eBook settings and templates

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Navigation: Publishing > Configuring for Publishing > Kindle/Mobi and ePUB 3.0 eBooks

The basic configuration settings for ePUB listed below can be found here:

•Project Explorer: Configuration > Publishing Options > eBooks (ePUB, Kindle, eWriter) > ePUB+Kindle: General Settings

In addition to this, the shared HTML Export Options settings in the Publishing Options Settings for WebHelp are also used for eBooks.

ePUB and Kindle covers and TOC tutorial project

You can find a tutorial project with ready-to-use IPP cover image templates and templates for your eBook TOC in the Examples\ePub Covers folder in your My HelpAndManual Projects directory.

Relevant settings in HTML Export Options

Most of the settings in HTML Export Options are used for eBooks but the following settings require special comments:

Font size encoding:	Always set this to percent or ems! If you do not do this the user will not be able to adjust the font size on many ePUB eBook readers. It is also advisable to set the font size for Normal to 100% of the browser's default font. Other values may have unexpected results on some readers.
Export lists as text:	This should generally be on to get the most consistent list formatting across different eBook readers and devices.
Popups:	Irrelevant for eBooks, no popups are available.

ePUB+Kindle eBook settings

Cover pictures

Just click and select an image to add front and/or back cover pictures. You must use an HTML-compatible format (JPG, PNG or GIF).

Configuration options

The only fields that are absolutely required are the book ID (UID), which is the unique identifier for your eBook, and the title, without which your eBook will not display its title properly in readers. Most of the other options are recommended, however.

You can use text variables in all the fields listed below.

Book ID: Required!	Also referred to as the UID. This is the unique identifier of your eBook, so you should attempt to make it genuinely unique to avoid confusion with other available publications. You can use any alphanumeric text string here – for example your web address plus the name of the book.
URI: Optional but recommended	A web link, for example to a page with information about the book on your website. It's a good idea to include this as eBook readers often have online access. Always include the http:// prefix with the URI, plain www. addresses will probably fail!
ISBN: Optional, recommended if you have one	If your book has an ISBN code then enter it here.
Book Title: Technically optional but required for proper display of book title in readers	The title of your eBook. You can use the <\%TITLE%> variable to insert the title of your project here.
Subject: Optional but recommended	A short description of your eBook's subject matter.
Description: Optional, generally helpful	A longer description of your eBook.
Author: Optional but recommended	The author of your eBook. If you have entered the author of your project in your Common Properties you can insert the <%AUTHOR%> variable here to use the same text string automatically.
File Author as: Optional	An additional attribute for the author that shows explicitly how the author is to be filed officially. For example, you might enter Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for Author and King, Martin Luther Jr. for File As.
Publisher: Optional but recommended	The publisher (i.e. your company) of the eBook.
Copyright: Optional but recommended	Your copyright notice. You can use the <\%COPYRIGHT%> variable to insert the standard copyright notice stored in your project.
Relation: Optional	Relation information for your eBook, this can be an URI (weblink, the new term for URLs) or other information. This is defined as an "auxiliary resource and its relationship to the publication".
Embed fonts:	Embeds the fonts used in your project in the eBook. See below for more details on this.
Export HelpXplain slide shows as interactive HTML:	If your project contains a HelpXplain slide show activating this option will export it with full interactivity instead of as a static image.Only use this option if you are certain that the eBook readers you are targeting will support it. Most readers have very limited HTML5 and CSS3 support. s

Font embedding

You can embed fonts used in your ePUB and Kindle eBooks. This is required for languages with special character sets on some readers, including Adobe Digital Editions. Apple iBooks does not require font embedding for special characters, but you may wish to embed fonts to get more control over your book's appearance.

Kindle does not display embedded fonts by default

Note that Kindle readers and apps do not user your embedded fonts by default. The user must activate them in the device's or reader's font settings and must know that the setting is available. If your layout depends on a specific font you need to be aware that that font will not be displayed by default on Kindle devices and apps!

Font rights, eBook size

Embedding fonts can make your eBook considerably larger and you must have permission from the font copyright holder to distribute the fonts you embed.

See Managing Fonts in eBooks for full details.

Table of Contents template for Kindle and ePUB

You can view and edit the Kindle and ePUB table of contents template in your project configuration settings in this location:

Project Explorer > Configuration > Publishing Options > eBooks > ePUB+Kindle: Table of Contents

This works in the same way as the templates in WebHelp: The template provides the basic page layout and Help+Manual inserts the pre-formatted content into it.

Usually, you don't need to make any changes to the Table of Contents template for eBook output. It is already set up for maximum compatibility.

Edit the page template at your own risk:

If you want to make adjustments to the template you can edit it. However, please only do this if you are familiar with the eBook requirements, which are very strict. If something goes wrong, just click on the Reset Defaults button to get the original standard template back.

HTML page template for Kindle and ePUB

You can view and edit the Kindle and ePUB page template in your project configuration settings in this location:

Project Explorer > Configuration > Publishing Options > eBooks > ePUB+Kindle: Page Template

This works in the same way as the templates in WebHelp: The template provides the basic page layout and Help+Manual inserts the pre-formatted content into it using the corresponding variables.

Usually, you don't need to make any changes to the page template for ePUB output. It is already set up for maximum compatibility with eBooks. Remember that eBook pages are very simple, and that adding any kind of additional layout is more likely to cause problems than be helpful.

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ePUB and Kindle covers and TOC tutorial project

Cover pictures

Configuration options

Font embedding

Edit the page template at your own risk:

Edit the page template at your own risk: