International Digital Publishing Forum - EPUB 3

EPUB 3 rendering in EPUB 2 reading systems

matt.garrish — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:09:37 +0000

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Although EPUB 3 is not perfectly backwards compatible with EPUB 2, a goal of the recent revision was to ensure, as much as possible, a basic level of rendering when features overlap.

In this thread, we’d like to compile a list of best practices that content creators should consider implementing for optimal rendering in both EPUB 2 and 3 reading systems, as many readers are likely to be consuming the new format initially on older systems. (As these reading systems get updated to support the new standard, this information will naturally become less relevant to production.)

In that light, the following practices are recommended at this time:

An NCX should be included to ensure navigation and so that reading systems don’t generate errors due to its absence.
Any styling employing CSS3 properties needs to degrade gracefully, as CSS3 support was not included in EPUB 2.
Progressive enhancement techniques must be used for scripting as per the EPUB 3 specification, as scripting will not be available on many EPUB 2 reading systems.
The epub:switch element should be used to include fallbacks for embedded MathML content.
Embedded fonts may not render, so optimal fallback fonts should be listed in your CSS style sheets.
Audio and video content are not likely to render using the new HTML5 elements, so embedding the object element as a fallback is a possibility for systems that supported multimedia (providing transcripts should also be considered, as many will not)

Please post any pertinent information and questions in this thread and we will update the above list accordingly.

Guidelines and FAQ

bill — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:56:58 +0000

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EPUB 3

This "EPUB 3" forum is intended for questions and discussion about the latest version of EPUB, EPUB 3, including topics about the specification itself and/or supporting Reading Systems and other tools. Topics about EPUB accessibility should be posted in the "EPUB Accessibility" forum. Topics not specific to EPUB 3 or EPUB accessibility should be posted in the "IDPF/EPUB General" forum.

Thanks!

Bill McCoy
Executive Director, IDPF

Is the CSS @Media rule allowable in epub?

richard murray — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 23:34:15 +0000

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EPUB 3

I realize it may be a better question for general but I do not know if it is in epub2 but imagine if it does apply it apply to epub 3. I need the ability to know width and height and if i can know it then i can do more fun things with an ebook project I am working on

Mission Impossible: EPUB 3.1 is broken.

odeyemi — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 12:44:10 +0000

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EPUB 3

I posit that it is impossible to implement the "CSS Box Model" in reflowable EPUB packages, therefore, the EPUB 3.1 specification is broken.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_box_model

caption and image together

isa — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 13:44:32 +0000

Forums:

EPUB 3

Hi!

help!

how do I get a caption sticking with the image?

Proper epub:type for sidebar

Matthew Wolf — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 17:03:24 +0000

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EPUB 3

If I understand this page (https://idpf.github.io/epub-vocabs/structure/#h_asides) correctly, the epub:type="sidebar" attribute is deprecated. I don't know how to interpret "Replaced by: aside", however. Does that mean epub:type="aside"? The link on "aside" goes to a description of the <aside> element, so should sidebars just be <aside>s without any epub:type?

Thanks for your help.

Pages and bookmarks in fixed layout documents

mkizub — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 11:51:45 +0000

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EPUB 3

Hello.

I'm working on a reader able to display epub3 docs and started with fixed layout documents.
Our reader can make bookmarks/highlights/notes, and should show page numbers.
I have a questions about epub3 specification.

For pre-paginated documents, how can I find a number of pages (in PDF/DjVu meaning of term 'page')?
Do fixed-layout .xhtml documents always have 1 page per document, or there may be multiple pages in sections/chapters (and they can be scrolled/flipped, like we scroll/flip pages/screens in reflowable .xhtml spine items)?

Now that 'epub:type="subchapter"' has been deprecated, what should replace it?

msimmer — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 16:13:03 +0000

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EPUB 3

A common structure of a book is:

- Chapter 1
- Subchapter 1
- Subchapter 2
- Subchapter 3

Before the type attribute subchapter was deprecated, the XHTML structure would be as follows:

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<section epub:type=”chapter”>
<h1>Chapter 1 Title</h1>
<section epub:type=”subchapter”>
<h2>Subchapter 1</h2>
<p>Contents</p>
</section>
<section epub:type=”subchapter”>
<h2>Subchapter 2</h2>
<p>Contents</p>
</section>
<section epub:type=”subchapter”>
<h2>Subchapter 3</h2>
<p>Contents</p>
</section>
</section>
</body>
</html>

So, without “subchapter” what should go there? “Division,” or?

PS—if there is a link to describe how to format text in the IDPF forums I'll happily revise the codeblock

Developing new ePub3 eBooks

efraimzgraves — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 19:17:40 +0000

Forums:

EPUB 3

As a publisher and independent author, I'm often in need of coders who can work with ePub3 formatting. I pair them with authors and other publishers who need to develop eBook titles inside our ePub3 Creator Studio. I like to first get a general idea of what the project will entail, and then I approach the coder/developer with it. He/she will then give me a cost estimate of the project. I apply my fee, and then we proceed. If anybody is interested in doing this kind of work, please contact me privately at: publisher@emrepublishing.com

You can read my discussion about this topic at KBoards: https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,247804.0.html

Is mobi format supports read aloud in fixed layout?

Anitha — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 06:17:36 +0000

Forums:

EPUB 3

I have created an e-pub file with read aloud. Its working fine when i read it on the redium and also highlighting the text while the voice reading it. But when i convert the fixed layout e-pub file into mobi format, the read aloud part is not working in the kindle viewer. Is kindle doesn't support read aloud?