4 pages from print re-designed as fixed designed for screen

You Can Adapt A Fixed Design Meant For Screen


• 3 pages from print re-designed as reflow

Another Example of Well Designed Reflow


• 3 pages from print re-designed as fixed designed for screen

Another Example of Fixed Design Meant For Screen


① Think about what is going to make the best experience for the reader

② Don’t get caught up in matching every print decision

③ Think about how much the “design” is a part of the story

① Think about how much text there is

① Make it as easily readable as possible

② Cheap and easy are not always the best ways to makeeBooks that will sell – find a balance

③ Understand that we are still defining best practices for digital experiences with many genres

④ Do your best for the book and the story!

What to Focus On When Making Format Choices


Questions?

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Thank You! (and go read an eBook )

Liisa McCloy-KelleyVP and Director eBook Development & Innovation

Penguin Random House

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

When to Fit the Mold, & When to Break It: The Possibilities & Limitations of Fixed Layout for E-Books, with Liisa McCloy-Kelley