Step by Step eBook Proofing
Open the Book in Apple Books
Visual Check
Go through the book page by page and check for missing/ incorrect items
- [ ] Ensure the navigation contents file is not visible
- [ ] Images and captions
- [ ] Headings
- [ ] Sidebars
- [ ] Missing styles e.g. italics, bolds
- [ ] Double check that everything looks good.
Table of contents
- [ ] ensure all sections are included
Copyright page
- [ ] Check Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication and Summary: are bold
- [ ] Check orcabook.com is a hyperlink
- [ ] Check isbn, pdf, epub, lcc, dcc are all in smallcaps
- [ ] Check that sections are properly spaced.
Open in Kindle Previewer
- [ ] Check to see if any elements are unreadable or display improperly
Open Epub in Sigil or Bbedit
content.opf
Click on the content.opf file
(If using BBEDIT it will be in the OEBPS folder)
Note: occasionally this file will be named something else but it will always end in .opf
See https://cloud.macblaze.ca/#contentopf for reference
Red indicates it might not be present
Starting at the top and working down:
Check spelling on the title:
- <dc:title id="title">The_TITLE</dc:title>
Check the sort for the title:
- <meta property="file-as" refines="#title">TITLE, The</meta>
Check if there is a subtitle. If so check the spelling, sort and that it appears correct in the full title:
- <dc:title id="subtitle">THE_SUBTITLE</dc:title>
- <dc:title id="fulltitle">The_TITLE: THE_SUBTITLE</dc:title>
- <meta property="file-as" refines="#fulltitle">TITLE: THE_SUBTITLE, The</meta>
Check the Series:
- <meta property="belongs-to-collection" id="id-1">Orca SERIES_TITLE</meta>
Check the Author spelling and sort:
- <dc:creator id="creator1">**AUTHOR_FIRST AUTHOR_LAST</dc:creator>
- <meta refines="#creator1" property="file-as">AUTHOR_LAST, AUTHOR_FIRST</meta>
Check the Illustrator spelling and sort:
- <dc:creator id="illustrator1">ILLUS_FIRST ILLUS_LAST</dc:creator>
- <meta refines="#illustrator1" property="file-as">ILLUS_LAST, ILLUS_FIRST</meta>
Check the translator and second authors if present.
Check the epub isbn:
- <dc:identifier id="epubISBN">9780000000000/dc:identifier>
- <dc:identifier id="bookid">urn:isbn:9780000000000</dc:identifier>
Check the print edition isbn:
- <dc:source id="src">urn:isbn:9780000000000/dc:source>
- <meta property="pageBreakSource">urn:isbn:9780000000000</meta>
Check the language is correct:
- <dc:language>en-US</dc:language>
Check the Pub Date:
- <dc:date>YEAR-MO-DA</dc:date>
Check the Rights statement:
- <dc:rights>Copyright © INSERT_YEAR AUTHOR_NAME</dc:rights>
or
- <a name="creators"></a><dc:rights>Copyright © Text INSERT_YEAR AUTHOR_NAME, Illustrations INSERT_YEAR ILLUS_NAME</dc:rights>
Make sure the description is present:
- <dc:description>THIS_IS_THE_DESCRIPTION</dc:description>
Skim over the accessibility metadata.
- Ensure ARIA property is present
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">ARIA</meta>
- and Index property is present (if it is non-fiction)
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">index</meta>
nav.xhtml
click on nav.xhtml
https://cloud.macblaze.ca/#nav-toc-landmarks-pagelist
- Check that there is a page list
- Scroll to the very bottom and check that the Landmarks are not spelled wrong
<li><a epub:type="bodymatter" href="chapter-01.xhtml">BOOK_TITLE</a></li>
cover.xhtml
Click on cover.xhtml
Check to see if Title element is correct and cover alt text is present.
Proofread cover alt text.
WRONG:
<title>Cover of BOOK_TITLE</title>
<img alt="ALT_TEXT_HERE" class="cover-image" role="doc-cover" epub:type="cover" src="filename.jpg" />
RIGHT:
<title>Cover of Payback</title>
<img alt="Payback by Deb Loughead. Logo: Orca Currents. It is dusk and a BMX bike is outlined with the legs and feet of a young person seen peddling the bicycle." class="cover-image" role="doc-cover" src="image/9781459814691.jpg" epub:type="cover"/>
Run Checks on all files
If using BBEdit:
Go to Search > Multi-File Search (Cmd-shift-F)
- Make sure the correct title is checked in the Search In box
In the Find window paste:
<i>|<em|<i\s
- Review, line by line all the results that have
<i>or<i class=”CLASS_NAME”>or<em>to see it the appropriate tag is used
In the Find window paste:
<b>|<b\s|<strong
- Review, line by line all the results that have
<b>or<b class=”CLASS_NAME”>or<strong>to see if the appropriate tag is used
In the Find window make sure Case Sensitive is checked, then paste:
(Version 1 excludes a series of common all capped words)
(?!DOCTYPE|ISBN|DCC|LCC|US|UTF|PDF|EPUB|AI|I+)[A-Z]{2,}
or
[A-Z]{2,}
- Review, line by line all the results that have All Caps to see if the words should we pronounced as a word e.g. MOTHER! or NASA
If Using Sigil
Go to Search > Find and Replace
- At the bottom make sure the Mode is Regex and the Selection is All HTML FIles
In the Find window paste:
<i>|<em|<i\s
- Click the Magnifying glass or Cmd F
- Check the result then hit the magnifying glass or Cmd-G
- Repeat until no results remain
In the Find window paste:
<b>|<b\s|<strong
- Click the Magnifying glass or Cmd F
- Check the result then hit the magnifying glass or Cmd-G
- Repeat until no results remain
In the Find window paste:
(Version 1 excludes a series of common all capped words)
(?!DOCTYPE|ISBN|DCC|LCC|US|UTF|PDF|EPUB|AI|I+)[A-Z]{2,}
or
[A-Z]{2,}
- Click the Magnifying glass or Cmd F
- Check the result then hit the magnifying glass or Cmd-G
- Repeat until no results remain
Run Through Epub-Checker
Run Through Ace by Daisy
Alt Text
If Echoes or non-fiction check the alt text for typos.
Methods
Method 1
- Non-fiction: will be in accompanying spreadsheet
- Echoes: Not currently in in spreadsheet but if it works better I can easily do that for you.
Method 2
Open in BBEdit or Sigil as above and search for
alt=
- Most images should all have an image description and not the placeholder (ALT_TEXT_HERE)
- Images that are purely decorative will have
alt="" role="presentation"
Method 3
Open in Thorium or https://demo.colibrio.com/
Click on image then click on speaker icon and listen to spoken alt text