Kindle Format 8 and Kindle Gen 2

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

Hi Scrivener Gang,

Just curious if there is anything to be aware of with Scrivener and the new Kindle Format 8. If I download the new version of Kindle Gen (v.2) that was just released, will it work with the current version of Scrivener or does it need some new update? Also, is there plans to include any of the new KDF 8 features into the Scrivener compiles anytime soon. (Supposedly, KDF 8 will do dropcaps, but I haven’t had the chance to play with it yet.)

Let me know.

Thanks,

T.

2

I haven’t got an answer to any of these questions yet, sorry. I didn’t realise it was out until you just told me. :slight_smile: I’ll have a look as soon as I get chance, although it won’t be until next week. I’ll have a look at any KDF8 features we can support, although it will be limited to features that Scrivener supports anyway, of course (drop caps sounds interesting though).

Thanks and all the best,
Keith

3

Sounds good. For what its worth, there seems to be no problem with using KindleGen v.2.3 to compile a .mobi file with the current version of Scrivener.

4

That’s good to know, thanks! I just got an email from Amazon today telling me that KindleGen 2 is out - I had signed up for updates, but you beat them to it. I’ll do some proper testing next week.

Of course, one problem is that I have no way of doing any testing with a Kindle Fire since they haven’t been released over here yet. :frowning:

Thanks and all the best,
Keith

5

Actually, there is a way to test Kindle Fire—sort of. The new Kindle Previewer v.2 that got released yesterday actually has a Kindle Fire emulator mode and will display content in KDF 8. I’ve been playing with it a little bit. The one difference I saw is that with compiles generated with the new KindleGen, the Previewer will recognize the new Scrivener generated “Beginning” tag while on ‘regular’ Kindle (e-ink, iOS) devices, but when you switch to Kindle Fire emulation mode, the Start tag seems to get lost. Probably a difference in the way KDF 8 handles or places Start tags?

6

I realised about Kindle Previewer almost immediately after posting. :slight_smile: I noticed the same about the start tag, and it’s already on my list for investigation.
Thanks and all the best,
Keith