Epub OPF 'spine' element: how to exclude an html file from linear reading order, while allowing it to be accessed from a link

<itemref> has linear="no" attribute exactly for this purpose.

Edit:

From the epub 2 specification

  All OPS Content Documents that are part of the publication (i.e. are
  listed in the manifest) which are potentially reachable by any
  reference mechanism allowed in this specification must be included in
  the spine. Such reference mechanisms include, as a partial list,
  hypertext links within OPS Content Documents, and references by the
  NCX, Tours and Guide.

and

  For each itemref, the publication author may specify the optional
  linear attribute to designate whether the associated OPS Content
  Document is primary (linear="yes", which is the default when linear is
  not present) or auxiliary (linear="no".) It is important that the
  publication author include some kind of internal reference, such as a
  hypertext link, to any OPS Content Document that is declared to be
  auxiliary; it is recommended that references be added to NCX for all
  auxiliary content. At least one itemref in spine must be declared
  primary.

  Specifying whether an OPS Content Document is primary or
  auxiliary is useful for Reading Systems which opt to present auxiliary
  content differently than primary content. For example, a Reading
  System might opt to render auxiliary content in a popup window apart
  from the main window which presents the primary content. (For an
  example of the types of content that may be considered auxiliary,
  refer to the example below and the subsequent discussion.)

  Reading Systems are not required to differentiate between primary and
  auxiliary content, and for the requirements and recommendations given
  in this section may consider all OPS Content Documents in spine to be
  primary, regardless of the value of the linear attribute.

This means, all items which are referenced, as footnotes in your case, must be included
in the spine. They can be declared as auxilary, with linear=no, but it is up to reading
system, how it deals with that.

More advanced readers, like Azardi or Readium, works correctly and display auxilary items only on request (link click). Others, like ADE, or Calibre in your case, work in the other way.

As I think you use tex4ht for conversion from LaTeX to html, you may try to generate inline footnotes, which doesn't make new file for each footnote, but are collected at the end the html file with:

htlatex filename "xhtml, fn-in"


I definitely feel your pain. As a technical writer I've usually signed NDAs about things I've worked on, but I also need to show samples for potential employees.

I think everybody would be fine with doing a screenshot of a single page (or back to back pages)  to show off formatting. After all, most of the time, consumers can see these limited samples on Amazon.com or Google Play store anyway. Another option would be doing a screenshot of the sample page on Amazon or ibooks, etc and then storing it at your own website.

More important than the screenshots would be an accompanying narrative. What was the challenge in designing this page or template -- and how did you go about solving it?

Best case scenario is definitely putting dummy text inside your template, but this can be time-consuming and impractical.

You don't need to have chapters (it would be unwieldy to do anyway), but a few select screenshots would do the job (and your job opportunity requires an interview, you can definitely show things off on your tablet).


As all pages are having the same or very similar width and height, this seems a "simple" problem of some pages having the wrong resolution. Most pages have metadata that specifies 600 DPI others only 96 DPI. That later are then of course displayed much larger.

My Linux distribution comes with djvutoxml and the corresponding djvuxmlparser (from package djuvlibre-bin) which can extract the metadata, resp. merge the metadata back in. Those should be available for Windows as well (http://djvu.sourceforge.net/, make sure the executables are in your PATH) That metadata includes the DPI information from the file. Actual changing of the XML is fast, but extracting and merging takes a long (several minutes) time.

Make sure you have a copy of your book, in case the merging breaks something, and run python program.py book.djvu on this program.py:

import sys
import subprocess

book = sys.argv[1]
xml_in = 'in.xml'
xml_out = 'out.xml'

print('extracting XML')
subprocess.check_output(['djvutoxml', book, xml_in])

print('converting XML')
with open(xml_in) as inf:
    with open(xml_out, 'w') as outf:
        for line in inf:
            if line.startswith('<PARAM name="DPI" value="96" />'):
                line = line.replace('96', '600')
            outf.write(line)
print('merging XML')
subprocess.check_output(['djvuxmlparser', '-o', book, xml_out])

print('done')

In general I am against parsing XML without a real parser, but you don't need regex or anything that easily breaks to get this information fixed.

The intermediate XML (two files) has the same order of size as the DjVu file itself, although the XML has no image information, it is just inefficient. Make sure you have enough room (and run this program on a fast/local drive)

There are 367 incorrect pages out of 1201, you might be able to speed up the process by only including the incorrect pages in the output XML, but then you should use an XML parser. If this is a one off conversion, I would not bother with such an optimisation.


List of places to publish free ebook in PDF format

Scribd (https://www.scribd.com/1) will let you publish a pdf for free.
If your original manuscript was written in latex you could also convert that to an epub, although that it can involve a little work.


How can I extract all the pictures from an ebook?

Any non-DRM'ed epub ebook is just a renamed zipped folder. All you'll need to do is rename the file from <filename>.epub to <filename>.zip and unzip the folder. At that point, you should be able to navigate within the folders to find the images and do whatever you like with them.

Hope that helps!


Are there any free open-source custom firmwares for e-ink devices?

It depends on specific device and its architecture.

Those that are built on top of Android, typically tend to get AOSP ports, e.g. Nook (here's Simple Touch instructions), or Kindles - the latter even has CyanogenMod ROM.

Sony PRST 1 was hacked to expose full underlying rooted Android but I'm not sure if AOSP based ROM is available for it - this might be it.

I'm not sure if there are any non-Android-based mainstream eInk readers - most of the ones I heard of (which is not a lot) seem to be Android under the covers and thus can be opened up (e.g. see Kobe Glo).


Kindle doesn't read the files after being formatted

Older Kindles usually only support FAT32. Reformat it as a FAT32 partition.


ePub readers for Windows that support continous scrolling?

Try the calibre ebook viewer: open your book and enable "Switch to flow mode" (the button on the top right corner)


Things to consider for choosing an e-ink pdf ereader for science books and papers

In a personal conversation, somebody raised my attention to the following concerns:

many ebooks have colourful pictures and diagrams, so a black-and-white e-ink display might not be suitable for all documents and a tablet could come handy
one does not want multiple devices but one portable thing, that has a proper web browser

I'm still in favor of a large e-ink reader but these are valid concerns.


How to change the images displayed when my Kindle Touch is put to sleep?

This is possible. However, you must jailbreak your Kindle first. Basically you:

Jailbreak the Kindle.
Load the screensaver hack to your Kindle.
Copy the images to your Kindle. This site has a list of places to get these.


How to set metadata (title, author) of exported PDF documents in LibreOffice/OpenOffice.org

Setting the title of the PDF:

File menu / Properties / Description tab, Title field.

Setting the author:

Tools menu / Options / LibreOffice / User Data tab, fill the First name and Last name fields,
File menu / Properties / General tab, tick the Apply user data checkbox,
press the Reset button (it's near to the Apply user data checkbox).

The Reset button refreshes the currently edited document's author field (based on the data given in the User Data field), when you press it the author is showed immediately on the same General Tab, near the Created label.


Convert two similar formatted files to two column epub

In general, you will probably not get good results on most devices when trying to do a two column layout in epub. There is no way of correlating one paragraph to another, which means you will probably run into situations where the page breaks do not work well if at all. In addition, many epub reading systems do not work well with floating text (which is how you would create columns).

If you'd still like to try experimenting  with it, I would suggest breaking the text of each book into paragraphs, interleaving them, and having the text of one book float left while the other floats right. Look out for paragraphs that run off the edge of the page and do not continue on the next page, though, as well as overlapping text at the top of pages.

A quick and dirty example of some code you could get started with:

This is the first paragraph

This is the first paragraph

and the corresponding CSS:

p.english {
width: 45%;
margin: 1.25%;
float: left;
}
p.italian {
width: 45%;
margin: 1.25%;
float: right;
}

As for the initial conversion, you might check out this question.


Will I be able to put Kobo books on my Sony Reader?

Absolutely, yes. I was a Kobo customer long before I had a Sony reader. I switched to Sony when my Kobo Touch died.  I was actually happy that the Sony store was killed because it resulted in the Kobo store being put on my Sony reader.

You need the latest firmware update (or at least since the Kobo rollover), and then you will have a "Kobo Bookstore" option on the home screen, and under "Bookshelves", where there used to be "Books", "Collections" and "Evernote" options, there is now an additional "Purchased Content". Select "Purchased Content" and it should show you everything you've ever bought from both the Sony and Kobo stores (and it will handle DRM'd content just fine).


That's going to vary by the library system. Not all library chains support lending ebooks. My local library system only started that in the last few years. Even with the system that's available, there's only a finite number of titles available, and a limited number of copies per title. My local library also lends out Kobo e-reader devices.

My local library is the Greater Victoria Public Library (British Columbia). Landing page for electronic content. Looks like the GVPL uses Overdrive as well.


Are ebooks licensed only to a certain email address?

I do disagree with idiotprogrammer's answer because this question does dive into DRM which plays a large part in ebooks.

You could try changing the authorization of your Adobe Digital Editions account, reference: "How do I change the authorization on my laptop" with a re-install.

If that doesn't work you would need to contact ebooks.com. Since you're getting a .acsm file I would 99% think they are using Adobe Content Server.

  First, it's ridiculous to think that a DRMed ebook is tied to an
  email. Instead, it is tied to a user account created for a specific
  vendor. Every website under the sun allows you to change the email for
  the account. Even if the sign on you use is the email I suspect you
  will be able to change the email associated with it from account
  management on the user's site.

Actually not..  ebooks.com might treat the email address as the ID and use it for validation to prevent transfer.

Your issue will need to be addressed at the vendor if a re-install of ADE is unsuccessful.  To my recollection DRM is scoped to what they have identified as the ID.  In this case your ID is your email address.  You might be allowed to change your email address in the account settings of ebooks.com but I do not have an account there so I wouldn't know.

I did run across this in research: "I figured out the .acsm problem!".


Big screen dimensions or high DPI for vision impaired users?

