MadCap Software Forums

Can anyone point me to a good example of an EPUB output published with MadCap Flare? I am writing a visual step-by-step guide (one step per page) and can't use HTML for a number of reasons. My options are therefore PDF or EPUB and I am not sure which way to go. The file will be viewed on PCs and Samsung tablets.
Thanks
Isabelle

Well, you can use HTML -- I mean, if each step is a topic, you can certainly have just that step (topic) display. But as to EPUB or PDF, PDF can be used by virtually anyone. EPUB may require your users to download an EPUB reader (Kindle, etc.) to view.

Ask yourself where your audience will be when using the guide. Desktop/laptop, tablet, phone?

I checked the Madcap Customer Showcase, but couldn't seem to find an EPUB example.

My experience is that Flare generates a pretty good pdf (not as good as LaTeX) but pretty poor epubs. You can fix a lot of junk code afterwards with Sigil or other epub editor, but I switched to OxygenXML just for the problems with epub targets. Flare generates very good html output, and that is its strength. It is not as versatile for word, pdf, and epub output as advertised.

Thanks for your thoughts - I have decided to stick with PDF after reading about your trials&tribulations with EPUB. Unfortunately HTML is not an option in this case. My users won't have access to the internet (shocking I know) and in the past distributing a zipped file of HTML files has caused too many issues. In addition, I need to submit the file to regulatory bodies and some will only accept PDF. Isabelle