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Tag: HTML5

Amazon Fires Up HTML 5 In Kindle Format 8 To Replace Mobi

October 22, 2011 /

HTML5 LogoAmazon has announced HTML 5 support in the upcoming Kindle Format 8. Kindle Format 8 (KF8) will replace Mobi 7 in the Kindle Fire and eventually the entire Kindle line of eReaders. Amazon has a complete list of KF8 enhancements here.

For me the main excitement is the fact that my very HTML centric method of producing eBooks is likely to benefit greatly from the move to what appears to be a very HTML 5-ish KF8. In particular, making a graphics heavy book like The Great Robot Adventure, which presented a great challenge to publish on the Kindle, should be a lot easier in KF8. I can’t wait to put the CSS3 and Scalable Vector Graphics support to the test!

As Amazon gears up to launch the Kindle Fire in a few weeks, moves like this, lowering the barriers to publishing great content, can only tighten their grasp on and dominance of the eBook market. One begins to wonder if anyone else can stand against the Amazon juggernaut for much longer.

The Balkanization Of Reading

September 3, 2011 /

I finally bought a Kindle this week. I ran into some issues publishing The Great Robot Adventure that could only be fully addressed with the actual hardware in hand. I’m happy to say that the issues have been resolved and the new book is now on sale for Kindle, Nook, and iPad.

My New KindleAt this point, I now have 5 electronic devices on which I can read eBooks. This was certainly not my intent. Ideally, I’d like to be able to read all of my eBooks on a single device, but this will remain only a dream and not something that most people will be able to experience in practice. There are too many strong commercial interests conspiring against one eReader to rule them all.

Right now the iPad comes closest to my ideal universal eReader. It’s perfect for digital comics and manga, and okay for plain text in low light situations where screen glare is not an issue. The iPad has reader apps for all of the major eBook sellers, but recent changes to Apple’s in-app purchasing rules are threatening to bring these apps to an end. While Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others have modified their apps to remove book purchasing links, the Financial Times pulled their app altogether. The Financial Times has replaced their app with an iPad/tablet optimized web site. Amazon has also launched such a site as their Kindle Cloud Reader.

Outside of multipurpose tablets and personal computers, the eReaders fall short simply because all titles are not available on all platforms. The popular ePub format goes a long way towards making this possible, but Amazon does not directly support it on the Kindle. And even if they did, competing DRM schemes would still stand in the way.

At the end of the day, it is not unusual now to find a stack of eReaders, an iPad, and my iPhone piled up next to my MacBook. And of course I still do a lot of reading the old fashioned way in printed books! I think this Balkanization of reading is unavoidable, but as our reading devices continue to get thinner and lighter, it may not be such a bad thing.

Thanks to this competition, stuffing a Nook, Kindle, and iPad into my messenger bag is still less weight than I typically had to carry in college. And I still have room for a printed manga or two!

Amazon Fires Back With HTML5 Kindle Reader

August 15, 2011 /

A couple of weeks ago, Apple’s in-app purchase rules change resulted in a number of companies with iOS book reader applications to remove links to their online bookstores from within their apps. Along with this change, there was some speculation that this might encourage the introduction of HTML5 based web applications to sidestep Apple’s rules.

Last week Amazon fired back with its own web-based Kindle Cloud Reader. This iPad optimized web app in a hands-on review by Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica on the whole got pretty good marks for a 1.0 release. And, of course, it integrates the Kindle Store into the app. By all means, read the review and check it out for yourself at read.amazon.com. While not a complete replacement for the native iOS and Android apps yet, in our increasingly networked world, it won’t be too long before we’ll no longer notice the difference. And the speed at which Amazon introduced the cloud reader suggests that this project has been underway for some time and will likely see future improvements.

Apple’s In-app Purchase Rules Encouraging HTML5 Web Apps

July 26, 2011 /

Audrey Watters at ReadWriteWeb writes that Apple’s new rules are encouraging eReader app makers to create HTML5 web applications rather than pay Apple 30% royalties on in-app purchases made on iOS devices, i.e. iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches.

HTML5 LogoI’d been watching this situation with a great deal of interest because it has affected the development of our own Learncrest iPhone app. Originally, the app was designed to follow the Amazon Kindle app model wherein if a reader clicked a purchase link in the app, it would start up mobile Safari and go to a web page to complete the purchase outside of the app. Unfortunately, Apple changed the rules to disallow this, forcing a rewrite of the app. Amazon, Kobo, Google, and other eReader app developers have been forced to remove buy buttons and any mention of their book purchasing web sites from their iOS apps.

Because the Learncrest app is being developed using PhoneGap, much of it is coded in HTML5, CSS, and Javascript. Rather than waste the affected bits, I decided to create a web version of the app suitable for iOS and Android mobile devices. This is still under development, but if you want to take a look, click here. Of course this looks best when viewed on a mobile device like the iPhone or any number of Android based smartphones.

Obviously, a web app is not the answer for every need right now, but as network connectivity becomes increasingly pervasive, soon the end user may not be able to tell the difference. If it is Apple’s grand strategy to encourage and promote HTML5 in this way, then kudos to them! If not, then WTF are they thinking?

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