Using ePUB

E-pub or XHTML?

Given the current state of content related technologies there is little doubt that e-pub, and any e-book format is a transient thing. The world of content technology is moving fast and it has to be asked what does a standards e-book format deliver? E-pub is about to go into specification round two. It's going to take 18 months apparently, but a lot is going to happen in that time.

Colour Displays, Interactivity and ePub

An effect of the iPad release has been to galvanize two types of digital product requests. 1. Colour content - mostly children's books and magazines; and, 2. iPad/content applications.

Even in its current form ePub is capable of a lot in terms of presentation and navigation as can be seen by the magazine samples here. But e-pub is probably not the correct vehicle for this content given the bookish approach of both the e-pub standard and the devices and readers supporting it. This coming wave of e-content certainly indicates that the packaged e-book and reader device concept just may be tired before even taking off.

AZARDI Update

2010-07-01: AZARDI is no longer in development or support by Infogrid Pacific.
It can still be downloaded

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We have been receiving a lot of feedback about AZARDI recently, most of it complimentary and helpful, and some installation problems.

I just need to make the announcement that we are a little hung up on resources at present. AZARDI is a "part time" development. We are planning a more aggressive development program next year.

Meanwhile I would like to thank the over 20,000 people who have downloaded AZARDI for their support (OK, it's not many - but we get excited with one!) and comments. Also the over 250,000 ePub book downloads of titles this year is exciting considering the limited number of titles we have on offer. There is obviously a demand. We will be adding to this shortly with some exciting new "beyond Gutenberg" additions that are under preparation.

Infogrid Pacific is a small development and services company first and foremost, and our support to the community is made with our personal excess capacity. However we are committed and passionate about the ePub format and new content production and distribution paradigms. Stay tuned. 

Azardi R2-2 Minor Feature Update

We have uploaded a new release for AZARDI (2009-06-02). This is a minor feature change release.

When using edit mode, this release saves the content files in the zip package as deflate rather than store by default (except the mimetype file which is always stored). This has the dual benefit of reducing the ePub file size and overcoming a minor bug in the Sony devices that expects zips to be deflate compressed and therefore miscalculates resource.

Download AZARDI 2-2 from here.

Source code will be available on the Version History page in approximately seven days.

Azardi R2-1 Update

2010-07-01: AZARDI is no longer in development or support by Infogrid Pacific.
It can still be downloaded

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There has been a minor update to AZARDI, which may be useful for some users.

The default application paths can now be changed to any location Windows disk location.

To do this go to the application installation directory and find the file config.txt. Here you will see three path statements for the library, cache and reports directory. Edit these for your own requirements. The application creates the directories in the cache and reports location so you only have to provide the main path.

If you don't have a problem with the earlier fixed installation path, there is no real reason to upgrade until a later full feature update. This small usability change has been made at the request of a number of users (including me!).

AZARDI- Release 2. Now it Reads, Checks, Edits, Repackages

2010-07-01: AZARDI is no longer in development or support by Infogrid Pacific.
It can still be downloaded

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If you are serious about creating excellent ePubs with full specification conformance; or if you are a publishing professional looking for more quality control over ePubs delivered; then the new release of AZARDI is probably a must have tool on you desktop (if you have a Windows OS that is!). The new release has both the promised Reference mode ePub Package Checker, and a bonus Component Editor built right in.You can read more about it and download it here.

The one tool lets you read, validate and edit/repackage your ePubs. With a little interface familiarity, it takes just seconds to make major changes and corrections.

Azardi - ePub Reference Version

The next version of AZARDI is due out shortly - this week hopefully. The "big thing" is this version will have a Reference mode. In Reference mode AZARDI will give an ePub Wedge Report (Pass/Fail) by component, plus a detailed printable HTML report for audit, or wallpaper or whatever. So now you can validate ePubs right on your desktop while you are making them, and then continue to read the file.

This is a more transparent report than epubCheck insofar as it tells you what is being checked. It is also a little educational. It has no bias to devices or usage (eg. We don't care if the files are too big for ADE or Sony devices, but the file detail report can be used for device applicability assessment).

The tests AZARDI will run and report are listed below. These tests are for ePub in this version, Daisy is still a way off - if ever. Any comments on the check points are most welcome.

First ePub Content is Up

If anybody was waiting, we have put up three books on the AZARDI ePub Resource Page. Nothing spectacular at this stage, but a move in the direction we want to go. Two of these are available as ePubs and PDF (the PDFs come from the same XML as the ePubs) and are created in IGP:FLIP. The PDF's are Demy (135mm x 216mm I believe) and look like a reasonably normal trade book.

Just a few notes on why the books may be interesting as ePubs...

AZARDI - free ePub Reader is Released

Our new free ePub Reader, AZARDI, is now available at this download location. We are running a week later than we had hoped, but hey, it's free, and a week ain't so bad in terms of software projects.

There is extensive information on the why's and wherefore's of AZARDI on the main website. Make sure you check it out to see where this application is heading.

Meanwhile if anyone would like to give feedback, this blog is the place to do it.