subject: Exporting SVG images to ePub documents with InDesign [print this page] Exporting SVG images to ePub documents with InDesign
World is changing rapidly nowadays. Things, that we couldn't imagine even 20-30 years ago, became part of our life. Hadron collider...Well, not the best example, I agree. Gadgets, like IPhone, tablet PCs, eBook readers rushed into our lives. Nowadays, it is hard to meet someone with the book in the tube, bus, or in the street. The good old days.
If you have ever used any kind of eBook readers, or even have ever prepared text for them yourselves, you should probably know about ePub. ".epub" is the file extension of an XML format for reflowable digital books and publications. All eBook readers are meant to handle resizing, and reflowing as core values, and when we say "resize" we mean "vector". Indeed, vector graphics is ideal for this needs, and SVG is one of the most promising vector graphics formats.
Using SVG you will see, that resized Bitmap images will render much better in SVG; different icons and text look great, no matter, how they are scaled; equations and formulas, scourge of every e-book, rendered in SVG look great...Shall I continue?
Of course you can prepare .epub file with notepad and bare hands just stuff ZIP archive with everything you need! Or better wait, that was a bad joke. Tools like Adobe InDesign already supports export of its files to ePub format. The problem was, that InDesign hadn't supported SVG files until now, but it's over. Go to svg.scand.com and download "SVG Kit for Adobe Creative suite" - a set of plug-ins, that adds support of SVG file format to Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. Now you can easily export images to your .epub files both in SVG or GIF/JPG image formats.
From now on you are able to use all the potential of raster and vector graphics, depending on your needs, and discover all the advantages of SVG not only in publishing or prepress, but also on the screen of your laptop or eBook reader.
