What's really making me crazy is header conversion. I do layout for fiction paperbacks and I'm trying to use the digital editions export tool to make ePub files for eBooks.

All of my "paperback" layouts have a header along the top with the book name and the page number (yes, they are a paragraph style). But when I do the ePub export, the header disappears... except for the page number, which kind of "floats" along the right margin throughout the eBook.

My first preference would be to have the header added back in, so the name of the book is visible at the top of each eBook screen view. If that's not possible, then at the very least I'd like to get rid of the entire header so that the page numbers from the header don't show up, either.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Hi Sheri,

I think I understand where you are coming from.
Unfortunately, the use of Headers/Footers/Folios are all Print (or PDF) elements.

The reason that they are being dropped is because there is no place for them in an ePub/XML environment.
The whole idea behind the ePub format is the ability to be flexible enough to flow (in an organized fashion) in any size reader window.
From a tiny cell phone/blackberry screen to a large full screen display like a browser or Digital Editions.

Your Headers are a perfect navigational tool for someone reading the physical printed book or a PDF because the flow of each page is permanent.
Even when reading as a PDF, you can zoom in on the page to see things more clearly, but that will never change the content on each page.

When that same content is made into an ePub file, it is meant to be read using any number of ePub reader applications, such as Digital Editions (on the computer), Stanza (on iPhone/iPod), Sony eReader, etc.
Depending on the user and application, these readers can be set to any custom size that the reader chooses.

I am assuming that you are viewing your ePub files using Digital Editions on your computer (correct me if I am mistaken). Digital Editions can be resized to your preference and also display your content in multiple columns. This ability to change the dimensions of your reader causes the content to re-flow in order to fit.
The smaller your reader window, the more pages your content takes up; The larger your window, the fewer pages are taken up.

As for the page numbers that you are seeing in your eBook reader:
These are built into the reader application, not your ePub file.
Not all eBook readers offer page numbers, but I know that Digital Editions does. These numbers are static and will move and change depending on the physical size of your viewer screen.
I'm not sure if there is a way to turn those page numbers off. If I find a way, I will let you know.

I hope this helps to explain why your headers are being dropped. If you need me to clarify something more, please don't hesitate to ask.

Here are some suggestions for you:
Include an ePub TOC when you export your file. What this does is creates an interactive TOC within the eBook reader that allows the user to click and navigate directly to the content that they seek.
If you are unaware of how to set this up, I will be happy to help you out.

Also, the use of variables and cross-references within your InDesign files will all translate to clickable links within your ePub files, which can be extremely useful for reader navigation.

Again, I hope this is helpful to you and good luck to you.

Ron

The encryption.xml file is giving me grief. I can only get a valid file running epubcheck when I delete it. However, I have a project which is using an alternate character (the ROTATED FLORAL HEART BULLET) from Garamond Premier Pro and it only displays properly in Digital Editions when the encryption.xml file is present!

Looking at the file it is nothing but references to the fonts.

I've been reduced to trying to modify the file by chopping out bits epubcheck disqualifies, but in the end DE and ePub seem to be at loggerheads with this one file.

Glenn

Hi Ron, I just ready your very helpful reply to Sheri and think you cleared a lot of things up for me as well. Just to clarify, is it safe to say that if you were trying to convert Indesign Magazine layouts to a portable digital file format, EPUB would not be able to maintain the integrity of the original design/layout no matter what you did? Should I be looking into a PDF workflow?
I really appreciate your time.

Hi Glenn,

I feel your pain.
You are doing the right thing by removing the encryption.xml file. As you have seen, it is only read by Adobe Digital Editions and actually causes your ePub file to be invalid for all other platforms.

Your next step should be to follow these steps by Liza Daly (Threepress Consulting):
http://blog.threepress.org/2009/09/16/how-to-embed-fonts-in-epub-files/

If after trying this, it still doesn't work, I would recommend trying to find another OTF font that includes the same glyph.

Good luck and please let me know how it works out for you.

Cheers,

Ron

Is there a way to automate in exporting .indd files to .epub using getJSObject() in javascript?

Nice, all these pitfalls and watchouts in InDesign...
May I add another spoiler ? Any accented characters
like é or ü get mangled into something like A°¥.
And it's already in the HTML, generated by InDesign !
So no character set declaration can cure that :-(