Like most of my fellow editor , my job atMacworldis multi - faceted : authorship , redaction , troubleshooting , tinkering , and — in my case — help our crack feature squad put together Superguides , our line of how - to Good Book and scout . Over the last class or so , as we ’ve pitch away from the traditional print - and - CD mannikin and more toward ebooks , we ’ve progressively concentre on producing quality digital work for the iBookstore and Kindle depot ; unfortunately , it ’s not been easy . Our workflow is our adult roadblock : It takes six programs to build aMacworldSuperguide ( BBEdit , Pages , InDesign , Calibre , Sigil , and iTunes Producer ) . And while the end solution looks OK , the outgrowth is clunky , time - wasting , and full of unneeded duplication .
So you might understand why we might be excite by the rumor thatan Apple - mark ePub publication clientmay be announced at Thursday’sApple press upshot in New York . Because if there ’s one affair you could say for Apple , the company be intimate how to take complicated , crabbed outgrowth and reduce them to something graceful — often even beautiful .
And decently now , ebook publication is anything but . If you need to put together a simple textual matter - only ebook , there are applications that make it relatively square — Storyist and Scrivener , to name a few — but once you get into anything with images , or mesa , you ’re deal out with a whole dissimilar brute . And , when it come to something like digital textbooks — or detailed engineering science how - to template — images and tables are a must .
Export away: Pages offers limited export options for ePubs.
I’vewished publiclyin the past for a one - stoppage ePub publishing shop ; if Apple does release such a tool on Thursday , here are some of the feature I hope it might have .
Direct ePub editing
Export off : Page offer up limited exportation options for ePubs .
Ebook software is an export plot : Whether you ’re make for in InDesign , Pages , Scrivener , or any other piece of contented foundation software , you ca n’t work on an ePub directly — you make your file , then export it and hope for the good . If you ask to deepen it after the fact , you either must re - export it , or edit it at the computer code level in a program like Sigil .
Say I ’m make an ePub for a characterisation book in Pages . I draw up my icon and my text the fashion I want it , then export the ePub . But since Pages ca n’t make situate - data formatting ePubs or break pages , I have to plunk into the XHTML using a program like Sigil to make changes . And what if I want to tweak the book ’s CSS ? Sigil keep the day again .
WYSWygged out: Open-source app Sigil has a basic WYSIWYG editor, but it lacks tools most publishers need.
While technically capable , Sigil lacks a slew of the finesse publishers need to create captivating volume . Its WYSIWYG “ Book View ” is buggy , and append picture or styling can be much more hard than it should be . As a answer , if I need to return to the puff of Pages for any major edits , I would have to re - export the ePub and recreate every computer code modification I ’d made to that first ePub .
or else of this rigamarole , I want an lotion , plan terra firma - up for the Mac , that works instantly on an ePub filing cabinet from the start . No exporting and no concerns about multiple adaptation of file and having to remodel old changes .
WYSIWYG, please
WYSWygged out : overt - generator app Sigil has a basic WYSIWYG editor program , but it miss tools most publishing company call for .
Import, export
“ But , Serenity . You just said that you don’twantto import files . ” True . I ’d prefer to do all my work in one programme ; some newspaper publisher , however , do n’t have that opulence . Textbook Creator , for example , are most potential still going to have to put out a print version of their book for some time to arrive . As a result , unless Apple plan to let in InDesign - like functionality in its ebook software , the troupe would be smart to volunteer “ Import from … ” options for democratic publishing applications .
And , while it ’s a longshot , it would n’t pain to be able to export finished ebooks to file types other than the iBooks - well-disposed ePub , such as Amazon ’s MOBI format . ( Not very probable , though . )
Easy metadata editing
Messing with metadata : If you do n’t desire to dive into an OPF manifest , you’re able to edit metadata using Calibre .
publishing firm , by and expectant , do n’t desire to have to dive into code — and they sure as shooting do n’t want to have to overprotect with an ePub ’s OPF manifest , a code written document which contains references and metadata for the book . Kovid Goyal’sCalibrecurrently lets users edit ePub metadata without diving event into codification , but to do so you may have to reprocess your account book — and recode it entirely to Calibre ’s liking . alternatively , it would be nice to be able to edit complex metadata and delegate a cover simulacrum within just one software — no re - export necessary .
Upload to iBookstore
If Apple ’s break to make a tool for newspaper publisher that permit easygoing ebook creation , it seems only natural to be able to upload that ePub to the company ’s iBookstore . Currently , uploading involves an Apple development tool called iTunes Producer , which , while operational , has its fair share of oddity and foiling . Plenty of Apple software have built - in uploaders to web site like YouTube and Vimeo — why would n’t an Apple - branded rule book innovation tool have a unmediated link to the iBookstore ?
The one hitch in all this is that currently , to publish on the iBookstore , you need an ISBN for each al-Qur’an — easy enough for big publisher , but not so nice for self-governing writers trying to get their study distribute online . Amazon currently admit independents to publish online - only books without an ISBN ; it ’ll be interesting to see whether Apple decide to lower the barrier for iBookstore entryway and do the same .
Bonus round: iBooks for Mac
egotistically , I ’d just wish to be capable to read an ePub on my Mac without having to apply Sigil or Calibre . But in all seriousness , I think that if Apple ’s serious about getting students to use digital schoolbook , its iBooks app must expand outwards to platforms beyond Io . tidy sum of scholarly person own an iOS gimmick , sure — but there are many more who still prize their Macs or microcomputer for scholastic use . Even if Apple turn the best new publication platform in years on Thursday , the company will be confine in its resolution if students can only opt - in by buy an iOS machine .
That said , I ’m reckon that Applewillexpand iBooks ’s reach , even if it only begin with the Mac . The ship’s company has case in point with the iTunes Store , and an iBooks expansion would make Apple ’s product more competitive with its major rival , Amazon , whose Kindle Store is uncommitted for substance abuser with Kindles , iOS devices , Androids , Macs , and PCs .
[ Serenity Caldwell is a Macworld staff editor program . ]
Messing with metadata: If you don’t want to dive into an OPF manifest, you can edit metadata using Calibre.
