Ebook Quality Assurance

Course details

Quality assurance is one of the most important steps in ebook creation, but also one of the most overlooked. This course was designed to teach anyone—regardless of their technical skills—how to effectively test and validate EPUB, Kindle, and other ebook files on different devices. Learn the inner workings of ebook file formats, which technologies affect how an ebook displays on different devices, and the differences between fixed layout and reflowable ebooks. Instructor Joshua Tallent also discusses unique retailer specifications and device limitations, how to load ebooks on different devices for testing, and essential details on performing automated and manual quality assurance testing.

Learning objectives
Why quality assurance is vital for ebooks
Ebook formats
Differences between fixed-layout and reflowable ebooks
Working with the FlightDeck tool
Retailer specifications and devices
Sideloading and opening files
Necessary devices for ebook QA

Concepts

Introduction

Why quality assurance is vital for ebooks
What is quality assurance

Ebook Formats

EPUB
Kindle
Other formats

Understanding Ebook Display

The four elements of ebook display
Fixed layout vs. reflowable
Overview of common design elements

Validation

Introduction to validation and EpubCheck
FlightDeck

Retailer Specifications and Devices

Learn the specifications and devices
Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Google

Sideloading and Opening Files

What devices you need for QA
Applications you need for QA, and updating your software
Sideloading manually to an ereading device
Sideloading to apps on iOS or Android

Manual Quality Assurance

Recommended QA workflow
QA step 1 - The big picture
QA step 2 - Fonts and special characters
QA step 3 - Structure
QA step 4 - Images
QA step 5 - Tables and charts
QA step 6 - Front matter and back matter
QA step 7 - Media and interactivity
QA step 8 - Fixed layout
QA step 9 - Accessibility
Creating your own QA checklists
How to report issues you find

Conclusion

Final thoughts and where to go next