From XML to eBooks Part 2: The Details

From XML to eBooks
Part II: The Devil is in the Details

Richard Hamilton
XML Press
hamilton@xmlpress.net

Slight Recap

For most tech comm situations:
● Two formats matter: ePub & Kindle
● XML processes (esp., Docbook or DITA)

will make things much easier
● Content strategy is the hardest part

● Authoring is next hardest

● Production is tough, but doable

●Distribution is easiest

Overview

● Authoring
● Storing and managing content

●Producing output

Content Strategy is critical,
but not for this presentation

Authoring
Authoring formats at XML Press:
● DocBook XML: 5 books
● DITA XML: 2 books (so far)

● Word: 4 books

● Wiki (Confluence): 1 book

● Wiki (pbworks): 3 books

● Author-it: 1 book

● InDesign: 1 book

All but 3 (1 each in Word, InDesign, & Author-it)
were ultimately produced from XML

Authoring in a Wiki

● Based on PBWorks
● Authors, editor, reviewers, indexers, work in wiki

● Parallel access throughout most of the process

● Content exported for proofs as needed

● Content moved to SVN for final production

Requires a clean, clear breaking point
where content moves from wiki to SVN

HTML to XHTML
Tidy


Convert

Cleanup

Pre-process XHTML
XSL Stylesheet


Remove empty
elements

Normalize

Handle headings

Convert to DocBook
Herold


Infer hierarchy

Convert

Define structure

Process Supplemental Markup
Perl script

Index entries

Footnotes

Endnotes

Sidebars

Epigraphs

Block quotes

Convert all to
DocBook

Supplemental Markup
Indexing:
{in primary; secondary; tertiary}
{id term 1; term 2}
{is id; primary; secondary; tertiary}
{ie id}
{is term; see term}

Footnotes, sidebars, etc.
{if footnote text}
{ib sidebar text}
{ip epigraph text;;attribution;;source}
{it endnote text}
{iq quotation;;attribution}

Cleanup
XSL stylesheet


Handle links

Validate structure

What about Confluence?

Confluence,Tech Comm, Chocolate used K15t
Software's DocBook export plugin, which
also handles much of what the
supplemental markup handles.

Storing and managing content
Content has one home, but...
●That home can change at certain
well-defined points
●For XML, SVN is the home

●For wiki, the wiki is the home until

production, then SVN is the home
●Home changes once, irrevocably

●All production comes from SVN

ePub Structure
Top Level Directory

mimetype (file)
OEBPS META-INF
Application/epub_zip
(folder) (folder)

Identifies this as an ePub file container.xml (file)

(next page)
Points to package file in
ePub file is simply a zip file of this OEBPS folder.
structure, with mimetype as first
file in the zip. Uses .epub suffix.

Ebook production - DocBook
OEBPS Directory Contents

OEBPS

(folder)
OPF file package.opf
Navigation file toc.ncx
CSS file xyz.css
ch01-toc.xhtml HTML TOC

figure.jpg ch01.xhtml
Media screen.png ch01s02.xhtml
... HTML Content
ch01s03.xhtml
…
chXX.xhtml
Notes:
This folder is like any website ●Names are arbitrary

●Sub-folders ok

NCX View in Kindle

Button for NCX view
in emulator

OPF (Open Packaging Format)
<package ...>
<metadata ...>
… Dublin Core Metadata elements …
</metadata>
<manifest>
} Metadata

}
<item id=”ncx” media-type=”application/x-dtbncx+xml”
href=”toc.ncx”/>
<item id=”toc” media-type=”application/xhtml+xml” What's in
href=”ch01-toc.xhtml”/> the ePub?
<item id=”ch01” media-type=”application/xhtml+xml”
href=”ch01-toc.xhtml”/>
…

}
</manifest>
<spine toc=”ncx”> What order
<itemref idref=”cover”/> is it in?
<itemref idref=”toc”/>
…

}
</spine>
<guide>
Where do
<reference type=”text” title=”Startup page”
href=”ch01.xhtml”/> you start?
</reference>
</guide>
</package> Change starting place

Other tweaks to XHTML

● Remove empty paragraphs (vestige of wiki past)
● Remove <p> around first para after an <li> (for

original Kindle)
● Work around a few epubcheck anomalies

ePub/Kindle from DocBook

● Based on open-source DocBook stylesheets
● ePub3 transform by Bob Stayton

● CSS added

● A few minor tweaks for personal preference

● Kindle (.mobi) produced using kindlegen

● Amazon tests .mobi and converts to smaller file

Generating ePub from DocBook
DocBook XSL


ePub3 transform

Based on HTML5
transform
Generates all
ePub3 files

File cleanup


Adjust .opf file

Clean up XHTML

File preparation


Copy images

Copy in CSS file

Run zip to
create .epub file

ePub/Kindle from DITA
● Based on DITA Open Toolkit and DITA for
Publishers toolkit extensions (developed by Eliot
Kimber)
● Does not require content to use DITA for

Publishers specialization.
● Generates ePub2 compliant files

● Kindle (.mobi) produced using kindlegen

● Amazon tests .mobi and converts to smaller file

Thanks for listening

Richard Hamilton
XML Press
hamilton@xmlpress.net

From XML to eBooks Part 2: The Details

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