The Technicalities of K12 Publishing: PDF vs ePub

It might be safe to assume that most non-technical people do not enjoy navigating technicalities. Yet here we are. 

In a world increasingly dominated by technology, ignoring it is not a wise business decision, to say the least!

As a K12 publisher, it’s no longer enough to just digitize one’s content. If the past few years have shown us anything, it’s how quickly we need to be able to adapt, realign and reinvent ourselves, irrespective of industry. And this need has developed largely due to technological changes. 

As the K12 education system transitions to hybrid and online learning, the content one provides needs to transition as well. This is where file formats play an important role. In this article, we’ll focus on the two most popular eBook file formats, ePub & PDF. Let’s get right into it.

What Are PDF Files?

The Portable Document Format, aka PDF, is a file format that was developed by Adobe in 1992. It was designed to be the digital version of hard copy documents. Essentially, it was the same as a printed copy, except that you could now read and store your document on a screen. 

What Are ePub Files?

ePub or electronic publication is an open-source file format that is supported across multiple hardware and software platforms. It was initially developed by the  International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), which is now part of the World Wide Web Consortium. The latest version of this format is ePub3 which came into effect in October 2011.

How Does ePub Compare to PDF for K12 Content?

Reflowable Content:

One of the main reasons for the popularity of the ePub format is its ability to reflow content. Reflowable content is content that can realign itself based on the device it is being consumed on. 

Meaning, when the content is being read, the reader does not need to physically do anything to view the content clearly (i.e. - No zooming in/out, panning, rotating or pinching the screen), leading to a more pleasant reading experience. 

While this sounds ideal, it must be noted that certain kinds of K12 content might not perform well in a reflowable format. Even in these scenarios, ePub offers the option of creating what is called a ‘fixed ePub’ file.

Fixed ePub files work better than PDFs because they allow for the addition of interactive, multimedia elements. Unlike in PDFs, these elements can be viewed without the reader having to download any additional software. 

Easier to Edit: 

Educational content is never static. It needs to be updated frequently so students have the latest and most accurate information at all times.

Most often, to edit a PDF file, you need to access paid software. ePub files, on the other hand, are an open-source format that can be edited freely, with just a basic knowledge of HTML (A kind of code used for web-based content).

Multimedia & Interactive Content:

ePubs are a great format for embedding multimedia content into your digital textbooks. They support multiple media formats and have a user-friendly interface for quick edits.

Interactive elements like puzzles, quizzes and activities are easily created in an ePub environment. Using CSS (Another kind of code), these interactive elements can be used across devices. This not only provides a more engaging learning environment, it also gives students the opportunity to complete tasks independently. 

Multilingual Support:

The ePub format supports both left-to-right and right-to-left text, allowing you to easily convert your interactive digital textbooks to multiple languages. Using an ePub, you have the ability to widen your student-base, on a global scale.

Although PDFs do have some workarounds to incorporate multiple languages, these are usually more complicated to implement as compared to ePubs.

Safeguards Your Content:

Those who regularly publish any kind of content online, are all too familiar with the issues of piracy and copyright infringement. When converting legacy K12 content, there are a few ways to safeguard your content.

At the cost of sounding like a broken record, we recommend using the ePub format. While PDFs allow for passwords, these aren’t too effective. Passwords can be cracked and shared. Once that happens, you don’t really know who’s using your eBook and for what purpose. 

ePubs on the other hand allow for Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection. With DRM protection, the level of security for your content is much higher.  Amongst other things, you have control over who has access to your content and for how long. 

Conclusion

Today, ePubs are the most widely supported and adopted eBook format. In fact, unless there’s a specific need, it is advisable to create all your eBooks as ePubs. 

With that, you now have an overview of the technicalities of K12 publishing. That wasn’t too bad, was it? 

If you’d like to go a step back, read our previous article about choosing the right publishing platform. Alternatively, you could also download our guide for more such insights into K12 publishing.

Thanks for reading! 

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