Keeping an image and its caption on the same page is easy in standard ePubs using an inline-block. Kindle’s KF8 format does NOT keep elements inside an inline-block together when there’s just enough room for an image without the caption. Text is kicked to the next page. Kindle KF8 is not ePub The usual methods […]
Wrap Text around an Image
You can wrap text around a “floated” image in your eBook for Kindle devices that support KF8 formatting. For older Mobi7 Kindles that do not support floated elements, display the image in a centered div or paragraph. To float an element, such as an image or callout, you’ll need to create CSS styles for KF8 Kindles […]
Feed Kindle Fire More Pixels
If you create Kindle illustrations with much larger dimensions, they’ll look amazing on Fire HD and HDX and still look great on Paperwhite, Kindle DX and older eInk devices. I’m convinced that targeting the high resolution HDX instead of the lowest common denominator is the better path to follow. Before ignoring the conventional wisdom to […]
Fix Missing Div Top Margins in Kindlegen
In the most recent versions of Kindlegen, top margins on <div> elements are ignored. Older versions of Amazon’s conversion tool routinely ignored bottom margins, so we all programmed ourselves to use top margins for vertical spacing. Now, divs with top margins display without any space to separate them from previous content. The fix is simple. […]
The Difficulty with Drawings
Spectacular pencil drawings may be lousy candidates for book covers. What looks good on a wall can be a pain to transform into a decent cover that stands out in the Amazon catalog. There are several good reasons why you should think very hard about using a drawing as a cover or featured illustration. So […]
Let Sigil Make the NCX File
Several years ago, I wrote an article about making an NCX file manually. At that time, nearly everybody was using Mobipocket Creator to format Kindle books from Word or HTML files. Amazon decreed that an NCX (Navigation Control XML) file was required, but MPC was not designed to generate one, although it did just about […]
Full-screen Interior eBook Images
There is no perfect full-screen or maximum size for interior images in an eBook although there is some agreement on universal dimensions that work on most eReader devices. eBook cover sizes have settled down*, but if you search for complete information about interior images, you’ll find little more than waffling, incomplete information, and general avoidance […]
Kindle Inside Cover Still Mandatory
I just grabbed the latest version of Kindle Previewer (2.7) and a fresh copy of the Kindle Publishing Guidelines (2012.5) to see if cover image documentation had sorted out an apparent contradiction between the Guidelines and KDP Self-Publishing Help. Nope: It’s still necessary to include an inside cover image, according to the Guidelines, and the […]
Amazon KDP discards inside cover
Forget what used to be the conventional wisdom about the Kindle inside cover image. A 600×800 pixel image still works best with eInk Kindles, but the newer Kindles and higher resolution eReader devices are rapidly coalescing around an emerging standard of 2500 pixels on the long side and a new aspect ratio of 1.6 (tall […]
Kindle Catalog Cover Update
As you probably know, Kindle cover images for the Amazon product catalog can be much larger in both dimensions and file-size than the cover that appears inside the book. The latest Kindle Publishing Guidelines spell it out. Interestingly, verbiage about the “shortest side” (formerly a minimum of 500px) has been dropped in favor of simplified […]