What's the best Android and&or IOS app to read an e-book generated by Pubcoder?
What output format (in terms of Epub3) is the best one for reading an e-book on a 5-inches smartphone?
I think Pubcoder consultants should suggest one.
I'm a teacher and creating a multi-platform e-book (Android and IOS) should be more simple and versatile than creating 2 apps (one for Android and one for IOS)
But when my students ask me what app to install to read it, what shall I answer?

I have a similar question. Since I only have a PC, it looks like I can only export to Android devices at the moment? I'd like to place my project as a "book app" in the amazon store if possible -- but what other channels can be used to sell/distribute the book?

I made everything 1024x768 for simplicity's sake -- will that work for most devices?

Also, I would like to publish to iOS devices. Is there a workaround for this?

Thank you,
Monica

Thanks, Angelo. Is it possible to read xPub on a PC / Mac? I'll try to get a Mac to do the export.

Hi Flavio, I know this is an old post, but I am just doing the same tests and have found that to make an ePub that works on both the Mac OS and on a Samsung tablet (that's all I have to test on for Android) is actually quite easy. I am working on a mac, but I don't think that should make any difference.

I used the export setting:
ePub3>All Pages>EPUB File

and found that this one export worked on all the devices. I didn't need to export separately (using ePub3>All Pages>iBooks) for it to work in iBooks on all Apple Devices and computers.

For the Android version on my Samsung tablet, I found that it works best in the Kobo App. It works in the Gitden App too but is annoying as the chrome constantly pops up (ie top menu and page thumbnails) when you touch a button and this doesn't happen in the Kobo App. It would be good to find a way to stop this happening, perhaps there is some CSS than can be written to stop it, but I'm not a coder.

This same export also works perfectly in the Readium for Chrome App in Windows on a PC.

My ePUB has interactive buttons, but no other animation or read aloud etc.

I hope this is helpful for others as there doesn't seem to be much help information on this subject, which I consider the most important reason we are buying the software.

Cheers
Gia

Currently for Windows and Linux the only epub reader that handles FXL interactive epubs well is Thorium. Thorium is a revival of Readium.

Adobe Digital Editions is a mess, and has terrible support for FXL epubs. Thorium is the way to go at this point.

https://www.edrlab.org/software/thorium-reader/

Gia,

Thank you for a great post!

I'm using Pubcoder to create interactive EPUBs as well, but there isn't a lot of support for these out there in the real world. Apple Books runs them perfectly, and I had some success with the Kobo app on Android devices. Most platforms appear to be EPUB3-averse, though, so for my current project I'm scaling right back on interactivity. I just have expanding text pop-ups, but even these might be too much for some.

Have you persisted with your interactive EPUBs? I'd be interested to hear how you're going with the technology, and with marketing something innovative in a world that doesn't seem ready for it.

Cheers,
John :)

Hi John,
I'm also creating interactive, animated, read-aloud epubs - xpubs - ios - android apps in multiple languages. epubs work perfectly on iOS, but the read-aloud sync timing is wrong in the Books app on my MacBook. Pubreader reads the xpub files perfectly on my iPad, and has the advantage of allowing multiple localizations. But when I try Pubreader on my android tablet, the book opens to a blank screen (i'll start a separate thread about that). In the Kobo app on my iPad, the read-aloud and animations work, but not the interactive activities, so I've deleted them for the Kobo store. I'm distributing through Kobo, Apple and my own website for now, hoping to add Google Play and Amazon app stores soon.

Hi Kathryn,

It's a while since I worked with Read-Aloud but I was pretty happy with the results. It worked in Books on my Mac, on the iPad, on iPhone. I didn't encounter the sync timing you mention on the Mac. I was using a very old Mac Pro (early 2009) which is stuck forever in OS X El Capitan. I haven't tried it on my MacBook, which runs Catalina (I didn't have it when I did the Read-Aloud project).

With the epub in Kobo I had a similar experience to yours . I'll have to delve back in to see what worked and what didn't, but I recall it wasn't everything.

XPUB I haven't done much with, apart from previewing. My main focus has been optimising for epub. But XPUBs are even larger files, aren't they), than EPUBs? I could be wrong.

I'm really impressed that you're doing Android and iOS apps as well, and would love to hear more about that. I did a test iOS app with my bells-and-whistles book, but the results were disappointing. Big, big file.

Can I buy a copy of your book(s). It would be so helpful to see what others are building in Pubcoder, and exchange ideas. I can point you to my website, if you'd be interested.

Thanks for posting :)
John

John and Kathryn,

I've often thought that a "Promotion" section on the forum would be a good idea.

Folks could put links to their books on Google play or Ibooks store or whatever.
We could all get to see what everyone is doing with Pubcoder.

Phil

Hi Phil,

That's a great idea. I think that, as Pubcoder users, we could assist each other instead of each user having to reinvent the wheel every single time. Pubcoder's a great platform, but not everything is straightforward, and not everything is strictly a Pubcoder issue - like my problems with image dimensions, resolution and format, and how to produce the best quality viewing experience at a file size that's ... reasonable?

But what is a reasonable file size for the digital products we're creating? Does anyone know? You can't equate a fully illustrated children's book with a text-only reflowable novel; but the ebook market is dominated by reflowable text files, and that sets reader expectations for every book file.

Perhaps what's really needed is an advocacy group for books that use the EPUB3 specification - and Pubcoder - to deliver a unique experience.

Just saying ... :)

So Angelo, would it be possible to do what Phil suggests, to set up a facility in the forum where users can share links - or even content, perhaps - to get feedback, ideas, a fresh set of eyes?

John :)

100% agree
Nadine