I would suggest going with an iPad with Retina Display not because:

Its a bigger screen
At the current time, better resolution than a few other devices

BUT because Apple requires their typeset to be adjustable and coded in to accommodate for visually impaired and not a fixed font size.  So what this means is if your dad buys a book on iTunes, he tries to adjust the font size and fails, he can request a refund on the book and Apple will require the publisher to correct the issue to re-activate their content to be sold.

My experience with Amazon is across the board and is generally a "How many users have complained base" and their support is across the board.  If he does have an issue with the book he can get a refund but the smaller device would be harder for your dad to read perhaps.

This may be an extension on your question but the quality of the content is as much important as the device you are getting.


How can I add a news website that does not have rss feed, to Calibre?

You can use a service like FetchRSS to create a feed from the news site. It'll give you a feed URL to add to Calibre.


Some Kindle users managed to trigger a factory reset using the following steps:

Charge the Kindle for several days (some users did this for a week).
Create an empty text file with the name DO_FACTORY_RESTORE and without any file type extension.
Connect the Kindle via USB and copy the file to the root directory.
Safe eject the Kindle and hold down the power button 40 seconds to trigger a factory reset.

The trick part is having the computer recognize the Kindle. (It might be only be visible in the Windows Explorer for a couple of seconds.)


How do I get permission to use pictures in my ebook?

To get permission, you need to contact the rights-holder. Unless it is unequivocally licensed for reuse by the original rights holder or in the public domain, you can't just use it. Note that just using Google image search to find images marked for reuse is not sufficient—anyone can post images to the web, and frequently people post images they don't have rights to. If you cannot find the rights-holder, then you cannot use the image.

Price will be subject to negotiation—ultimately, it's the rights-holder's call what they think they can get.


What does the blue circle with the underlined check mark mean in GPB?

The checkmark in the blue circle means that this book has been downloaded to your device (if you'll notice, it's the same icon as the download notification in the top left).

The books without the checkmark are ones that you have purchased (or uploaded) and are available for download. The reason that they're currently grayed out is that you're not currently online, so you can't access those books until you get an internet connection.


How do I convert a Word document into a page by page Kindle ebook?

To convert a .docx file to another format, you should download a program called Calibre

First you must add the .docx file to your Calibre library

Then you need to select the book, and click on Convert books

Select your output format (for Amazon Kindle, select AZW3), and click OK. After it has completed, the newly converted ebook will appear in your Calibre library folder


How to sort on books that aren't in a specific format in calibre

I'm surprised nobody has responded in six months, sorry I haven't been here :-(

I do this all the time.

You want to convert everything that has formats:"=PDF" and doesn't have formats:"=MOBI".  You can just put those conditions in the search box, or in the tag browser:

Select the PDF format (which will place a big + beside it), then
ctrl-select the MOBI format twice, instead of a + there'll be a -

You'll see the following selection string in the search box: not formats:"=MOBI" or formats:"=PDF". Now you have all the books that are either not MOBI or are PDF.  That's not nearly what you want, but now just change the or to and (or delete it—no conjunction is the same as using and) in the search box and you have all of the PDFs that don't also have a MOBI.


Page flipping¹ is normally supported by a reading application (not necessarily by all). For this to be effective on a software reader, or specific hardware reader, the refresh rate of the screen needs to be relatively high, to be able to draw and redraw all of the intermediate stages of the 'flipping' page.

So some ebook readers (I would assume most e-Ink based ones) will not have that kind of refresh speed. But tablets and desktop PC based readers might. In the former, no amount of JavaScript or Flash would help to get the effect you want.

¹ On a personal note: I have been forced to get these page turn effects in PDF files of catalogues of products. And it is a guaranteed way of losing me as a customer, if this cannot be switched off, and to make me annoyed customer if it is on by default.


Is there any ebook reader that can synchronize the bookmarks across PC(windows, osx), iOS, android devices?

Google Play Books is probably what you are looking for. It synchronizes data between all your devices, allows you to upload your own ebooks and it supports epub format.


How insert the outline (the bookmarks) into DjVu

First, create your desired structure in a text editor.

On the first line will be placed keyword bookmarks in round brackets as a root.

Behind the chapter titles are located page numbers or page names (with a suffix .djvu). Before the number must be symbol sharp #. All parameters are enclosed in quotation marks "".

Lower order chapters are created by embedding additional round brackets behind higher order chapter.

Sample with page numbers:

(bookmarks
    ("TOC" "#3")
    ("Chapter 1 - Blabla" "#7"
        ("Subchapter 1.1 - Blabla" "#11")
    )
    ("Chapter 2 - Blabla" "#15"
        ("Subchapter 2.1 - Blabla" "#17"
            ("Subchapter 2.1.1 - Blabla" "#20")
        )
    )
    ("Chapter 3 - Blabla" "#25")
)

Sample with page names (with a suffix .djvu):

(bookmarks
    ("TOC" "#page_0003.djvu")
    ("Chapter 1 - Blabla" "#page_0007.djvu"
        ("Subchapter 1.1 - Blabla" "#page_00011.djvu")
    )
    ("Chapter 2 - Blabla" "#page_00015.djvu"
        ("Subchapter 2.1 - Blabla" "#page_00017.djvu"
            ("Subchapter 2.1.1 - Blabla" "#page_00020.djvu")
        )
    )
    ("Chapter 3 - Blabla" "#page_00025.djvu")
)

Caution: Save the file in UTF-8.

Second, paste the created outline text file into the selected DjVu file.

Install the DjVuLibre library (if you do not already have it).
From the library we use djvused tool.

At the command prompt, type:

path\djvused path\book.djvu -e "set-outline path\outline.txt" -s

Instead path parameter substitute your location on the disk.
Parameter -e is the exec (system call) of the set-outline command with the filename parameter.
Parameter -s is save command.

Press Enter...


Is reading ebooks in "Night" mode better for eye health?

I found this article which explains how our body reacts to these LED devices (including ereaders). Near the end of the article, it says that programs that reduce the amount of blue light do actually aid you in getting a better nights sleep.

So, to summarize the article; blue light is what causes you to have a bad nights sleep after using a LED device (including ereaders). So, in order to reduce the blue light, you need to get rid of the bright colours. Programs for your computer, and night mode for your tablet do this effectively. Of course, this isn't a 100% solution, but it does help.


How to save a PDF document without having to choose the file name each time?

I often read PDFs in a cloud-based ebook reader such as Google Play Books (GPB). You can view GPB on a PC or on any android or IOS device).

GPB annotates epub files easily and saves the edits to the cloud quickly. But I just checked on a PDF -- and GPB doesn't allow annotation on PDFs.

You can try another cloud-based reader like BlueFire reading app. On my android device I annotated a PDF on Bluefire and it does not give me this prompt.

The Adobe Digital Editions app is another option. On my android tablet it annotates PDFs easily without requiring that you save. (ADE) also has a desktop app.

Adobe Acrobat Reader is a heavy app; ADE is newer and more portable (although it is more geared towards reading epub ebooks than PDFs).


Is there any way to remove DRM from DAISY ebooks?

I have no idea on how to solve the general problem of DRM
removal. Depending on where you live, it may actually be very much
against the law.

Furthermore, as I said in a comment, DAISY books come in different
formats, independently of DRM, depending on whether they contain
speech, text to be speech synthesized or both. I think the most common
standard is DAISY 2.02, which (from what I understand) contains only
speech, but I am no expert on DAISY which I never heard of before.

I would expect that the type of DRM used is dependent on the standard,
and may also depend on the publisher, or on the brand of the
reader. Thus there may be no universal answer to your question.

For a specific book, it may be useful to know the standard used, and
probably the kind of reader, or the kind of DRM.

Now, you tell in a comment, which you should (probably) integrate to
your question to better focus it, that you are interested in the book
at
https://archive.org/download/asdrivenleaf00stei/asdrivenleaf00stei_daisy.zip

I still do not know how to remove the DRM technically, and, if I knew,
answering you could get me into significant trouble. The archive.org
site is a wonderful site (I mean that), which by its very purpose is probably not too friendly to
DRM, but there is nothing they can do when a book is still under
copyright custody.

To know more , I unzipped the file, which I hope you did too. This
gives you a bunch of files, including a file README_encrypted.txt
which says it uses a key from the National Library Service, and point
to the files http://openlibrary.org/help/faq/accessing#what-is-daisy
and https://nlsbard.loc.gov/ for more explanation.

They explain that the program (for modern books, hence under
copyright) is reserved to residents of the USA and
American citizens living overseas. I am not quite sure how they do
that legally, though they clearly enforce that with the DRM key.

Some countries do have laws that make a copyright exception to the
benefit of disabled people within the country. I am not sure whether
that is the case in the USA, but it would be the simplest
explanation. However it does not explain giving access to American
citizens in other countries, since international treaties give the USA
jurisdiction on copyright only within the USA.

Now if your country of residence has a similar law (free access for
disabled people) then it is possible that the National Library Service
would accept to give you a key to be used from your country, since
that would not raise any copyright infringement issue (though they might want to have an official agreement between countries). Maybe you
can try to discuss that with the people at info@archive.org, or the people
at NLS. And you shold check the copyright law in your own country
regarding exceptions for disabled people.

This is just my best understanding, and all the suggestions I can give to solve your problem, and I am not a lawyer.


Are there ways to easily convert chapter-split books from popular fan-fiction sites into single e-book?

You can use the GrabMyBooks Firefox extension. It can grab single web-pages and convert them to epub, or adding multiple pages as distinct chapters.

There is also a Calibre plugin called FanFictionDownloader, but I've never used it.


It's now deprecated in epub3 in favor of the landmark NAV element.
http://www.idpf.org/epub/301/spec/epub-publications.html#sec-guide-elem

Because support for NAV is pretty much universal in reading systems, I see no reason why to include it now.


Pages do not always break in the same place, why?

I have experienced these kinds of problems several times on both e-ink devices and kindle apps on mobile devices. It has to do with the device's screen rendering and is probably separate from note-taking.

