OCP Java SE 8 Programmer II Exam Study Guide: Kindle Issues?

[Charles O'Leary]

Greetings (again) Kathy, Bert, & Elisabeth.

I know being Kindle authors can be a challenge within itself possibly.  Thanks for showing love to your Kindle readers! 

With that said, do you think the disadvantages of the Kindle format are or won't be a factor for this book?  Or would you prefer that your avid Kindle readers strongly consider getting your printed book?

Secondly, if necessary, will there be (at least a separate) Kindle Errata for those avid Kindle purchasers? 

Finally, if necessary, even though there may not necessarily be any necessary print corrections to your book, is there any established rollout and/or timeline of Kindle corrections if it were to be necessary? 

Thanks,
Charles

[Bert Bates]

I wish we had better news for you. We really designed the book's pages for the print edition. In general we think that formats like epub currently make it virtually impossible to do a good job creating technical training material. These formats are meant for novels

So we focused all of our energies on the print edition, and I'd predict you won't be too happy trying to study from this book on your kindle. we're sorry!

[Elisabeth Robson]

An amazon reviewer has already posted that the code snippets are too small to read on the Kindle and they can't zoom, so that right there is a major issue. As Bert said, we formatted the material specifically for the print book.

Kindle books work best when there's no real formatting - like for a novel, where the text can just flow... for the OCP8 book we formatted it specifically to fit code on the page in certain places, as well as tables, "exam watch"es etc, so it can't "flow" easily into a format like the Kindle.

Unfortunately we have zero control over how the Kindle edition is created or updated...

[Charles O'Leary]

Bert Bates wrote:In general we think that formats like epub currently make it virtually impossible to do a good job creating technical training material.

As someone that isn't up to speed on any of the non-Kindle formats (and their specific strengths and weaknesses), could you please speak to the level of confidence in your publisher's choice of Vitalsource for EBook enthusiasts?  (I own an unrelated Vitalsource book that seemingly looks "identical" to print from my desktop [albeit I keep having, likely unrelated connection/size problems over 4G LTE with the download on my android phone.  For those that may not know, as with Vitalsource, many mobile sites "punt" to their mobile sources when/if available, and in my specific case, a download is required.])  Thus, if/when necessary, your OCP Java SE 8 Programmer II Exam Study Guide Vitalsource book will be updated in "real time" as the print edition gets its updates?    

Thanks,
Charles

[Bert Bates]

Not sure if this helps, but the book comes with a CD (remember CDs?). The CD contains practice questions and also all of the chapters in .pdf format.

[Charles O'Leary]

Thanks

[Campbell Ritchie]

Bert Bates wrote:. . . remember CDs? . . .

Of course I do. If I go to a concert and get the performers to sign a CD, that makes a really good Christmas/birthday present

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Bert Bates wrote:Not sure if this helps, but the book comes with a CD (remember CDs?). The CD contains practice questions and also all of the chapters in .pdf format.

I think it is also worth mentioning that you can get the CD materials online for download if you've purchased the book. For those readers who remember CDs but no longer have a reader for them!