Microsoft Reader Layout

Source Files & Production Requirements

A paper book can have simple layout requirements—for instance, a popular novel, which may not even have a table of contents—or complex layout requirements, such as a technical manual with graphs, sidebars, and illustrations. The publisher of a paper book needs to understand the book’s complexity, length, and nature, and needs to balance a book’s potential earnings against its cost to produce, which increases with length and production time.

While an eBook does not have length restrictions, layout and production time increase substantially as a book grows more complex. To identify eBook production and layout needs, and to determine whether a book is cost-effective to produce in eBook format, read the Conversion Guide.

Microsoft Reader layout is based on Open E-Book (OEB) specified tags, attributes and style properties. For the official OEB specification, please visit http://openebook.org. However, depending on the tools you use, you can generate Microsoft Reader format files without passing through an OEB-compliant stage. Consult your tools vendor or the Developers Guide for details.

For authors accustomed to designing for the Web, many of the Reader's layout features will be familiar. Although the OEB specification is based on common web standards, the Reader also offers features not available to Web site authors, and prevents the use of HTML features that distract from the reading experience (such as background music or blinking lights). The Reader formatting also has quirks of its own that come from the demands of book publishing for indexing, footnotes, image handling, cover graphics, and so forth.

For content authors accustomed to formatting printed books, Microsoft Reader layout presents new concepts not available to paper books.

For more information about the files and formats used to build eBooks, please read the Conversion Guide. It also contains a list of tools and resources available to publishers to simplify the conversion of content from one format to another.

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