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Your ePub Is fine

andreklein.net

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Re: Your ePub Is fine

#281

Post by WorldMaker »

mannyv wrote: post #117

"Epubcheck does basic CSS checking of course, but it can’t validate CSS against a renderer which is fundamentally broken!" According to the author, Kobo uses CSS from 2013. A quick check with an AI says RMSDK supports CSS 2.1 and parts of 3. So it's not that the renderer is broken, it's that he believed that epubcheck actually checks against devices and the versions of CSS that those devices support. This is exactly…

The CSS 1 spec says to robustly ignore lines you don't understand. Adobe didn't need to predict CSS 4, they needed to better implement CSS 1.

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#282

Post by WorldMaker »

gcanyon wrote: post #55

Is there a way to root the kobo and put a modern renderer in place?

The article's update points out that it switches to a modern renderer if you rename .epub to .kepub.epub, which seems like a dumb way to handle that rather than a DRM existence/version check, but that's not entirely unusual for backwards compatibility support shenanigans.

(Others point out that Calibre automatically will rename epub files to .kepub.epub for you if you use it to manage a Kobo library. It's just manually copying files to Kobo where you need to remember to do it yourself if you have a Kobo.)

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#283

Post by murzynalbinos »

epubcheck doing its job perfectly while Adobe's ancient RMSDK (frozen somewhere around 2013) silently chokes on valid CSS4 like min() is peak digital publishing pain. The fact that Kobo routes normal .epub to the Adobe engine and only .kepub.epub gets the modern WebKit one feels almost malicious.

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#284

Post by rocqua »

lambdaone wrote: post #211
wizardforhire wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vocally public yes… but they wanted to see what the diy scene created, how the power users were using the device and letting them develop the ideas and implement… they would open up and co-opt… boss tools is your drag down for all your settings case in point. This has been openly admitted to in interviews after the fact.

[citation needed]

See this comment in the same thread for sources: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48541563

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#285

Post by watersb »

I wonder what this writer's ePub are like.

I can't tell what the writing or design are like, because the article renders as a blank page on my old iPad.

Also on my 2026 Kindle Paperwhite.

It's futile to be old man yelling at cloud on HN, but I'm still irritated by web pages that are essentially text, yet can't be bothered to actually display anything. A blank page.

Presumably ePub publications are easier to QA than web pages. They must conform to a subset of web standards.

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#286

Post by ndiddy »

pell wrote: post #172
m348e912 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love or hate Steve Jobs, his insistence of not supporting Flash on the iPhone (in favor of HTML5) accelerated Flash's demise dramatically.

Flash had many issues for sure, first and foremost security. But I can’t help but feel sad of what was lost since then. The Flash era produced some really unique experiences on the web.

It was always fun when you were trying to find a contractor or something and got greeted with https://web.archive.org/web/20101028145116/http://industrial... .

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#287

Post by Tomte »

unnouinceput wrote: post #50

I don't like .epub. I understand the reasons why this format exists, and I am 100% behind those reasons. But it's because I don't find any EPUB readers appealing to me. Just give me a FoxIt Reader clone for .epub, that's all. But naaaah!!, every single fucking e-pub reader that I tried must be a fucking library collector instead, like it's 2000's Windows Media Player style. I hate that. As such, whenever I get my han…

Okular.

It‘s working great on Windows, as well.

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#288

Post by gsnedders »

lavela wrote: post #204
ramblurr wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is widely known in the epub space that targeting 3.1 or 2 is the more sane option. With EPUB compatibility issues CSS should always be suspect number 1. Using "modern" CSS features and complaining about missing flex boxz grid, etc is a web developer's mindset. Just because EPUB shares some of the stack with the web doesn't mean they perfectly overlap (or even should). Hardly any e-ink embedded e-reader device…

Shouldn't a CSS engine just ignore directives it doesn't know? At least it shouldn't fail without an error.

Yes, every single CSS standard ever has required that.

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#289

Post by eli »

GreyStache wrote: post #156
tjoff wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best feature of flash was that it was so easy to disable. Because 99% of the use was annoying ads that pinned your cpu at 100%. And that was Jobs argument, that it was too resource intensive. Predictably though, now that annoying crap moved to "newer" tech (javascript) and now we can't disable it as easily or without as little consequence. Just as resource intensive though...

I never bought the benevolent technical angle for not supporting flash. I'm pretty sure Apple strategists knew the value of the gate-kept platform, the app-store revenue stream. The pivotal point was that flash would break this stronghold by allowing rich applications that are reasonably self-publishable. (Excuse me while I go rinse that sentence out of my mouth)

Maybe. But also Flash, on the mobile devices of that time that did support it, was a miserable experience. Slow and broken and drained the battery.

Re: Your ePub Is fine

#290

Post by thg »

RetroTechie wrote: post #233
dakolli wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really have an issue with kindle, I just download anything off of z-library and use the email to kindle tool. I haven't given Amazon a penny other than from the original purchase of the kindle. I only have used epub/pdf (and will never have a need for another format).

Quoted from here: https://informatecdigital.com/en/Send-to-Kindle%3A-all-ways-... "This service is free and works with both Kindle devices such as with the Kindle appIt also automatically converts many files to Amazon's internal format (such as AZW3 or KFX), as long as you respect its supported file types and size limits." Read: requires internet connectivity to put documents on your Kindle. Depends on Amazons 'bless…

> Amazon could effectively brick your device if so desired.

I have a 16 year old Kindle (Keyboard) that Amazon actually decided to turn into a brick last month [0]. Still works just fine and will continue to do so thanks to Calibre, but buying books from Amazon, or using their "Send to device" feature (both through the e-mail convert and for books already in my Amazon library) is now forever closed for me and de-registering the device will brick it with no recourse.

[0]: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-amazon-ends-suppor...

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