Digital Publishing: Are You Getting the Most Out of EPUB 3?

When EPUB 3.0 was officially unveiled at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October, 2011, it was taken by many as the spec to end all specs.

At last, we could really get to work creating ebooks with all the things we’d always wished for — basic things like the sophisticated typography and layout we can do in print, and beyond-print features like video and interactivity — as well as some things we hadn’t thought to want, like global language support and rich metadata. Not to mention something we knew we should do but that was “too hard” before: real accessibility. Best of all, we could make just one file that would work the same everywhere…

The euphoria didn’t last long. Sure, EPUB 3 told us how to do all those things; but did they all actually work anywhere?

That was 18 months ago. Guess what? Progress happens.

Now there are lots of EPUB 3-based reading systems. Devices like Nook and Kobo. Systems like Apple iBooks and Google Play. Specialized platforms like CourseSmart and VitalSource, the two leading textbook platforms. Browser-based systems like Readium for Chrome. Many more.

But they don’t always implement everything, or implement things the same way. And because EPUB 3 is designed to be so accommodating, it can be a bit bewildering at first. This combination of almost unlimited flexibility and a rapidly evolving ecosystem can create a paralyzing deer-in-the-headlights reaction among publishers that prevents them from taking advantage of the new EPUB 3 ecosystem.

You’re Not In This Alone

Fortunately, as support for EPUB 3 has gained momentum, lots of resources have emerged. EPUBCheck tells you if your EPUB 3 file has coding mistakes. The free Readium plug-in for Chrome lets you view your EPUB 3 files; it has implemented all EPUB 3.0 features. The Readium software is open-source, which will make it easier for reading systems to implement EPUB 3; there will soon be an open-source Readium SDK as well. IDPF, the organization that governs EPUB, has provided a wealth of EPUB 3 samples so you can see how other publishers have done things, and is developing a Compliance Test Suite that will test how well reading systems implement each feature of EPUB 3. The BISG publishes an EPUB 3 Support Grid that monitors which features of EPUB 3 are currently supported by each reading system. And O’Reilly recently published (in cooperation with the IDPF) EPUB 3 Best Practices, a clear and comprehensive guide to the spec, with helpful advice on what to do and what not to do to ensure that your EPUBs work well. (This article is largely based on that book, to which I contributed.)