EPUB 3 takes the EPUB standard to a new level, though EPUB 3 is an incremental step, not the final destination. But what a ride!
EPUB3 is a definite advancement, but don’t jump in too quickly. Ereaders will still display EPUB 2.0 ebooks, and ereaders devices are not required to update to EPUB 3.0. With anything new, extra testing is needed to ensure device or user settings won’t “break” the ebook.
EPUB 3: Rich Media Enhancements
EPUB 3 is the next phase of ebook development, though it is constantly being tweaked, revised, and updated.
- Video and audio support
- Audio can be synchronized with text
- Embedded font support a baseline requirement
- Improved SVG support
- Javascript support
EPUB 3: General Enhancements
- Enhanced global language support (vertical writing, writing directions)
- Styling and layout enhancements (multi-column, hyphenation)
- Improved metadata capabilities
- MathML support
It’s a Brave New World
Essentially, the entire movement to EPUB 3 is tentative. No one knows for certain if it works cross-platform, nor, if adopted as the new EPUB standard, if older 2.0 ebooks will continue to display on devices. In addition, it is up in the air whether we’ll need to purchase new devices, or if our older e-readers will be “upgraded” to the new technology.
On May 12, 2011, View From The Publishing Trenches attended a webinar hosted by Aptara: EPUB 3, An Insider’s Look : How Will Your eBook Operations be Affected?
In his post “Duck! Here Comes EPUB 3” he relates his thoughts from the webinar – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Liza Daly of ThreePress.org states “I’m optimistic that EPUB3 will provide significant headache-reduction in this area. While creating high-quality static, pure-text ebooks still has challenges, things are a lot better today than even a year ago.”
View her EPUB3 interactivity demo in iBooks below (turn on the sound):
Conclusion
The results for EPUB 3.0 are phenomenal, and I for one, can’t wait to get my hands dirty testing. Yet that is the key – test. I am not going to rush updating my ebooks to EPUB 3.0, simply because it may not work on every e-device.
For now, I will stick with what works, play with the new code, and see where this new wave of technology leads.
For more information
- EPUB3specification
- IDPF Digital Book conference at Book Expo America
- Digital Book World: EPUB3.0: Updates and Enhancements
