This is the scenario:
I have a large group of mathematics books that i want to convert to Apple (mac) Ibooks. They have 70% text and 30% graphics (tables, images, graphs, etc). I am being told that ebooks are fairly simple when it comes to formatting flowable text. The problems arise first and foremost with the PDF format and secondly when you begin having the graphics. They are "broken" due to size, room on the "page"/screen, different size screens also effect display, etc. The bottom line I am trying to decipher: Is there any converters that can properly format this type of rich content in order to pass the Epub 1.0.5? Or is there a lot of hand proofing to make the conversion compatible? These books are 400 to 600 pages of mind numbing math, lol.
I also am told that a PDF file requires a fair amount of editing to comply with and upload to Apple. Since we are talking about large number of pages, my fear is that I am going to basically end up spending an extended amount of time editing.
So what I am looking for and obviously my limited knowledge isnt letting me understand from the above answers is, if you were to be faced with a project such as this...what chain of events would you use to accomplish getting your PDF uploaded to the Apple store, or would u turn it over to the professionals? Im not afraid of some work, but I dont want to delay this project while i learn coding unless there is a program out there that would simplify it within reason. Sorry for the time consuming droning

Thank you for your time and if I am not adequately spelling out my dilemma, please feel free to call me on it and ask questions that will make it clearer for u. Im new at this so my presentation could be sorely lacking.

Originally Posted by iVan

There is a trove of information on ebook formatting at Mobile Read. I use Book Designer on a pc.

Yep , poor of us we are on Mac and we only have Sigil , witch is not bad but far from perfect …..

Originally Posted by purplethorn onyxspawn

This is the scenario:
I have a large group of mathematics books that i want to convert to Apple (mac) Ibooks. They have 70% text and 30% graphics (tables, images, graphs, etc). I am being told that ebooks are fairly simple when it comes to formatting flowable text. The problems arise first and foremost with the PDF format and secondly when you begin having the graphics. They are "broken" due to size, room on the "page"/screen, different size screens also effect display, etc. The bottom line I am trying to decipher: Is there any converters that can properly format this type of rich content in order to pass the Epub 1.0.5? Or is there a lot of hand proofing to make the conversion compatible? These books are 400 to 600 pages of mind numbing math, lol.
I also am told that a PDF file requires a fair amount of editing to comply with and upload to Apple. Since we are talking about large number of pages, my fear is that I am going to basically end up spending an extended amount of time editing.
So what I am looking for and obviously my limited knowledge isnt letting me understand from the above answers is, if you were to be faced with a project such as this...what chain of events would you use to accomplish getting your PDF uploaded to the Apple store, or would u turn it over to the professionals? Im not afraid of some work, but I dont want to delay this project while i learn coding unless there is a program out there that would simplify it within reason. Sorry for the time consuming droning

Thank you for your time and if I am not adequately spelling out my dilemma, please feel free to call me on it and ask questions that will make it clearer for u. Im new at this so my presentation could be sorely lacking.

Hi i understand your problem, from my side i will try first and see the result before go to a professional , but i have yet convert around 100 books in various format to ePub ( all cross ePub Checker) , so i start to have knowledge how to turn around some problems : like when you have TXT file with accent if you use Calibre directly you got asci character so i open it first with Stanza in my mac save it as ePub and after i use Sigil for edit the cover, author, title & TOC and if i want to have summary, comment and ISBN code when i have finish my editing i open with Calibre and enter the last metadata i can need …

And time to time during the edition i save and check with Adobe Digital edition for see if i have made no mistake

This is one small example of what you can face for edit your book ….. up to this you should know the coding for the TOC , as Sigil is far from perfect especially if the name or tittle of your book have space in the name ….

As i don’t know your knowledge i can’t say more


Voila voila

PS: all the software i use is for free, as i didn’t find one need to be paid (for Mac)

Just tried calibre with .chm (complied HTML file) and it was able to parse them and find the metadata for them.

I still need to import them to my iPad, but that should be no problem. I have converted 32 books so far, and many many more to go...

Originally Posted by deckyon

Just tried calibre with .chm (complied HTML file) and it was able to parse them and find the metadata for them.

I still need to import them to my iPad, but that should be no problem. I have converted 32 books so far, and many many more to go...

Calibre is nearly perfect, but is mainly based on the file you have … I use it a lot for convert all the good book i grab over the web … so after i enjoy to read clean book in my ipad