This is a normal kind of "confusion" for reading kindle devices. I usually encounter these kinds of scrambled pages issue when first reading an ebook. But as  I go through the book, the kind of scrambling usually  disappears.

It may have to do with memory limits or just that kindle is slow in rendering things properly. Sometimes complex formatting or unsupported CSS can cause this problem. But as I said, this thing usually disappears after you page back and forth once or twice.

The epub standard specifically allows reflowable ebooks -- so it is not guaranteed that the end of the page will be the same. If you change font size for example, the position of the page end will have to change. This is normal.

By the way, as an ebook publisher I can hard-code page breaks in the style sheets so that they are consistently on the same page. Also, fixed format ebooks will keep the same pagination (but there are disadvantages to doing this). Unless this happens for only one book or on several devices for the same book, I would not be worried about this.


Can I suppress Wikipedia lookup on a Kindle Paperwhite?

I share your pain and although I don't have a solution (almost in 2020...) I do have a viable explanation why they keep it this way.

Two factors, based on my thinking:
- They don't want to show an empty card, so they switch to another source when a dictionary definition is not found. (to Wikipedia)
- They have to pay for translations over a certain quota, so they avoid doing unnecessary queries, and therefore will never show the online translation card first.

In addition, it seems likely that they don't pay for Wikipedia searches and don't care about the unnecessary, pointless, mindless load that they make on Wikipedia servers.

In my opinion they should show the dictionary card first, regardless of whether a definition was found. Show the online translation second, and the Wikipedia one third. (Assuming that they would never pay extra and show the online translation first... which would actually be best for users). So I suggest that they ALWAYS show:

Dictionary-Translation-Wikipedia

Current behavior, as of Dec 2019:
Regardless of whether the WiFi is turned on, they show:
- Dictionary-Wikipedia-Translation when the term is found in the dictionary.
- Wikipedia-Translation-Dictionary when the term is NOT found in the dictionary.


how to turn off hyphenation for titles (h1, etc) on Android readers (google play, gitden)

This may or may not be an answer to the question I posed.

http://www.idpf.org/epub/301/spec/epub-contentdocs.html#sec-css-text
http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/#hyphens-property

"EPUB 3 CSS Profile includes epub prefixed versions of the following properties from the CSS":

-epub-hyphens

The -epub-hyphens property does not include support for the value all.

So as I interpret it, in an epub file, you use

h1 {
-epub-hyphens: none;
 }

to accomplish that in an epub file. I'll confirm this in Google Play.

This makes apparent how simply looking at the spec doesn't provide you with sufficient information. Who would have ever thought that -hyphens wouldn't be supported but -epub-hyphens: none might be.

More background:

  The EPUB 3 revision also introduced CSS properties for controlling hyphenation, line breaks, and word breaks. These properties were borrowed from CSS Text module, but again, because the module was not a final recommendation at the time, you must use the -epub- prefix with them. The -epub-hyphens property controls hyphenation. The value none disables hyphenation.

Reference: http://epubzone.org/news/epub-3-and-global-language-support


Create Kindle dictionary as KF8 / Floating images in a Kindle dictionary

Is there a way to force KF8 output, or to float images in MOBI7?

Unfortunately, you can't generate KF8 dictionaries and it's unlikely that this situation will change anytime soon, because Amazon inherited the code from Mobipocket and has only implemented cosmetic changes so far:

Note the following KindleGen message:

Info(parser8):I12001: Enhanced mobi generation suppressed.

That's KindlGen's way of telling you no KF8 files.


When should I completely poweroff an eink device rather than putting it in stand-by?

The biggest issue is likely to be background network use. For example, Amazon's Kindles will continue to use Whispernet and/or WiFi in the background. Assuming you have turned those features off, you would want to power it off entirely only if:

You plan to store it for a long period, on the order of months.
You plan to open up the physical case for some reason.


How do I permanently change the font size in HAN Software's ePub Reader?

Are you using the latest version, as I can see that there is a new release on the 6th of January. You shouldn't have to change the size of the text when you open the eBook back up, as many eReaders save it as a preference. The original size of the text is marked in the CSS.

May I also suggest using different ePub readers, such as Calibre as it is used more widely by the eBook community, and no reports of the issue with having to modify your size settings.

If you are thinking of purchasing DRM eBooks in the future, I suggest using Adobe Digital Editions, as you can still read non DRM eBooks in the software, and it too is more widely known to the community.

Regards,

Phill


Is it possible to set Calibre Editor to automatically backup a book file before modifying it?

I've contacted Calibre's developer, he said that it is not possible and that he doesn't find such feature useful, so he is not willing to implement it.


I have two error messages that are affecting many of my ePub 3 files

The first error message is telling you that the file referenced is not declared in the <manifest> section of the content.opf file. The second one is telling you that the file exists in your epub, but is not declared in the <manifest> section of your content.opf file. The important thing to note is that in the error messages you listed, there are two different files being talked about:

image/illus010b_clip_blurb.png
image/illus010b_clip_blurb.jpg

See the two different file extensions? That's probably part of the problem. The file j83643-Flower-Fairy_-epubBody-1.xhtml is looking for a png file and not finding one. Meanwhile, there's a jpg file of that name that isn't declared in your <manifest>.

The first thing to do is to open up the content.opf file and check to see what it's expecting to be in there. If the png is listed in the <manifest>, simply converting the image from a jpg to a png should make your error go away, as the xhtml file would be able to find the file it's looking for, and the content.opf file would no longer be finding an unexpected jpg file.

If the png is not listed, you'll have to either add an entry for it and convert the image to a png, or add an entry for the jpg and change the <img> in the xhtml file to refer to the jpg file.

If your file paths and names are all correct and the file is in the <manifest>, I'd suggest checking the encoding on the content.opf file to be sure that it's utf-8, as using ANSI encoding can cause some weird errors sometimes.


Sub-chapters based on h2 tags in ePub file

Calibre editor has a graphical interface that lets you edit the ToC of a given ebook file (the ToC editor itself is accesible also from the default window, without the need to open the full editor).

You can select different ways to create the ToC, I think that in your case you should experiment by selecting "major headings" or "all headings".


Using the same javascript library several times in an ebook

The best practice is to store your .js script in a folder labelled JavaScript inside the .oebps folder, then have your HTML point to that script / directory whenever you need to employ it. I have to confess though that I did not understand most if your question with the 'tiny boxes' and such.


Transfer epub from Android phone to Kobo reader

Assuming the book(s) have no DRM, this is what I do:

Connect your phone to your computer and move the epub onto your
computer.
Import the epub into Calibre.
Connect your Kobo to your computer.
Use Calibre to load the epub onto your Kobo.

Done!


File types and readers - maximum coverage

I think that if you provide .epub, .azw and .pdf versions of your book you can be pretty sure that you have covered the largest share of your potential readers.
For those that need another format, they can easily use Calibre to convert it, especially if they have access to the .epub version.

Edit: I don't have any statistics, but if you consider

the formats offered by the majority of the online stores;
the formats supported by the ereaders available on the market, and by the various PC or handheld devices ereading software;
that it is possible to convert easily from one of the said common formats in to another less common one with Calibre, simply by using its easy and user-friendly interface;

you will have that the stores mainly offer .azw (or the rather equivalent .mobi), .epub and .pdf ebooks; that if you pick any random ereader or ereading software, it will be capable to read at least one of these formats, and often all of them; and that if for some reason someone needs another format, he can start from one of the said formats to get what he needs.
So even without any "official" study (assuming that any study in this respect can be considered meaningful of the entire market) that supports this empirical evaluation, you can be pretty sure that if you provide these three formats your book will be almost universally available; if I have understood your question correctly, you are asking how to reach the 99,99% of readers, and you should be able to do so with these three formats.


how to get books from computer to kindle

It is rather easy with the software Calibre.
https://calibre-ebook.com/download

Check it out, just download the tool to your PC, go into it and load the eBooks you want to put onto your Kindle in Mobi.

Here is a helpful link for you:
http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/convert-your-pdf-ebook-to-epubmobi-for-easier-reading-on-e-readers-and-kindle-0129397#07r2Z3vQBThqivuW.97


does using DC superhero images in a fan/trivia ebook consitute infringement?

There is no simple yes or no answer, but there are some online tests to help determine whether it is fair use.

https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use/fair-use-checklist.html

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/charts-and-tools/#digital_images
http://librarycopyright.net/resources/fairuse/

Also, you should check the law stack exchange which discuss fair use issues like this: https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fair-use

I would check the DC site to see if they have any official statement about granting of such use.

I am not a lawyer, but my guess is that limited use of reduced-size or reduced quality images is acceptable as fair use as long as it doesn't detract from the property's economic value.

I think it would help to mention on the copyright page that the images were copyrighted and (often) trademarked by DC Comics.

Often with fair use, even though a publisher may feel that the use of the images constitutes fair use, they may seek permission anyway just to avoid the possibility of lawsuit. I'm guessing that DC comics might refuse permission as a blanket rule though....


Can the sleep timeout be adjusted on Kindle devices?

From the tags on this questions, I'll guess that you're talking about a Kindle Paperwhite. I know it's possible to do this on a Kindle Fire as well; it's in Settings > More > Display > Screen Timeout there (screenshots here).

On the paperwhite, and apparently many of the other Touch devices, there are commands that you can input in the search bar to do all kinds of interesting things. Entering ~ds will cause the screensaver to never show. A full list of commands is available at http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_Touch_Hacking#Search_Bar_Shortcuts

EDIT: According to this forum post (same thread you linked in the comment, actually), it sounds like restarting the device is required to get the screensaver working again; the ~ds switch is apparently not a toggle. As far as power consumption goes, eInk only uses power to change the image, not to display it. This means that removing the screensaver may in fact extend the battery life, rather than draining it more quickly.


What are the benefits of Amazon Kindle device over Amazon Kindle app for a power user?

