Week 1 Reading: Open Textbook Formats Explained
You will notice that open textbooks are available in a number of different technical formats, some of which may not be familiar to you. The reason for this is because research into student preferences around textbook formats shows that students want flexibility. You may have students who prefer physical textbooks, while others will want their textbook delivered to their favorite eReader software. Still others prefer the familiarity of PDF or a website.
Here is a brief guide to the different, common types of document formats that open textbooks are available in.
ePub
ePub is a standard format for ebooks. You will need an eReader to use ePub files. eReaders are available as stand alone devices (such as a Nook or Kobo reader) and as software packages that you can install on your PC, Mac, tablet or mobile phone.
There are a number of eReaders available for free, and many have features such as cloud synching, which allows you to read your book on a tablet, PC and phone and keep the book in synch. Many also offer annotation and note-taking capabilities.
ePub is superior to PDF in that the text in ePub readers can reflow based on the size of the device you are reading on, giving you a smooth side to side reading experience. You can also resize the text.
Use ePub if you have a Nook, Kobo or other dedicated eReading device or have downloaded and installed eReader software on your tablet, PC, or mobile device. Note that Kindle does not support ePub. Instead you will want to use the .mobi format (see below).
Recommended free eReader software & devices compatible with ePub
Software | Supported Platforms | Available as eReader device? | Requires Registration? |
Adobe Digital Editions | PC, Mac, Android, iOS | No. Software only | No |
Sony eReader | PC, Mac, Android, iOS | Yes | Yes |
Kobo | PC, Mac, Android, iOS | Yes | Yes |
Nook | PC, Mac, Android, iOS | Yes | Yes |
Google Play Books | Android | No | Yes – Google account |
iBooks | iOS | No | Yes |
blio | PC, Android, iOS | No | Yes |
These are just a few of the many ePub readers available. Wikipedia has an extensive comparison list of eReaders.
MOBI
Students should choose the MOBI format if they have an Amazon Kindle or use the Amazon Kindle software. You do not need to have a Kindle device to use the Kindle software. Kindle apps and software are available for download on Mac, PC, Android, BlackBerry, Windows OS and iOS.
Website/HTML
Wherever possible, the BC open textbook project will make a web version of the textbook available that can be accessed with a standard web browser. An HTML website is a good format to use to distribute your textbook to students as it is a universal format that does not require any additional software beyond a web browser. HTML is also a good format to distribute your textbook in if you want others to be able to edit or customize your book. If possible, you can create a zip file of your HTML documents and make those available for other instructors to download, edit and host on their own websites.
PDF is a common file format that requires a PDF reader. It lacks the text reflowing capabilities of ePub. Free PDF readers include Adobe Reader, Foxit, and Nitro. PDF is a good format to distribute a textbook to students in as it is common and most students will know how to work with a PDF document. However, if you have created a textbook and make it available for other instructors to modify as they see fit, you should also make your source files available so they can edit the book as PDF files are very difficult to edit.
Word
Some open textbooks are available as Word documents. You will need Microsoft Word or a software package compatible with Word, such as the free OpenOffice, to view these files. Word documents can be used to distribute a textbook to students as it is a common file format. However, it is more common that you would convert the Word document to PDF, ePub or HTML for distribution to students and provide Word as a source file for others who may want to edit or modify the textbook.
LaTeX
LaTeX is a document format often used when complex scientific or mathematical equations and notations are required. LaTeX requires special software to read and edit. These files are not recommended for students, and are primarily provided as source files for instructors who wish to modify or customize a textbook.
Useful platforms & tools for adapting open textbooks
While we will be using a tool called PressBooks for this workshop, it is not the only tool that can be used to adapt an open textbook, providing that you have the textbook in the format required.
If there is a textbook you want to use and it is unavailable in a format that can be edited (like PDF), then contact the author directly and see if they will make their source files available to you. Most authors who have released a textbook under an open license are happy to share their work.
Word Processing Tools (MS Word)
For some, Microsoft Word can be a useful tool if the original author has released their book in Word or Open Office formats. And while it is possible to distribute your Word document in other formats, it is not as straightforward and requires additional conversion tools. Additionally, native Word documents don't work very well on mobile devices, unlike an ePub or well formatted website does.
Connexions
Connexions is both an open textbook publishing platform and an open textbook repository hosted by Rice University. It is the platform that many of the popular OpenStax College textbooks are hosted on. If you are using an OpenStax textbook as your source material, using the Connexions platform to adapt your open textbook is a good route to go. It also outputs a web version of the book as well as a PDF and ePub version.
Additional tools
A number of these platforms are free and can be used to modify existing open textbooks, or convert documents from one format to another.
- Calibre (Windows & Mac) an ePub reader & document conversion tool. The Swiss Army knife of conversion tools.
- Sigil - Open Source tool for creating and/or editing ePub books
- eCub – Another Open Source tool for creating and/or editing ePub books
- pandoc – powerful universal document conversion tool (LaTeX, Word, ePub, HTML & more)
- Adobe Acrobat Pro – Not free, but useful for converting PDF to other formats. PDF conversion is a tricky process and chances are you will have to do significant manual clean-up. But this is the best tool to get you started cponverting PDF documents.
- PDFtoHTML – Open source utility to convert PDF to HTML
- TeXworks (Win/Mac/Linux) – Open Source TeX editor
- Texmaker (Win/Mac/Linux) – Open Source TeX editor
Attribution
This page is an adaptation. It is a mashup of content from 2 different BCcampus sources. Modify an Open Textbook and Open Textbook Formats Explained. Both are used under a Creative Commons Attribution license.