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E-Book Reader Compatibility

Monday, February 28, 2022

It has come to my attention that the rendering of the Long Division books is, shall we say, less than optimal in some bookreaders.

I will say first that the appearance of the physical books has always been top priority for me. This is not to say that the electronic editions are of no concern. I want my readers to enjoy the stories no matter which option they choose.

My portable devices are all iOS based systems. Long before locking down the books in final print form, I do a LOT of proofreading on my iPad and iPhone using the Books app, Adobe Acrobat, and the Kindle app. This lets me verify the PDF (which the print edition is based on), the EPUB, and the MOBI files. I do not have access to a real Kindle or to any Android based devices, so I am unable to test everything.

One problem that has come up on those platforms is there are quite a few blank pages inserted at the beginning of new sections. I deliberately force the section headers and the first chapter of a new section onto a physical right-hand page. In the bookreaders that I use, this can result in two blank screens, but some Android readers display a lot more.

One more which seems to be unique to the Moonreader app is that some sections appear as highlighted. There is no clear reason for this behavior.

If I can resolve these issues, I'll make corrected copies available for my customers to download. But at this time, no solution is forthcoming.

—Ursus