Lending only works on Kindle devices, not the apps. Specifically, there are two things that Amazon lets you do only with Kindle devices. First, Amazon Prime members can "borrow" books from the Kindle Library, which includes lots of bestsellers and older books, but only on Kindle devices. Second, users can lend many (but not all) books to other Amazon users. But, the recipient can only accept and read the loaned book using a Kindle device.

Other than that, I don't think there are any advantages to the Kindle 3G over reading in other contexts. I do 80% of my Kindle reading on the iOS apps, about 19% on the PC app, and the remaining 1% on my actual Kindle.

With a Fire, this is less of an issue, since it is much faster, prettier, and more full-featured than the older Kindles.


Can I view books scanned to PDF on Kindle Classic?

The kindle device is generally able to open PDF containing pages scanned to graphic images.

My Kindle Classic generally loads them without any problem, but if they are scanned to too high resolution or contain high resolution graphics, it crashes, so such heavy PDFs will be an issue. Maybe newest devices, such as Kindle Paperwhite, having more processing power, will handle them better.

Note also that 2-pages scans will be very high to read. On Kindle Classic you can display them as fit-to-page, which may be impossible/too hard to read, or you can use zoom, which is very uncomfortable to work with.

So I'd answer, yes, as long you have single-page scans scanned to moderate resolution.


Once you open any book in your kindle notebook. you need to go Aa > More > Reading Progress and Apply Time left in the chapter and click on Save current settings.


Can I expect one chapter per html file in an Epub?

No it is a valid file if there are several chapters in one file. You can even have the whole book as one HTML file.

The epub spec says

  Each Rendition of an EPUB Publication contains one or more EPUB Content Documents

Book marks can be made to a point in the file so don't need separate files.

Readers have a limit to the size of the HTML file and I think that is a reason to split the files.

Again with movement in the files it depends on the reader. Having smaller files might well help the reader as it can cache a whole file


Kindle Direct Publishing: How to mention other Books

Great question. I don't see any documentation for this in the Kindle guidelines. https://kindlegen.s3.amazonaws.com/AmazonKindlePublishingGuidelines.pdf

My best guess is that this is simply an external hyperlink which Amazon recognizes, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EZ4B0UK/

I'll test this on my own ebook and see whether I can duplicate it.

Finally, I don't think this feature is particularly useful. Having this book-buy link can be distracting.(I try to minimize the external links in my ebooks).


Send bought books to kindle as books and not documents

Documents and Books are treated almost identically inside the Kindle app or Kindle device. There are filtering functions to divide the view so you see only one type  or another type, but generally you can see both types together.

One thing: in Manage Content & Devices, (on the Amazon website) you need to specify Documents or Books, so you can see files you have uploaded or files which were bought.


Disabling Ads on a Kindle with Special Offers

From Amazon's help on Special Offers:

  Unsubscribe from Special Offers

  You can unsubscribe from Special Offers on your Kindle if you do not want to receive Sponsored Screensavers and Special Offers.

  Amazon is able to offer Kindle models at a subsidized price by delivering Special Offers and Sponsored Screensavers. If you originally purchased a Kindle Special Offer Device you will be charged a one-time payment to unsubscribe from this service.

Last I checked, the one-time payment that was listed for me was the same as the original amount I saved by buying a With-Special-Offers device.


What is the formula for converting a 10 digit ISBN to a 13 digit ISBN?

Wikipedia gives it as

Remove the ISBN 10 check digit from the end
Add 978 to the front
Add the ISBN-13 check digit to the end

The check digit is calculated as per Wikipedia

Take each digit as an element in in an array x_ i.e. the ith digit i the ISBN is x_i e.g. x4 is the 4th digit.
Multiply the even digits by 3 and sum these.
add these to the sum of the odd digits
find the remainder mod 10
subtract from 10 (you have a number 1-10)
This is the result as a number between 1 and 10, unless the figure is 10 then the result is 0

x_13 = (10 - (x_1 + 3x_2 + x_3 + 3x_4 + ... + x_11 + 3x_12) mod10 ) mod 10


The internet archive https://archive.org/ lists both works they host as well as works in other libraries.  While most (all?) of the ebook are available without cost the majority are public domain works, there are also many Create Commons & fair-use works. There is not a good way to search for only PD works, but due to the type of results returned that should not be an issue for most users.  The works that are not PD, are mostly appropriate for attribution sharing, which mostly allowed.

(There are not any absolutes here)

Selecting texts will return everything that is mostly written words. From single page documents to books. This is approximately equal to 'ebooks'.


Yes, you can load ePubs from your computer. I've done this in Israel with both a 1st generation Nook and a Simple Touch.


Looking for software to combine articles into ebook

Actually with instapaper (if you're logged in) You can visit either:

https://instapaper.com/mobi
https://instapaper.com/epub

to download the latest 20 articles.

Then there is the normal download option in the drop down menu (under your user name).


This sounds most likely that the document has been scanned, and then not processed with OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

Just with Adobe Reader and Preview.app, you can not do much about it. In order to make it copyable, you would have to get OCR software, or if you have access to Acrobat, use its OCR capability.

There may also be some security settings with the file; you can see that by opening it in Adobe Reader, press  to display the document properties, and then select the Security tab.


How do you make paragraphs break in iBooks or Nook?

Are there paragraph tags in your HTML? <p> to begin and </p> to end are needed for ebooks. I corrected these for a customer recently who had exported epub from QX.


Right-click the Misc folder icon and select Add Existing Files...
(You'll also have to manually update the .opf file.)

BTW, Sigil won't automatically update this file.


What guarantees that ebook/digital sellers are really paying authors per unit sold?

Ultimately this question is unanswerable because digital purchases involve an element of trust between content creator and distributor.

This is a real issue with the arts business, because fixed expenses by publishers  get tacked onto royalty calculations. Also, with creative content, budgets tend to be smaller, so there is less urgency for audits and confirmation. Smaller publishers also have less staff and infrastructure to do record keeping in a timely fashion.

But even with Amazon.com and similar kinds of companies, you can't really know. Amazon provides great reports of sales and royalties, but sometimes reporting is interrupted for some reason. Generally, though I have no reason to disbelieve Amazon's numbers. It's hard to imagine why a company like that would want to fudge the numbers -- though accounting software can be fallible or wrongly programmed.

Even with all the Amazon reports, it is rare that I as a small publisher have time to go over individual report.

I imagine that if you suspect foul play, an individual author can buy a number of ebook copies himself and compare against weekly sales reports. Obviously, that costs money, but ebooks are typically low-volume areas, so you probably could see sales jumps pretty easily.


Epub cover does not display properly in Kobo app

Use a dedicated epub editor instead of a generic xml one, you will have you work greatly improved with a lot of specific optimizations for ebooks.

With Sigil and the Calibre internal editor I've never had this kind of problem, and I use a Kobo ereader regularly.


Alternate covers for different devices and software

Generally the answer is no. You are defining  only  one cover in your source -- but you can easily test how it renders in both color and greyscale. So it should be high contrast and not so much color-dependent.
The next question is required resolution and file size. Generally, Amazon and others require one high res cover but will downconvert the file size depending on the display size.
I'm not an expert on accessibility (and am certainly no artist), but know a lot about formatting and what is possible  for ebooks.  The key thing is reducing the key elements in the cover -- unless you are going with something that looks like an actual scenic view. Even that is hard to pull off (although in scifi, it is more commonly done).
By the way, from a marketing perspective it is crucial to have only one cover for a ebook. Even if a second cover is a simplified view of the original cover, it can confuse customers and ebook distributors.
One thing you should absolutely consider is how the cover appears in a thumbnail. Full scenery in a cover often does not work well in thumbnails. I wrote a little piece about ebook covers and noticed these constraints on ebook deal ads.

One last thing. A common way to advertise your ebooks is through ebook
newsletters. Each daily newsletter normally brings 20+ book ads with
the ebook cover. The art included with these newsletters tends to be
small, so you should make sure that a thumbnail conveys the cover
concept adequately. I haven't verified these dimensions, but a quick
check in my browser reveals that Bookbub uses 215 pixels, Bookgorilla
uses 180 pixels, Bargainbooksy uses 250 pixels, and Fussy Librarian
uses 170 pixels...Typically on Amazon, the ebook covers appear as
150-175 pixels wide on the search results page and 300 pixels wide on
the ebook product page.


What are the most appropriate metadata to manage and search ebooks

If I understand correctly, you are asking a multi-faceted question; on how metadata hurts or helps your website and ebook content.

I apologize in advance- if some of this information is repetitive or overly descriptive. I'm providing as many descriptions, references and links as possible, in order to provide as thorough an answer as possible. Thanks.

Webpage Optimization

1. What is Metadata:

  Metadata is "data about data".[1] Two types of metadata exist:
  structural metadata and descriptive metadata. Structural metadata is
  data about the containers of data. Descriptive metadata uses
  individual instances of application data or the data content.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata

Your question concerning the platform or website metadata is in relation to the "descriptive" purpose of the metadata properties, so let us focus on that aspect for the website only and not the ebook for now.

Metadata "Web Page" Specific:

  Web pages often include metadata in the form of meta tags. Description
  and keywords in meta tags are commonly used to describe the Web page's
  content. Meta elements also specify page description, key words,
  authors of the document, and when the document was last modified.[5]
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata#Web_pages

Metadata Elements or "Tags"

  Meta elements are tags used in HTML or XHTML documents to provide
  structured metadata about a Web page. They are part of a web page's
  head section. Multiple Meta elements with different attributes can be
  used on the same page. Meta elements can be used to specify page
  description, keywords and any other metadata not provided through the
  other head elements and attributes.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_element

First Clue

The Metadata Web Page & Elements or Tags section, provides us a beginning to an answer.

  "...authors of the document, and when the document was last modified."

Second Clue

  "Meta elements can be used to specify page description, keywords and any other metadata not provided through the other head elements and attributes."

