EPUB vs. Digital Publishing Suite – What’s the Difference?
As we move beyond using Adobe InDesign only for printed publications, there are a number of options for creating a digital document. The most popular are eBooks, and apps created with the Digital Publishing Suite. The term “eBook” is used generically to describe a document created for an electronic reading device, whether it be an iPad, Nook, Kindle or other reader.
An EPUB is a specific file type, and can be read on the iPad, as well as many other tablets. A Kindle device requires the MOBIformat. The capabilities of tablet devices varies widely. Some have full-color displays, some are black and white. Some retain the fonts used in the original document, others do not. However, most devices allow the user to scale the font size up or down, therefore changing the total number of pages in the document. While the publication may contain audio, video and hyperlinks, it typically will not have many interactive features. In many ways, an eBook may have the same features and content that might be included in an InDesign document converted to PDF, but the content of an eBook will reflow to fit the tablet size (and user’s preference), while the content within a PDF is always fixed on a specific page.
Most eBooks are one-time publications, with no expected updates or versions. Many books that were once published in a traditional paper format are now available as eBooks. If the publication is created annually, it may still be produced as an eBook. You can easily convert an existing Adobe InDesign document into an eBook, and distribute it in a number of ways. You can sell it through iTunes (ePUB) or Amazon (MOBI), or simply place it on your web site for downloads (with or without payment).
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Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite is frequently used to publish magazines and periodicals, especially those that release new issues on a regular basis (often, monthly). The magazine can be made available on Apple’s Newsstand. The Digital Publishing Suite requires that your InDesign document be structured in a very specific way. Aside from the slight differences in tablet (device) sizes, the document will look very similar on all devices. It will have a fixed number of pages, with the exact fonts, sizes and layouts as the InDesign document. Think of a digital magazine, with interactive features such as scrolling text boxes, pop-up options (maps, in-depth descriptions), and live or static HTML/web interactions. It may include links to web sites, but it may also include options to browse an online store, or post comments directly to Facebook or Twitter. The biggest difference is the format: the final DPS document is an app, or application. To create the app, you must “subscribe” to Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite. Although you create your document using InDesign, the finished document(s) are submitted to Adobe, where it is converted to an application, and then submitted to Apple’s store.
There are three different levels of Adobe’s DPS to which you can subscribe: Single Edition, Professional and Enterprise. Customers who subscribe to DPS with a Professional or Enterprise account usually do so to create multi-issue apps that include a library full of folios, like a magazine with a new issue that comes out each month.
To learn more about Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite, download and read this PDF:
For information regarding all types of digital publications, view this video from Adobe’s 2013 MAX Conference:
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