Electronic publishing, also known as EPUB, is a thriving XML format that is commonly used to create books for digital publishing. It’s certainly not the only format of its kind, EPUB is fairly new to the digital publishing scene, but it has attracted a great deal of attention from major digital publishers. Although the format has been designed to work with e-books, it has a host of other applications and can easily be used to develop other types of documentation. If you haven’t been submitted to EPUB yet, here’s a look at the pros and cons of the format to help you make an informed decision.

The professionals

Unified Standard: The widespread acceptance of e-books led many companies to jump on the digital train with the introduction of their own e-book readers. However, this has caused chaos as the offerings of most of these establishments lack a unified standard. On the other hand, the advent EPUB has been an effort in the right direction, as its goal is to set a standard for digital publishing; the format can be used on a variety of devices.

Open format: unlike other popular e-book formats; EPUB is an open standard tool, which means that it can be used by almost anyone; from individual authors to large publishers without the risk of being sued or paying high fees. The open format of EPUB is one of the main reasons for its popularity, in addition to the superlative functionality it offers.

Independent Governance: One of the greatest benefits of using EPUB is that the format is governed independently; this means that there are no corporate houses waiting to benefit from the success of the format. In addition, the format is not adapted to specific products of certain companies. Therefore, a file created with EPUB can be used on a large number of devices, which simplifies things for editors.

Text Reflow Possibility: EPUB also has a unique reflow feature that allows books to fit the size of the screen they are viewed on. So whether you are using a 10.1 inch iPad or a 3.5 inch cell phone screen, you will be able to read an e-book that has been published by using EPUB. When using e-books published in EPUB format, users of small screens do not have to constantly zoom in and out and scroll while users of large screens will be able to read faster as there will be more words on the screen at one time.

Compatibility: EPUB exhibits superior compatibility that has not been seen in any other current e-book format, including the popular PDF. EPUB uses two languages, XHTML and XML; this means that it can be used with a variety of software. Also, platforms that already use XML can easily be transferred to EPUB. Another advantage is that EPUB is delivered in a single zip folder in which an archive is created to store the organizational and content files of an e-book.

The Cons The requirements for creating a zip file for EPUB are extremely strict. Also, unlike other formats, using EPUB requires a certain amount of prior editorial knowledge; the user will also need to be familiar with the syntax of XML and XHTML and will also need to know how to create a stylesheet to construct valid files.

Despite the technical knowledge required to use EPUB to its maximum efficiency, a surprising number of people use EPUB as their primary e-book creation format. EPUB’s impressive functionality, compatibility, and myriad of features have made it a favorite of publishers around the world.