Metadata for Webpages (Partial Answer)

So this tells us at a minimum, the metadata for a webpage should contain at least,

Descriptive elements for the specific page description
Keywords, that relate to that page or topic in general
Authors of the document
When the document was last modified

for full optimization.

Metadata and Search Engine Optimization

This is where it gets tough and there is no one size fits all type of answer, because we are now asking "How do I research, find, and know which keywords to add", depending on if you are optimizing for Google, Bing, or Yahoo you may have different needs.

Search Engine Optimization

Learning about how each of these search engine services differ is important if you are trying to optimize your content. Personally, I'd recommend researching and learning about topics such as "How Predictive Keyword Searches Work", and similar SEO topics.

Here is an article to start learning about Google Predictive Keyword Search:
http://searchengineland.com/how-google-instant-autocomplete-suggestions-work-62592

Keyword Optimization Tools

Luckily there are optimization tools to help with this, one such example for finding keywords that people are searching in relation to your content is
http://ubersuggest.org/ to learn more you may view their website.

This becomes more complex, once you realize that you are now on the road to search engine optimization, yet you still have to optimize for the retail partners such as "Amazon", "Apple", "B&N", "Kobo", "Google Play", etc. and other third party platforms as you mentioned such as "goodreads, scribd".

And it may be helpful to dig into the metadata keywords and descriptions of these retailers for knowing how to optimize for each or possibly all.

As an example, looking at B&N's website source code gives us some insight to consider:

<meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="True">
<meta name="MobileOptimized" content="320">
<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
<meta name="author" content="Barnes &amp; Noble">
<title>Barnes & Noble | Barnes &amp; Noble</title>
<meta name="description" content="Lower Prices on Millions of Books, Movies and TV Show DVDs and Blu-ray, Music, Toys, and Games. Shop online for eBooks, NOOK, and textbooks. FREE Shipping on $25 orders!" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Books, Movies and TV, DVD, Blu-ray, Music, Toys, Games, eBooks, NOOK, textbooks" />
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary" />
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@BNBuzz" />
<meta property="og:title" content="Barnes & Noble"/>
<meta name="description" content="Lower Prices on Millions of Books, Movies and TV Show DVDs and Blu-ray, Music, Toys, and Games. Shop online for eBooks, NOOK, and textbooks. FREE Shipping on $25 orders!" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Lower Prices on Millions of Books, Movies and TV Show DVDs and Blu-ray, Music, Toys, and Games. Shop online for eBooks, NOOK, and textbooks. FREE Shipping on $25 orders!"/>
<meta property="og:type" content="product"/>
<meta property="og:url" content="http://www.barnesandnoble.com"/>
<meta property="og:image" content="http://dispatch.barnesandnoble.com/content/dam/ccr/social/BN_facebook_1200x630.jpg"/>
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Barnes &amp; Noble"/>

Author Metadata Description

<meta name="author" content="Barnes &amp; Noble">

Web Page Description

<meta name="description" content="Lower Prices on Millions of Books, Movies and TV Show DVDs and Blu-ray, Music, Toys, and Games. Shop online for eBooks, NOOK, and textbooks. FREE Shipping on $25 orders!" />

Web Page Keywords

<meta name="keywords" content="Books, Movies and TV, DVD, Blu-ray, Music, Toys, Games, eBooks, NOOK, textbooks" />

To view a websites source code, right-click on the webpage and choose, "View Page Source", or other similar wording depending on your browser.

I am using Chrome.  If you are using Chrome you can type this into the browser search bar:

view-source:http://www.website_name.com/

Another Clue or Partial Answer

Now we know B&N has keywords and descriptions we may use, that will help optimize our content for that particular retailer; such as, "Books", "eBooks", "textbooks", and "NOOK".

We should at the very least use those four keywords in our description and keyword metadata if we want our webpage to be optimized in relation to B&N.

How exactly does this work? (in simplified terms)

Google crawls website #1 with their web bots and based on the metadata and content, discerns how this website relates to the rest of the world wide web, and categorizes/ranks it accordingly.
Google crawls website #2 with their web bots and based on the metadata and content, finding the metadata and content similar to website #1, they will categorize and rank it in relation to website #1.

Once Google or other similar Search Engine starts putting it together that you are a piece of the ebook, publishing, network/puzzle per se on the WWW then it will further associate you with the search results related.

The further you research and find other keywords and phrases people are using to search for your content the better you can optimize.

This is one example but you would do this for each search engine, retailer, ebook, etc. depending on how much time and resources you wish to devote on getting your content more visible...

eBook Metadata Optimization

**
For all your industry standards this website should be viewed at the very least:

"Trade and Standards Organization for the Digital Publishing Industry"

International Digital Publishing Forum: http://idpf.org/

Onix-Editeur

http://www.editeur.org/2/About/ & http://www.editeur.org/8/ONIx/

  EDItEUR is the international group coordinating development of the standards infrastructure for electronic commerce in the book, e-book and serials sectors. EDItEUR provides its membership with research, standards and guidance in such diverse areas as:

  Bibliographic and product information for the book, e-book and serials sectors
  EDI and other e-commerce transaction standards
  The standards infrastructure for digital publishing
  Rights management and trading

Articles to read in relation to your Question

For ease of use and quick viewing, I've quoted what I perceive as most important to answering your question from each of these articles, but I highly recommend reading the full articles and even researching more for full comprehension on this subject since the subject is a whole industry in itself.

Digital Book World

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015/using-metadata-to-go-beyond-the-ebook/

  Metadata is a term publishers love or hate but can’t avoid. As metadata expert Renée Register has explained in a recent series of Digital Book World webcasts and blog posts, metadata refers quite simply to what you want the world to know about your books and provides a structure for helping them come to know it.

  When you want to sell your book online, the metadata will not only give potential buyers technical information such as the specifications, publication date, ISBN and list price, it will also be the magic that enables your book to be discovered online by customers who search for it. And this is all the more important for digital editions that can’t be hand-sold in bookstores.

  So when publishers ask themselves what technical metadata essentials they need to know in order to give their titles the best chances of success, the question they’re really asking is how they want to sell them. After all, metadata isn’t just a formula to be rigorously followed; it’s a tool publishers can—and should—adapt more creatively in order to experiment with different approaches to online bookselling.

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/when-bad-ebook-metadata-is-good-or-not/

  Imagine hundreds or even thousands of crazed readers can’t wait for an ebook title to be available for sale. And when it finally is, they go to Amazon and other retailers to buy it. But they buy the wrong ebook instead.

  When you’re Stephen King, those lost sales on an ebook edition for your print-only novel Joyland (Hard Case Crime) doesn’t make or break you. But if you’re Emily Schultz, the Canadian author of the 2006 literary fiction novel Joyland (ECW), those sales can be a huge windfall. (King’s Joyland came out in print last June and as an ebook this past April.)

  In October of last year, Schultz’s Joyland ebook was seeing an unexpected bump in sales — some 200 copies the week the King book came out. Those and subsequent sales provided Schultz with a pile of pocket money and she’s chronicling how she is spending it at her new Tumblr blog stephenkingmoney.tumblr.com. So far, she has spent just over $400 on things like a fancy dinner, more books and a haircut for her husband. She wouldn’t tell me just how much she has made (but hinted that it would be revealed on the blog eventually) but her take may be higher than you expect — she has a 50% royalty on the ebook, roughly double the going rate when working with a publisher...

Further in the article

  ... While Schultz’s story is certainly atypical, it underscores the power and importance of metadata. Could better metadata, that is — keywords, descriptions, etc. — have saved at least some readers from finding or buying the wrong book, at least one or two of the disaffected ones who subsequently left negative reviews (residual metadata from this episode)? Is there something now that can be done in the metadata that will mitigate the effects of the negative reviews?

eBook Metadata Clues from above articles & quotes

Now we know at minimum what is important for eBook metadata:

Technical information such as the specifications
Publication Date
ISBN
List price

As the article states metadata is a tool and not a rigorous formula but it is instead to be used as needed.

See here at the Book Publishing company I work for we have over 180+ different nodes of metadata that we accept for ebook metadata because we provide service for all online ebook retailers each requiring different specifications.

So, I apologize that this answer cannot give you  2+2=4 straight forward approach, but as you can see there is a lot involved with the question you asked.

Other Related Articles

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/using-metadata-to-market-books-build-audience-and-control-your-future/
http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/metadata-a-strong-business-advantage-in-bookselling/

Final Thoughts && Conclusion

Working in this industry for almost three years now has allowed me to see first hand how metadata effects sales and performance of titles at various retailers.

Metadata is very relevant, important and constantly growing more complex in this industry.

Metadata is an industry of it's own in this field.

Conclusion: If you follow all of this advice, I am certain it will help clarify the subject of metadata, will provide you the correct steps to take to perform the research and development needed; ultimately providing you a solution for your question.


Is it more effective to apply CSS styles to  or  elements in an ePub?

If you set properties for <body>, it will affect even elements like headers (<h1>...<h6>), lists (<ul>, <li>), and everything else, not just regular paragraphs (<p>).

This could be what you want to achieve, but in the most common scenarios, I think that it is better to style every element on its own. In example, text indent is not something that you usually want to see on titles/headers.

Applying styles to <body> is useful in all those cases where you want or need to apply some property to all of your text, in example to set the default font for your book, or to set the minimum margins of the text blocks from the ereader screen border, and so on.


Can one use two Amazon accounts on one Kindle?

I asked the same question to an Amazon customer service. The answer I got was NO. I did recommended them to design a way to allow users to link their multiple accounts in whatever countries.

What I'm doing now is using an Android simulator on my desktop computer, where I can run a separate Kindle app and use a different Kindle account. The Android simulator I'm using is bluestack, and TBH it's not a bad experience.

But I'm still struggling to find a way doing so on my iPhone and iPad...  Hope someone else can update the answer.


