BISG Field Guide to Fixed Layout Update Errors

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) this week released a revised edition of their Field Guide to Fixed Layout for Ebooks (Version 1.2), but it is still fraught with errors not fixed from the last edition, as well as adding new confusion via poor editing and worse research. You can download it for free from the link above (once you register for an account), which is worth doing, as it does contain some useful information in among the rest; you just have to know which is which.

A new section has been added, for example, called "Authoring Tools & Limitations" which, since Tools is plural, would presumably purport to outline a number of the primary applications currently in use for the production of fixed layout ebooks, such as iBooks Author, Jutoh, CircularFlo, MadeFire, or at the very least the two free programs offered by Amazon, Kindle Comic Creator and the Kindle Kids Book Creator. But in fact, the only tool actually discussed is InDesign CC's ePub export feature. No other program is discussed, or even mentioned. That said, the extensive list of InDesign's limitations is well worth a read, since it details exactly the reasons why I do not use InDesign for ebook production, nor recommend it, at least for the creation of Kindle fixed layout source files.

And on the topic of KF8, the following are just the primary errors to be found in the section on the Kindle fixed layout format...

1.) In the information regarding the Orientation Lock options (page 26, item #3), it states that none is a valid option, along with portrait and landscape, but then later contradicts this with a paragraph stating (incorrectly) that "you cannot have a book that can be viewed in both portrait and landscape modes," which of course, is exactly what the none value is for. Moreover, the statement that "Orientation is a required value" is only partly correct, since it is optional in comics, and only required for children's ebooks, but in either case can be set to none (which is, in fact, the default value). Granted, auto-orientation does not function on many Kindle devices, but it does on some, and it is the none value that allows for this.

2.) Item #4 states incorrectly that the values of the "Book Type" entity "can only be set to children or comic." Since this entity is optional, it can also be left out (or set to none), in either case of which the effects of the fixed layout functions vary greatly from those of either of the other two book-types. See my Fixed Layout Functionality Chart for specific details on this, if you have not already. There is good reason not to include either book-type.
3.) The last sentence on the bottom of page 26 cuts off mid-steam at the top of the following page, but seems to suggest that two-page spreads are possible only with the comic book-type. This is incorrect, since it works on some devices and not on others for both children's and comics, as well as those containing no book-type value (or a value of none), as can be seen in item #2 in the Fixed Layout Functionality Chart referenced above. However, the comic book-type does support two-page spreads more widely than either of the other two options, though not consistently. While I am sure it is beyond the scope of the Field Guide to provide these specifics, such universal statements as those given tend to be misleading, and are therefore less than helpful.
4.) The Region Magnification entity is irrelevant, since the value is set automatically by Kindlegen based on the presence or absence of region mag code in the converted file itself. The value will be set to the correct value regardless of what the content creator enters in the OPF - even, in fact, if no value or entity is added to the metadata at all. Therefore, there is little point in adding it manually, one way or the other.
5.) The statement that "KF8 fixed-layout format lacks pan and zoom" is incorrect. No, you cannot pinch and zoom pop-up regions, but you can pinch and zoom background images inserted using the <img src= > embedding method after double tapping the image (while those referenced via CSS div id's are locked). This is shown by Amazon's own Comics Sample file, which uses the unlocked insertion method almost exclusively. Moreover, pinch and zoom is a fundamental feature of the Virtual Panels function for KF8 comics that don't include any custom magnification regions: the pinch and zoom is automatically applied by Kindlegen without any active effort on the content creator's part. Refer to Item #4, Notes 6 & 7, on the Fixed Layout Functionality Chart for specific details on this.
This is just a sample of the errors and misleading information found in BISG's Field Guide. For this publication to be truly useful each of the sections and sub-sections provided needs to be greatly expanded, with detailed discussions of each specific topic, and the particular details pertaining to each platform and format, particularly if they actually expect readers to donate up to $50, as prompted by the "Pay What You Want" radio buttons on the download page. I'm not sure who in the publishing world would feel satisfied paying that much for so little rudimentary information when much more detailed data is available on blogs such as this for free. But it's your money, you can spend it as you like. I recommend the free option.