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Topic : Re: Color scheme for print and ebook I am currently writing a book intended for print (POD) and eBook (PDF/ePub displayed on different devices, including iPads). I use InDesign (CS4) to create the - selfpublishingguru.com

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epub (as well as kindle) are subsets of HTML. So, in essence, there's no difference between reading an e-book on a tablet and reading a webpage on a computer -- and you get some of the same problems. Color shifts between different computers has been plaguing web developers since the start.

I don't have inDesign, so I can't tell you where to go exactly, but here are some things to try:

Set the color palette to be "web safe". I know you can set your GIFs in indesign to be websafe, but I don't know about the rest. If it takes you all the way back to the old school 256 color scheme, it may not work for you, though.
Reduce the bit-depth of your color palette. Initially, ipad was supposed to have a 24-bit color depth, but everyone's complaining online that it doesn't seem to. So, start stepping that down. In fact, if I were you, I'd step it down as far as possible while still getting the same effect. Every device renders just a little bit differently, so you want to go for the lowest common denominator.
I believe bit-depth is where it's at, but if that doesn't help, start turning off features and reducing other settings that add complexity to the color rendering.
Change your colors. There are some colors that just won't display the same, no matter what you do. Others render consistently across devices. So, play around with other color sets if reducing complexity doesn't help.

It all revolves around quality - you want less, not more. If you have inDesign, then I'm sure you also have a really high end monitor to use it on. Tablets are not high end displays (with the possible exception of iPad 3) -- you have to target the low end.

One more thing to throw into the mix:
Remember that e-ink devices are black & white, so you'll want to make sure it works in grey-scale too.

Edit:
I just noticed from one of your comments that you're using CYMK. That's for printing, not displays. Set it to RGB instead. This alone may fix your problem.


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