Command line extraction of metadata (title. author) from epub file

exiftool can read (but not write) epub meta data. For example

  exiftool -T -Title main.epub


Kindle Paperwhite VS Kobo Glo: Screen Contrast Comparison

The Paperwhite uses a Carta e-ink screen with a contrast ratio of 15:1 however, here's a German test that says the contrast actually is 12:1 (assuming Google translate was accurate -- my German is horrible). It has comparisons with other models, too.

The Kobo Glo uses a Pearl screen with a contrast radio of 10:1

Here is an older comparison of the two models that puts the Kindle Paperwhite's contrast ratio at 11.5:1

Also, in terms of lending Kobos are compatible with library lending systems.


Most of my experience with social DRM has been through smaller tech publishers like The Pragmatic Bookshelf, where they embed the purchaser's name into the title of the book, like <dc:title>Programming Ruby 1.9 &amp; 2.0 (for [name])</dc:title>.

Probably the biggest titles to use social DRM, though, are the Harry Potter books through Pottermore. Here's a link to an article that goes into detail about it: http://copyrightandtechnology.com/2012/04/08/the-harry-potter-watermarking-experiment/ and a relevant chunk:

  The EPUB version that I downloaded is not DRM-protected; instead it
  contains two things: “This book is watermarked and was acquired by
  user ec107c00b9577436d6354e54cd9da5c9 on 31 March 2012″ on the
  copyright page, and various bits of data inserted invisibly into
  images and other places inside the book.

As far as pros and cons of social DRM vs. more traditional DRM: there's lots of info out there that suggests that DRM in general is not terribly useful, but there are strong feelings on both sides of the issue. I'd suggest checking out what tech publisher Tim O'Reilly has to say: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0411/focus-tim-oreilly-media-e-book-antipiracy-steal-this.html.


For iBooks issues, your best bet is to go straight to the iBooks Asset Guide, which is available when you log in to your iTunes Connect account. As far as cover size goes, the guide says:

  The book’s cover art must use RGB color mode and should be at least
  1400 pixels along the shorter axis. For best results, a good rule of
  thumb is to use an image that is a minimum of 300 dpi.

This applies to the cover art that is submitted along with the book, not the cover in the book itself. For the cover in the book (and for any other image in the book, for that matter):

  Images (within the EPUB) cannot exceed 3.2 million pixels. Apple
  recommends providing images that are at least 1.5 times the intended
  viewing size up to a maximum of 3.2 million pixels. You can calculate
  whether an image inside the book file exceeds 3.2 million pixels by
  multiplying the height of the image with the width.

Assuming that you're creating an epub 3.0 file, if you add properties="cover-image" to the <manifest> entry for the cover image file, the cover will show up in iTunes.

As far as extra blank pages go: you shouldn't need any page-break-before: always statements to break your chapters, assuming that you've followed best practices and broken the content into one xhtml file per chapter. iBooks and all other reading systems I've seen will automatically break pages for each new file.

What errors specifically did you get that went away when you changed the extension of the cover image? Without seeing anything, my guess would be that there was a difference between how the file was named and what it was called in the <manifest>.

Finally: if you're going to be doing ebook conversions, you really need to have the devices you're converting for—every reading system has strange quirks, and you're doing your clients a disservice if you don't test, particularly on devices that you know they're really interested in.


Apps to use for reading local e-books on Windows Surface Pro?

The Microsoft Edge Browser has support for epub built directly into the browser.  Right click and "Open With.." if Edge is not your default browser.  I found it works well with local epub files.  Edge supports ePub


First go to https://github.com/IDPF/epubcheck/releases and download the last version of EpubCheck as zip file. Unzip the folder.

Be sure that you have Java Runtime (1.5 or above) installed, if not go to http://www.java.com to donwload.

Check if the Path variable is set to the folder where java.exe was installed. If not, go to  Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings, tab 'Advanced'. Click on 'Environment Variables...'. Then look for 'Path' on System Variables, click on 'Edit'. To the end of 'Variable Value', add a semicolon and the path to the folder where java.exe was installed.

Put the ePub file in the folder of EpubCheck.

In your console (can be the command prompt cmd), enter cd [path to the folder unziped of epubcheck]. Then run java -jar epubcheck-x.x.x.jar file.epub, where x.x.x is the version of the EpubCheck and file.epub is the ePub file.

The console should print the errors and warnings related to your ePub file.


Does conversion between filetypes always break formatting in ebooks?

Different authors spend different amount of time getting the formatting right. Also, support for various formatting changes over time. I formatted some things in 2011 which were the best available technology at the time, but wouldn't look good on today's kindles. (I'm redoing one such book at the moment).

One of the problems is that ebook conversions are usually seen as afterthoughts after the print version comes out.

My rules of thumb:

PDFs to anything generally sucks
EPUB to Kindle does not suck anymore (via Kindle Previewer (kindlegen)) -- especially if the CSS were done right.
MS Word to epub (via Calibre) does not suck as long as headers are consistently styled and you are not using a lot of invisible formatting (i.e., hard carriage returns, manual centering etc).
Ebooks with images are hard to convert well.
MS Word to PDF generally does not suck (unless you think of PDF as inherently a sucky/inflexible format).
Encoding errors are a frequent problem when converting from one format to another. They are also easy to miss during proofing.

One other thought. Some lesser known reading systems  don't support much publisher formatting but impose their own default css on the ebook -- and give users the option to override publisher settings. You need to make sure you're viewing it in ibooks or google play books, adobe Digital Editions or possibly kindle app.


How to upload my Malayalam book in Kindle?

I don't know the precise answer to your question and you probably have more experience formatting in your native language.

My guess is that doing a conversion from DOCX to Kindle or DOCX to epub will be horrible. MS Office will probably specify its own font, and then Kindle won't support it or allow it to be embedded.

Here is a better strategy. Focus on producing an epub file which validates as EPUB 3 http://validator.idpf.org/ If it validates, my guess is that it will also render easily on Kindle if you convert from epub to Kindle using Kindle Beta Previewer. https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1003018611

The work processes (and the necessary steps) for producing a kindle/epub file are a lot different for creating a Createspace printed book. What works in Createspace will probably not work for Kindle and vice versa.

To produce a good epub/kindle file, you should probably create the content using an HTML/epub editor. Try using either of these two (free) products:

Calibre's EPUB editor (which is different from the Calibre
conversion part). See https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/edit.html

or
sigil epub editor.

The one thing I do not know is if the included Kindle fonts include support for Malayam characters. If you have heard that they do, then it should be easy.

If not, then you will have to embed a special Malayam font yourself. This is not extremely difficult, but it is complicated. See https://kindlegen.s3.amazonaws.com/AmazonKindlePublishingGuidelines.pdf Chapter 9 .

Good luck, and try to tell us what worked for you!


What is the most efficient and safest way to remove fingerprints from my Sony PRS-650 Touchscreen Reader?

The first thing you should always do is look in your devices manual if there is a recommended way of cleaning (or doing anything else). It is probably the best way to avoid problems with your warranty (in case something goes wrong).
If you don't have your PRS-650 manual any more you can find it (googling sony prs 650 support)  on-line on the Manual, Specs and Warranty tab.
There you find the PDF version of the user manual. On page 114 it says:

On cleaning

Clean the Reader with a soft cloth, such as a cleaning cloth for eyeglasses.
If the Reader becomes very dirty, clean it with a soft cloth slightly moistened with
water or a mild detergent solution.
Do not use any type of abrasive pad, scouring powder, or solvent, such as alcohol
or benzene, as it may mar the finish of the case.
Clean the headphone plug periodically.
Tapping or dragging on the touch screen using a dirty stylus may damage the surface. Wipe the stylus with a dry cloth when it gets dirty.


Is it posible to compact calibre library?

Calibre does not provide any compression tools, but indeed one could use third party tools to compress files in the directory structure. The predominant files to target would be DJVU and PDF files. Using ImageMagick's convert utility, it is not difficult to do programmatic compression (write a script that recursively goes through the library directory structure and compresses all PDF files). Testing is important to ensure no loss of visual quality.

Note that the same thing can be done for video files using the ffmpeg utility. Works a dream.


How do I modify the connection habits of my Kindle Keyboard 3G?

I've looked into this since you posted this and it's just not possible. Well, if you want to completely replace the existing OS and software, you could, but that doesn't really address your use case.


Can books be transferred from Nooks to Kindles and back?

You may want to try using the Calibre Ebook Manager with the deDRM plugin to get the ebook files, sans-DRM, and then move them onto the Kindle. It works, but it won't sync them or automatically move newly purchased books; each book must be done individually.
The Digital Reader has some helpful tutorials on how to do this:

To strip DRM from Kindle ebooks

To strip DRM from Nook ebooks

Note that DRM removal is illegal in some countries. Please read and follow your local copyright laws.


The following regex should cover most cases.

Find:

([[:lower:]],*;*:*)</p>\s+<p[^>]*>\s*([[:lower:]])

Replace:

\1 \2


How to update the firmware for a K3 Kindle keyboard from Linux?

the K3 automounted fine:

thufir@dur:/media/thufir/Kindle$
thufir@dur:/media/thufir/Kindle$ ls -al
total 44
drwxr-xr-x  6 thufir thufir 8192 Dec 31  1969 .
drwxr-x---+ 4 root   root   4096 Dec 28 10:41 ..
drwxr-xr-x  2 thufir thufir 8192 Nov 24 17:51 audible
drwxr-xr-x  2 thufir thufir 8192 Nov 24 17:51 documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 thufir thufir 8192 Nov 24 17:51 music
drwxr-xr-x  4 thufir thufir 8192 Dec 28 10:37 system
thufir@dur:/media/thufir/Kindle$
thufir@dur:/media/thufir/Kindle$ cp /home/thufir/Downloads/Update_kindle_3.4_3.4.2_B006.bin .
thufir@dur:/media/thufir/Kindle$
thufir@dur:/media/thufir/Kindle$ cd
thufir@dur:~$

Then I unmounted the K3.  But, there's no update option. Registration shows:

Registration
Wi-Fi
Voice Guide
Device Password
Device Info

then menu, select settings, then menu again for the update option.


