EPUB 3 has become essential to the publishing ecosystem, providing a "master" format for virtually all e-readers. As EPUB continues to evolve, what is new and what's on the horizon? Bill Kasdorf, VP & Principal Consultant at Apex, provides an overview in this presentation originally shared at the 38th International EDItEUR Supply Chain Seminar at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2016.

1. Bill Kasdorf
VP and Principal Consultant, Apex Content Solutions
Member of IDPF Board, EPUB 3 WG, W3C DPUB IG
TheEvolutionof EPUB
What’s New and What’s On the Horizon

2. EPUB
1. The Continuing Evolution of EPUB.

3. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems

4. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems
Accessibility
It’s the format for interchange of accessible content

5. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems
Accessibility
It’s the format for interchange of accessible content
Education
Platforms are built on the EPUB for Education profile

6. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems
Accessibility
It’s the format for interchange of accessible content
Education
Platforms are built on the EPUB for Education profile
Not Just Books
It’s used for all kinds of publications

7. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems
Accessibility
It’s the format for interchange of accessible content
Education
Platforms are built on the EPUB for Education profile
Not Just Books
It’s used for all kinds of publications
Global
Widely adopted in US, EU, Far East, Israel

8. Time for a checkup:
Developing EPUB 3.1

9. Interesting Spec
Development Issue
Be aggressive and strict?
Or be peaceable, accommodating?

10. We gotta
get rid of
the NCX!
We can’t
get rid of
the NCX!

11. Minimize
the
metadata!
Hey, wait,
not so
fast!

12. HTML
& JSON
rule!
Don’t take
away my
XML!

13. We took the cautious route.

14. Tightens up EPUB 3 without breaking it.
New spec format, better integrated
Deprecates unused features of EPUB 3.0
Clarifies/extends support for remote resources
(e.g., metadata, fonts, datasets)
Improves CSS behavior between author/RS/user
Improved and stricter accessibility support
Final Notice Period (IP Review) thru Nov. 28;
Should be official by year end.
EPUB 3.1

15. Better alignment with OWP
Undated references to HTML & SVG to stay in synch
No EPUB CSS profile; uses CSS WG “official definition”
Some metadata improvements
Prioritizes linked bibliographic metadata records
Deprecates refines attribute and adds
more explicit attributes for specific functionality
Final notice on NCX
Slated for removal in next major revision of EPUB
EPUB 3.1

16. Separate spec devoted to accessibility
Clear guidelines to enable certification of accessibility
and discovery of accessible features in an EPUB
Based on WCAG 2.0: A is must, AA is recommended
Adds publication-specific requirements
Requires accessibility-specific metadata
Techniques document provides “how to do it” advice
Applicable and referenceable by
any version of EPUB and other specs too
EPUB Accessibility 1.0

17. Categories of compliance
“Discovery-Enabled”: Just metadata
“Accessible”: MD + WCAG 2.0 + EPUB requirements
“Optimized”: Metadata + specific features
Metadata aligned with schema.org
accessMode (textual, visual, auditory, tactile)
accessibilityFeature (what features does it have)
accessibilityHazard (e.g., flashing can cause seizures)
accessibilitySummary (human-readable explanation)
accessModeSufficient (e.g. text + alt text = textual)
EPUB Accessibility 1.0

18. W3C
2. Meanwhile, work goes on to improve
the Open Web Platform for publishing.

19. Digital Publishing Interest Group (DPIG)
Active work with CSS Working Group
to improve typography and layout using CSS
Digital Publishing Accessibility Note documents what
publishing needs from the W3C (May 2016)
Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.0 proposes
publishing-specific terms for ARIA (Wkg Draft 3/17/16)
schema.org
Additions to schema.org for accessibility metadata
Improving the OWP for Publishing

20. Wouldn’t it be great if
there was no difference between
an online publication
and an EPUB?

21. Wouldn’t it be great if
there was no difference between
an online publication
and an EPUB?
We’re working on it.
It’s called PWP:
Portable Web Publication.

22. PWP
Progress on the
EPUB+Web convergence.

23. The Portable Web Publication Vision:
ONE PUBLICATION FOR BOTH
ONLINE AND OFFLINE USE.
The same content in two different “states”:
Offline, packaged or cached;
Online, with all essential resources linked.
A canonical URL that leads to both.

24. (P)WP
Recent Realization:
First we need to define a Web Publication!
Meaning an arbitrarily extensive and complex
collection of resources on the web
(web pages, CSS, fonts, images, media, scripts, etc.)
that has an identity, that can be referenced, etc.
Whether/how it’s packaged is a separate issue.

25. EPUB 4 vs. PWP
We want to avoid two competing specs.
These need to be the same thing.
Could be one master spec,
or a layered spec with “profiles”:
e.g., PWP as a profile of a WP (a type of WP),
and “EPUB 4” in turn as a profile of PWP
(like EPUB for Education is for EPUB),
a type of PWP requiring more predictability,
accessibility, archivability.

26. The proposed IDPF+W3C is designed
to facilitate and optimize this.
The proposed W3C Publishing Business Group, its
Steering Committee, and an expected Working Group
will ensure publishing industry participation in this.
EPUB 3 will continue to be maintained
as the work on EPUB 4 / PWP goes forward.
IDPF Primary Reps are currently voting on this.
The IDPF Board strongly recommends
that it be approved.

27. Thanks!
Bill Kasdorf
bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com
+1 734 904 6252
@BillKasdorf