More attractive ebooks could be on their way to a Kindle near you, as Amazon Kindle Format 8 (KF8) will come with HTML5 support.
The big news here is that publishers will be able to make ebooks a lot more exciting, using interactive elements and snazzier layouts.
Ebook designers will be able to make use of CSS3 support and fixed layouts, as well as embedded fonts for a wider variety of typefaces. Books will also be able to have drop caps (which is when the first letter of a paragraph is enlarged to add a bit of variety).
There's also the option to include floating elements and bullet-point lists as part of the 150 new formatting options, which will all add a bit more interest to the whole Kindle experience.
Fire in the hole
Unfortunately for us UK dwellers, the Kindle Fire will be the first Kindle product to support KF8, which means no flashily designed ebooks for us just yet.
It makes sense, though – the Kindle Fire is the first of the line up to offer an all-singing, all-dancing colour touchscreen, so expect gorgeous looking art books, picture books and comic boo… er, we mean graphic novels.
However, support for the new format is set to roll out over the next few months, taking in existing software and hardware as it goes.