Keeping a subheading with its first line of text in an epub

page-break-after: avoid should work, if the reading system supports it.


Do epub and paperback publication of same book need seperate Identification number (like ISBN)?

First, we need to distinguish what is what code is used for. Some code do not describe books (ISSN, ISMN, URN). Others describe library sorting (LCSH, DDC), where these systems were built long before computers and electronic books (LCSH - 1898, DDC - 1876). And there is not a complete practice of dealing with this.

ISBN - International Standard Book Number

This is for books. Practice is such that every format (Epub, PDF, Mobi, DjVu etc.) has own ISBN. (It should be.) Sometimes a paperback and a hardcover book have their own ISBN code.

ISSN - International Standard Serial Number

This is for periodicals (magazines, a periodically published series of books etc.) It is not required in my country. Perhaps it will be similar in other countries. What I know, the code should be the same (for paper and digital copy).

ISMN - International Standard Music Number for Printed Music

This is for music. No for ebooks.

URN - Uniform Resource Name

URN uses a "urn" scheme and does not address the availability of the identified resource. This is prefix example for ISBN and ISSN.

urn:isbn:0451450523
urn:ISSN:0167-6423

LCSH - Library of Congress Subject Headings

I am not American. I do not know how you handle it. I recommend visiting the congress library web site.

DDC - Dewey Decimal Classification or Dewey Decimal System

I suppose it should be taken as another edition of the book. What I know is distinguished by the letter (one character) at the end (in my country). But library practice may vary.

Summary:

ISBN - different
ISSN - same + postfix
DDC  - same + postfix


how to view the download queue for a Kindle

[Note: I know this thread is old, but I found it via a web search and have an answer for people in the future who find it that way as well.]

There does not appear to be a built-in app, menu item, or button that allows you to view the download queue. On my Kindle Fire HDX, however, I can swipe down from the top, and any in-progress downloads are shown in the notification/message area. Tapping one of those takes me to the download queue page.

To reset stalled downloads, you can try the following:

cancel the download, via the swipe-down area or the download page, then restart it
power the device on and off
restart the "Appstore" app from Settings > Applications


Can I have "clickable" links/references/index entries in an ePub?

You can certainly use standard  tags with matching ids to create hyperlinks within an epub file, yes. The structure of the text could look like:

Here is a bunch of text with a footnote [1]

With a matching note in a notes.xhtml file:

1: Here is the related endnote [link back]

There are a few best practices to consider:

Make sure to give a reciprocal link for endnotes--that is, once you can click on the number to go read the endnote, you'll need another link to bring you back to the text from the endnote
In the index, it's very handy to have a series of links at the top for each alphabetic subsection, so that a reader can select "G" and go to the "G" section of the index. The "G" subheader can then be a link back to the top of the index.
If you're using epub 3.0, you should definitely add epub:type semantic markup for indices and foot/end notes. The details of that can be found in the Structural Semantics Vocabulary. These semantics enable reading systems to associate behaviors with certain kinds of content. This is what iBooks uses to generate popup footnotes, and if you've properly marked up your content, you're giving it the chance to get additional features with no more effort as reading systems design more functionality for that markup.

Indices can be pretty painful to create if the production files weren't tagged correctly at the time of creation; one quick-and-dirty method to consider in that case is to insert  into the document at each page break, then have the index link to the print page. This isn't ideal, as a print page can span multiple screens (particularly on a cell phone!), but it can get you part way there if you're interested in cutting corners.


Deliver Emailed or Converted Books to Amazon Cloud Reader and PC Reader

New (April 2014) Solution:

 Go to Amazon Cloud Drive (https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/).
 Select documents (one-at-a-time only) and click Download.

Old Solution that can work without Internet Access:

   Deliver the documents/books to your iPhone or iPad Kindle.
   Download & install an app such as iFunBox Classic (free). This app allows you to explore your iPhone files with no jailbreak required.
   Plug your iPhone/iPad into PC via USB and start iFunBox Classic.
   In iFunBox, navigate to "User Applications/Kindle/Library".
   Here, every "book" on your Kindle is listed with nonsensical filenames such as "UQCTNAXOJZDZPWDA7GY5GKF52NMNEIU6_PDOC.azw". However, since you just delivered your chosen books, you can sort by date and it will be easy to select the ones you want.
   Drag-and-drop, or select and click "Copy to PC", to get these files onto your PC.

Now you can open them in Kindle for PC, and also Kindle for Mac I believe. Cloud reader is probably a lost cause.

Background Info:

As you have discovered, Amazon frustratingly considers any book not purchased through them as a "personal document" with many limitations, including that they do not sync annotations nor highlights, and you cannot deliver them to PC or Cloud Kindle.

Extra Tip:

I also use iFunBox to back up my annotations/highlights, contained in the file "AnnotationStorage" located also at "User Applications/Kindle/Library". This is an SQL database and can be read with a free app such as SQLiteBrowser.


What are the advantages, risks and possible disadvantages of buying ebooks with DRM?

The premise in your question's title does not seem to be accurate. E.g. Amazon's terms and conditions state that you don't own the ebook, you buy the right to view it on your Kindle.

  All content included in or made available through any Amazon Service, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, and data compilations is the property of Amazon or its content suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws. The compilation of all content included in or made available through any Amazon Service is the exclusive property of Amazon and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws.

Similar conditions apply to DRM-ed material from other suppliers (it probably has to—but don't quote me on that, I am no lawyer—as ownership would imply that you can do what you want with something (within legal bounds))

This forms no risk at all, as long as you are aware of this restriction. Unfortunately most people are not, and they speak about buying a DRM-ed ebook and are surprised if an ebook is removed from their device, even if that has happened to many before them (e.g. the erasure of books by George Orwell in 2009; a Kindle being wiped with no explanation).

The disadvantage, IMHO, compared to actually buying a non DRM-ed book is that you are dependent on some software setup to allow you to view material on a specific device. If that device breaks, you might not be able to "activate"
the content on a newly acquired device if the original provider is not available any more to allow this.


Ebooks file naming scheme -- Books in a series

If you are using Calibre, its database is already set to have each piece of information about a book in its proper field (i.e., there will be a field for the title, another for the author, another one for the series and series numbering, and so on), but I'm sure that you already know this.

So, within Calibre, you don't need (and you are not supposed) to change the title by including the series information; you can let Calibre rename those files on-the-fly when you export them to a given ereader by using its tool called Plugboard, that relies on the calibre template language.

Here is, in short, the recipe to use, pasted from MobileRead forums:

  I have been playing around with the Metadata plugboards to get the
  titles on a Kindle 3 to show series information. I used the following
  template:

  format: mobi
  device: kindle2
  template: {series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}
  destination: title

  This works very nicely for books that are part of a series e.g.:

  A Song of Ice & Fire - 01 - A Game of Thrones
  A Song of Ice & Fire - 02 - A Clash of Kings
  A Song of Ice & Fire - 03 - A Storm of Swords
  A Song of Ice & Fire - 04 - A Feast for Crows

The process is very easy to do but if you are not used to its workings it is a bit long to explain, so I'm linking some of articles that show you step by step how to do it.

The calibre template language
How To Use Calibre To Correctly Order Your Ebook Series
Kindle and Calibre Plugboards
Plugboard, template, and custom composite column recipes


self-hosted, self-updating book repository

At this time, I'd say "no".  When you read an epub in Calibre's internal reader it sets a bookmark in a file inside the epub, but most readers set that bookmark in a related (usually sqlite) database. And there's no standard for the bookmark format (well, there is, in epub3, but I haven't found anybody using it yet...).

But if you're willing to settle for using a particular set of devices, you could probably fairly simply extract the bookmarks from those, and translate them to be useful by the other devices. Notes, otoh, are much more complicated. Calibre does have a "universal" notes plugin--unfortunately, it requires support to be written for each device driver, and I think there are only one or two drivers that have it.


tl;dr This depends on what you mean by DRM, but generally the answer is no.
Overview
DRM can mean a lot of things, but it's basically a combination of software, file formats, and, in somewhat rare cases, the hardware itself. Unless the hardware and the software have some way to figure out where you are, they can't do anything differently based on your location.
So, unless your reader is checking its IP address against a geolocation service, using a GPS device built into the hardware, or doing something very similar to one of these techniques, it has no way of knowing where you are. All of these techniques have problems, and all tend to lead to bad user experience.
There are circumstances where this kind of DRM might make sense. For example, an intelligence agency might create its own software, file format, and region-based DRM to prevent people from accessing certain files outside of certain locations. (This is probably not the best idea, for various reasons, but it could be done.) But a mass-market maker of consumer devices might consider this a likely PR and customer-relations disaster-in-the-making, so you would expect them to avoid it.
It's worth pointing out that you could avoid such DRM by simply turning off internet for your device or putting it in airplane mode. If it still detected its location and disabled a book you had purchased, you would then know it was secretly transmitting, despite you telling it not to do so. This is the kind of thing that doesn't typically go over well when it hits the press, so it's unlikely anyone would try it.
A Side Note about DVDs and Region-Based DRM
DVDs famously use a region-based DRM scheme, in which every DVD player and every DVD has one or more codes. Each code corresponds to a region of the world. Unless the DVD and the player have at least one code in common, the player will refuse to play the DVD. But here's the critical thing: those codes are hard-coded in the discs. Most devices allow you to change it, but only a small number of times (like 7). And neither the disc nor the device will automatically change its code when you move them. So, even this DRM scheme is not an automatic one like you're asking about. It's also worth pointing out that the market for bootlegged movies is generally much bigger than the market for even the best-selling books. The economic analysis is very different.
Conclusion
I have never heard of a DRM for ebooks that varies by geography automatically. That does not mean it doesn't exist, but I'd be surprised if any publicly-available readers did use such a technology.


eBook reader recommendation with a Japanese-English dictionary

The two devices that are closest to me requirements are the Kindle Paperwhite and Onyx Boox T68. As far as meeting the requirements goes:

