Standard Ebooks Manual of Style

The Standard Ebooks Manual of Style provides a comprehensive framework for editing and producing ebooks. It covers everything from internal code style (XHTML, CSS, SVG) to semantic enhancement, typography, and metadata.

Key Principles:

• Fallback Rule: If a specific rule is not covered in this manual, producers must follow the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.
• Modernization: Producers are expected to adjust older conventions (e.g., from books published before the 20th century) to match the modern rules defined in this manual.
• Discretion: While the manual provides strict directives, producers are encouraged to use professional judgment for literary exceptions where a rule might conflict with the art of the book. When in doubt, contact the Standard Ebooks Editor in Chief via the Google Group.

The Table of Contents lists the main headings in the book.

Standard Ebooks implementation note: The table of contents is omitted from the ebook's spine. Instead, it is presented to the reader via their ereader's native ToC feature.

Standard Ebooks uses specific patterns for these concluding elements:

• Colophon: Contains information about the publisher, author, original publication date, edition, and cover artist. Standard Ebooks colophons follow a standardized pattern.
• Copyright Page: Explains the copyright status of the work. While usually in the front matter, for Standard Ebooks productions, the copyright page is placed in the back matter as the final item in the book.

Letters in the project must be wrapped in a <blockquote> element with the semantic inflection epub:type="z3998:letter".

Special handling applies to telegrams: they must include the HTML class telegram, which applies font-variant: all-small-caps; via CSS.

When a letter is wrapped in a <blockquote>, any nested <header> or <footer> elements must include role="presentation" to maintain proper semantic structure.

<blockquote epub:type="z3998:letter">
  <!-- Letter content -->
</blockquote>

<!-- For telegrams -->
<blockquote epub:type="z3998:letter" class="telegram">
  <!-- Telegram content -->
</blockquote>

The build process automatically replaces specific strings in .rst files:

• VERSION: Replaced with the manual's version number (defined in index.rst). This is useful for creating version-specific links, e.g., `Link </manual/VERSION/path>`__.
• PD_YEAR: Replaced with the current public domain year (e.g., 1926).
• PD_STRING: Replaced with the date the public domain ends (e.g., January 1, 1927).

The title string is a single sentence used in various templates that lists the work's title, author, and contributors. Follow this algorithm:

1. Start with an empty string.
2. Append the title of the work (exclude subtitles).
3. Append , by followed by the author(s):
   • Two authors: separate with and.
   • Three or more authors: separate with , and use , and before the final author.
4. If there is a translator: append . Translated by followed by the translator name(s) (use the same multiple-name logic as authors).
5. If there is an illustrator: append . Illustrated by followed by the illustrator name(s) (use the same multiple-name logic as authors).

Note: The title string may contain periods but must never end with a period.

Ebooks are organized into three primary partitions. These partitions are critical when building the Table of Contents (ToC), as the Landmarks section of the ToC requires items to be labeled with the appropriate partition identifier.

1. Front Matter: Material appearing before the main content (e.g., dedication, epigraph, introduction).
2. Body Matter: The main content of the book, typically divided into chapters, stories, or poems.
3. Back Matter: Material following the main content (e.g., endnotes, appendix, afterword).

Note: While the order below follows a typical book structure, exceptions may be made.

Metadata for a Standard Ebook is stored in the ./src/epub/content.opf file. This file follows the structure generated by the se create-draft command.

Important Rules:

• Do not rearrange the order of elements in the file.
• Metadata makes heavy use of Schema.org metadata.
• URLs used in metadata should use https where possible and should not contain query strings (unless the minimum necessary query string is required to render the base resource).

Use the <hgroup> element when a section's title consists of multiple components, such as a title and a subtitle, or an ordinal and a title.

Structure requirements:

• An <hgroup> must contain exactly one <h1>–<h6> child.
• Any additional title components (like subtitles) must be <p> children.
• <hgroup> should only be used if more than one title element is being grouped.

<hgroup>
  <h2 epub:type="title">Between the Scenes</h2>
  <p epub:type="subtitle">Progress of the Story Through the Post</p>
</hgroup>