Practical Android
A sample of how I would prepare your Android programming book for print: a typeset chapter with code, a screenshot, a diagram and a table; separate paperback and hardcover interiors; a full cover with spine; and the preflight and QA checks I run before delivery. Every file below is real and opens in any PDF viewer.
Front, spine and back in one file
Full wrap at 12.95 × 9.25 in for a 280-page paperback: 0.125 in bleed on every side and a 0.70 in spine. The ISBN barcode area is kept clear on the back.
Readable at every size
The title is set large and in high contrast so it still reads as a store thumbnail. The tree on the front is the Compose UI tree from Chapter 1, the book’s own subject used as the artwork, with no stock imagery to license.
150 px90 px56 pxIllustrated covers, light and dark
If you don’t have a cover design yet, I can help choose the style and colour scheme and prepare several directions like these. Both use the same layout and spine, so switching between them is quick.
Typographic colour variants
Green · the main print file
Paper · light, classic
Signal · navy and orange
Illustrated · light
Illustrated · darkTypeset pages, as they will print
Garamond for the text, JetBrains Mono for code, headers that change between left and right pages, chapters opening on a right-hand page.
Two editions, one layout
Only the margins and the cover geometry change between editions, so a correction made once appears in both.
| Setting | Paperback | Hardcover |
|---|---|---|
| Trim size | 6 × 9 in | 6 × 9 in |
| Inside margin (gutter) | 0.75 in | 0.875 in |
| Outside margin | 0.5 in | 0.625 in |
| Top / bottom | 0.75 / 0.8 in | 0.75 / 0.8 in |
| Interior bleed | None | None |
| Cover bleed | 0.125 in | 0.75 in wrap + 0.4 in hinge |
| Body text | EB Garamond 11 / 13.6 pt, justified, hyphenated | |
| Code | JetBrains Mono 7.6 pt, numbered lines, no listing split under 22 lines | |
| Images | 300 ppi minimum, checked per image | |
| Fonts | All embedded and subset | |
Notion Press does not publish fixed numbers for all of these. I confirm the margins, paper caliper and cover template with their team for your page count before the final export, and change the values in one place if theirs differ.
Checked before it leaves my desk
Results for the sample files on this page, produced by the same checks I run on the full book.
What the QA report looks like
I flag issues for you to decide on and never change the technical meaning. These rows are examples of the format.
| Where | Issue | Suggested fix | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ch 4 · p 87 | Listing 4.3 is referenced but missing; text jumps from 4.2 to 4.4. | Please send the listing or confirm renumbering. | Blocks print |
| Ch 6 · Fig 6.2 | Screenshot is 640 px wide, about 140 ppi at column width. | Re-capture at 1440 px or use at half width. | Blocks print |
| Ch 2 · §2.3 | Heading numbered 2.3 twice. | Renumber second heading to 2.4. | Fix |
| Ch 9 · p 214 | Kotlin line exceeds 72 characters and would wrap mid-expression. | Break after the operator, as in the rest of the book. | Fix |
| Back matter | No index or glossary. | Optional; an index adds about 8–12 pages. | Your call |
Every asset is cleared for print
| Asset | Source | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| EB Garamond | Google Fonts | SIL OFL 1.1, commercial use |
| JetBrains Mono | JetBrains | SIL OFL 1.1 |
| Space Grotesk | Florian Karsten | SIL OFL 1.1 |
| Cover artwork | Drawn for the book | Original, owned by the authors |
| App screenshot | Rendered from sample UI | Original |
| AI-generated assets | None | Disclosed if any are used |
The cover avoids the Android robot and Google logos, which are trademarks. “Android is a trademark of Google LLC” is on the copyright page.
Editable, not locked
The interior is set in Typst, a modern typesetting system with LaTeX-grade output. Text, styles and margins live in one plain-text source, so changes are fast and repeatable. The cover is delivered as a layered 300 dpi PSD plus its editable source.
