User`s guide

Publishing on Kindle: Guidelines for Publishers

• A copyright page

• Any relevant front or back matter (explanations of symbols, appendices, etc.)

• Definitions of words (this is the bulk of the file)

Dictionary Entry Template 7.1

A simple, clean format works best for in-book lookup. Amazon recommends these dictionary content and

formatting features for a high-quality user experience:

• The headword (word being defined) should come first in the entry, and should be

distinguished from surrounding content (on its own line, left flush, in bold).

• Every dictionary entry should contain a definition (or translation, for bilingual dictionaries).

• Horizontal rules should appear between each entry.

• Each alphabet letter section should begin on a new page.

• Images should be avoided (see section 3.6 for image constraints).

• Tables should not be used (see section 3.7 for table constraints).

• Font color, size and typeface should not be forced (see section 3.1 for text guidelines).

Metadata: Creating the OPF File 7.2

The OPF file of a dictionary is similar to that of other Kindle books, except that it contains specialized

metadata tags in the <x-metadata> section. These extra tags in the OPF file set the source language

and the target language for the dictionary. If the dictionary has multiple indices, the OPF file also specifies

the name of the primary lookup index.

• The <DictionaryInLanguage> element contains the ISO 639 language code for the

language of the books this dictionary is designed to be used on. For a Spanish-French

dictionary, the input language is Spanish.

• The <DictionaryOutLanguage> element contains the ISO 639 language code for the

language of the definitions returned by the dictionary. For a Spanish-French dictionary, the

output language is French.

• The <DefaultLookupIndex> element indicates the index that will open first when the

dictionary is used for lookup from another eBook. The default index must be specified if the

dictionary has more than one index. The index name that is wrapped in the

<DefaultLookupIndex> tags in the OPF file also should appear as the value of the name

attribute in the <idx:entry> elements in the content of the dictionary (see section 7.3.3).

As an example, for a Spanish-French dictionary, the input language code would be es; the output

language code would be fr, and the primary index might be named Spanish.

Example: (Bilingual Dictionary Metadata)

<x-metadata>

<DefaultLookupIndex>Spanish</DefaultLookupIndex>

...

</x-metadata>

For a monolingual dictionary, the same language code must appear twice: once to identify the input

language, and again to identify the same language as the output language. To identify a regional variant

for the source and/or target languages, a regional suffix may be appended to the ISO 639 code. For

example, en-gb indicates British English, while en-us indicates US English.

Example: (Monolingual Dictionary Metadata, Regional Variant)

<x-metadata>

Kindle Publishing Guidelines Amazon.com 57