Technology

IDPF EPUB is a standard format for reflowable eBooks. le-tex uses in-house and open source tools to generate and validate EPUB files. le-tex also has a wide range of readers and reader software to ensure the best possible compatibility of the generated EPUB data.

Naturally, le-tex creates EPUB data from its typesetting workflow. For existing data resources, le-tex generates EPUB data by converting typesetting data (InDesign, Quark XPress, TeX, XML), as well as PDF, PostScript or HTML data.

Futureproof

If another eBook format gains supremacy, or if EPUB adds features like interactivity or MathML in future, le-tex can already demonstrate its ability to structure content so that the whole structured backlist can be generated in the new format at the touch of a button.

le-tex has highly qualified staff with flexible tools who can not only structure content during live production but also retroactively convert the print data of the backlist titles.

Because le-tex uses primarily open source tools and can release the scripts and stylesheets produced during a project to the customer, the customer does not run the risk of vendor lock-ins. le-tex strives to secure customer loyalty by delivering an excellent service rather than through technical dependency.

Details

The data is generated from XHTML data or highly structured XML formats with the help of XSLT 2.0 stylesheets and other standard tools. This involves the creation of a hierarchical navigation file. Original files with very long text content or lots of sub-headings can be broken down according to configurable rules so that the content can be handled with a more fine-grained approach. Apart from being instantly user friendly (better navigation), this also has the advantage that the display devices no longer take several seconds to calculate the page makeup for a large chapter depending on the screen format and the selected font size. Some readers even give up completely when faced with files several MB in size or containing thousands of links.

Some applications such as InDesign CS3 and CS4 offer an EPUB export function. In practice, however, this cannot be used directly, particularly when it comes to placement of images. The files need to be preprocessed automatically in InDesign and postprocessed with XSLT 2.0.

The converters developed by le-tex can be integrated into workflows in which an editor uploads properly marked up Wordor InDesign/InCopy data to a web service and receives in return an EPUB package formatted according to publisher's guidelines.

EPUB White Paper

Example of a Word InDesign XML workflow with EPUB as deliverable