E ink display: both have one
Supports English text and has English-English dictionary: both have one or two (this condition was only to rule out Japanese ebook readers with poor English support); the one included on T68 is so so and the preinstalled apps have limited compatibility with other dictionaries
Supports Japanese text and has a smart Japanese-English dictionary: possible on Onyx Boox T68 using Jade Reader and should be possible on Kindle Paperwhite with this dictionary (you have to pay for it and it might be unavailable in some countries)
Allows me to load my own (EPUB) files: both, but Kindle doesn't support some formats and those files need to be converted first
Furigana support: might be partially supported on Kindle Paperwhite, but it appears that it interferes with the dictionary (not supporting furigana is not a big deal)
tools to help me learn Japanese: many apps are available on Onyx Boox T68 (you need to switch system font to Roboto as there is no japanese version of DroidSans on the device; some applications will render white text on white background which makes them unusable, but should be hackable); probably there is something on Kindle too (not a big deal either way)
PDF support: both support it
Touchscreen: both have it (it's a little wonky on the T68)
Ability to load (zip compressed) sequences of images: should work on both (see notes below)

Additionally:

Onyx Boox T68 has better resolution and it's slightly bigger
It also runs Android which should give me access to many useful apps (I can even make my own Apps should I need them)
Kindle Paperwhite is cheaper (even if you buy the dictionary) and with some trickery it might be possible to buy Japanese novels and manga
However both have relatively small screens, so reading comic books will probably be not very comfortable (still Onyx Boox T68 is likely to handle those better, due to size and resolution); verified, while doable on T68, the screen feels a bit too small for displaying whole pages (zooming in is slightly annoying due to slow response time of the e ink display)
Kindle Paperwhite 2nd generation has slightly better contrast than Onyx Boox T68 and is generally more responsive in terms of user input; tested Onyx Boox T68 and the contrast is decent
Onyx Boox T68 has audio output (you can use text 2 speech and listen to music) while Kindle Paperwhite does not support that

Details:
I checked if various ebook readers that are on the market can do the things that I want, but most of them can't. The one that is closest to my requirements is Kindle Paprwhite (if I install additional dictionary which I would have to buy, but which might be unavailable in my country), but unfortunately it doesn't support EPUB file (I would have to convert them to MOBI). The reason why most of the devices wont do what I want is because they run on a closed OS. This made me wonder why there are not ebook readers that run Android and...

I read the comment from Tom which put me on right track. Rather than google for ebook readers that do all that I want (which gives poor results), why not google for a E ink Android tablets. I did that right away and I found those two devices: Onyx Boox M96, Onyx Boox T68.

At first I was considering buying Onyx Boox M96, since the display is bigger. However lack of touchscreen (you have to use stylus) and high price turned me off. I'm probably going to buy the smaller Onyx Boox T68 (despite the higher resolution, the smaller screen will probably make reading comic books slightly annoying).

Jade Reader does exactly what I want in terms of Japanese text and it's actually compatible with the Onyx Boox T68. The app could use some improvements (splitting text into pages, the dictionary popup should take into account the position of selected text, now it can shows up always on the bottom of the screen and appear on top of the text you were reading).


What 's the best way to read a scientific PDF?

Buy an iPad or iPad mini and install Goodreader (the latest version at this time is actually called GoodReader 4, according to the previous link; it can be found here).That is the best choice.


How to get book list from amazon clouddrive?

If you install the Cloud Drive Application on your own PC (Windows) or Mac (OS/X) I am not sure if there is a Linux equivalent then you will have the option to download your cloud drive, (or parts of it), all of your content will be available locally.

You can then view the file and folder names, which is not always very helpful, but you could also consider adding the folder that you download to into a Calibre library which will let you browse, search, convert, etc., your content.  Calibre is a free ebook manager that is available for multiple platforms and in multiple languages, (looking at the statistics the Polish translation is currently at 88% translated but not reviewed).


Did Kindle contrast get better or is my old Kindle growing old?

Apparently E-ink does age due to various physical processes. There is
lost of contrast (greying), but also freezing of some microcapsules to
the black state where they are kept too consistently in that state (typical
for some parts of device state display which stays on-screen).

I am not a specialist, but you can get more (layman level) details
on the web, such as the article Aging of e-ink screens, which come
with other articles on display technology.


There are two possibilities here, and without seeing more of the book's code, it's not really possible to tell. The first is that this is extra functionality offered by the reading system rather than something built into the epub file itself. As noted by Liz Castro in the spec, this is similar to Apple's example of

  supporting symantically marked footnotes, and then "associating specialized behaviors" as the spec directs.

If that's the case, Moon+ and Calibre don't seem to be supporting the epub 3 spec as directly as Apple does, though—according to the Structural Semantics Vocabulary for epub 3, footnotes should be contained in  tags marked with epub:type=footnote" and then corresponding epub:type="noteref"s for the superscripted symbols in the body.

The other possibility is that there is some JavaScript in the ebook file that is somehow accessing content in a different file. Since JavaScript is generally constrained by the DOM, though, this doesn't seem likely.

if you'd like to replicate the behavior yourself in an epub 3 file, the relevant code (heavily cribbed from the spec) to try out would be:

This is some body text with a footnote reference. 1

...

1: This is a corresponding note

Note that this behavior is purely optional—epub 3 has the ability for publishers to tell the reading system what kind of content a particular section is, and it is up to the reading systems to decide what they want to do with that information.

EDIT: Based on your comment, it sounds like since there is no JavaScript and the book is epub 2.0, there is either something hack-y going on or the reading systems you're using are looking for particular classes and associating special behavior with them. Based on this blog post, I'm guessing the former—it sounds like you can include the correct namespacing in an epub 2 file to allow epub:type to work, and change the  tag to a
 with display: none on its CSS to get this to work in iBooks, which Moon+ and Calibre might be copying.

Note that according to that blog post, this gives you a working ebook that fails epubCheck, which means that many retailers will reject it. Making an epub 3 file might be the way to go for you.


is DjVu still useful as a format for ebooks?

I have worked extensively with DjVu (and wrote the text extraction extension Calibre). I consider DjVu the better alternative for scanned multi-page documents, especially for efficiency reasons. Compared to the JPEG encoded pages you get in PDF or TIFF files you often have a 20x smaller file size.

For non-professional users this size difference often is not a problem, but for dessimination in the professional world it is. Just imagine having to buy 20x more storage and increased network capacity. Because a PDF reader is already necessary for many other documents (other than scanned), such users already have a PDF reader and I have seen a reluctance with non-professionals to install something just to be able to handle a more efficient file format.

DjVu is hindered by sub-par open source implementations of the encoder and AFAIK also by patent issues. My expectation is that at some point some replacement technology will become available that has all of the advantage and non of the problems, just like PNG replaced GIF. That will be a multilayer encoded image format.

As long as I will have some decent, commandline, conversion software for DjVu, PDF and any other format, I don't see any of that as a problematic. It would only be nice if I could tell Thunderbird which users only have a PDF reader so that I could attach DjVu and it would convert it to PDF before sending the email...


Fonts malformed when extracted from epub files

There is a feature, font obfuscation, which prevents you from viewing/using any embedded font after  unzipping the epub. Whether this has happened in your case is unclear. However, if the epub was created in Indesign, that is likely to be the issue because Adobe Indesign obfuscates fonts when it creates epubs.

http://www.idpf.org/epub/20/spec/FontManglingSpec.html


Bulk conversion of PDF books to DJVU/MOBI/EPUB

I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to stick with PDF but I recently just converted over 1T of EPUBS & MOBIs to PDF as I use Adobe Acrobat X Pro on a daily basis both personally, academically and professionally.

AniceSoft worked beautifully keeping everything as they should be and as it allowed me to set the margin size output for the final PDF. It will convert your files to EPUBS or whatever files you want. It is also capable of 100 files per batch and converts quite rapidly, especially when compared to Calibre which I had initially tried and found I could single convert quicker using Online-Convert (which is my go-to single converter for both work and pleasure). I was able to complete all of the conversions before the trial ran out.

As for DJVU, I found Online-Convert to do the best work and I use a 2cm border when I convert anything to PDF.


I cannot display ebook content on the Kobo ebook app

Have you tried using Calibre as an ebook reading app. It works well in many different environments and accepts many ebook formats. I buy lots of books in epub, from Kobo and others, and I never had any problem reading them with Calibre (though I prefer my small Kobo ebook reader).

Trying it would at least check whether there is a problem with the ebook.

Another point is that you did not tell whether your ebook has DRM (usually Adobe DRM in the case of Kobo). I am not sure whether that would require special steps to get the book displayed, but I suspect it would, at least for the first book.  I cannot say more on that because I simply refuse to buy books with DRM, and have thus no experience with it.


How does DRM impact the sales of eBooks?

There was a study1 done by Laurina Zhang about the effects of DRM on music sales. In her conclusion1 she states:

  My analysis in this paper, based on a large representative sample of
  albums from all four major record companies, sheds light on this
  question. I find that the removal of DRM increases digital sales by
  10%.

While this does not directly address the eBook industry, it does suggest that DRM may also have a negative impact on sales of Ebooks.

1Warning: Links directly to pdf.


My Nook Simple Touch screen is no longer responding to touch reliably. How can I fix it?

Over time, grease and grime from fingers transfers to the display and can cause touch sensitivity to become erratic. Simply clean the Nook display with a water-dampened cloth and touch sensitivity will return to normal.


Where is my Ebook that I just bought from Amazon Kindle to my PC?

I have Windows 10 and also use the PC software. Mine are stored in my "Documents" folder in subfolder "My Kindle Content". That would ordinarily be "%HOMEPATH%\Documents\My Kindle Content", but I have changed the location of my Documents folder to another drive.

On the Kindle app's toolbar go to "Tools|Options..." and click on the "Content" tab. Here you will see the location of your files along with a button giving you the option to change that location.