EPUB 3.1 Standard Update
rdeltour.github.io
rdeltour.github.io
A proprietary or custom format might have been more suited to creating e-books (drop-caps, for example, would probably have been easier), but using HTML and CSS as the basis means it's open, easily understandable, and pretty simple to make corrections to e-books or even begin making your own.
The fact that a teenager with a little bit of interest and a small amount of knowledge can play with an e-book, then view the results on real devices, is hugely appealing. I realise that they could also be making a website, or doing `real' programming, but to some people the ability to correct typoes in _Ender's Game_ or reformat _Dune_ to their preferred layout is just so much more appealing and empowering. When I started playing making websites at age 14, I'd have killed to be able to use those skills to make an e-book.
Unfortunately, I am not able to find any reasonably good looking Linux client for it, so I usually use ebook-convert command that comes with Calibre to convert my books from PDF to EPUB and vice versa.
Reader [1] is an epub reader based on the Futurepress epub.js renderer. It looks close to 'native', especially when used full-screen.
OPDS catalog [2] is, as the name implies, an OPDS catalog which you can use to access publications (not limited to epub) hosted on an Owncloud instance. It allows you to access your library from any OPDS compliant client, examples of which are FBReader (Android), CoolReader (Android), Moon+ Reader (Android), Aldiko (Android), KyBook (iOS) and Marvin (iOS).
[1] https://apps.owncloud.com/content/show.php/Reader+%28ebook+r... [2] https://apps.owncloud.com/content/show.php/OPDS+catalog?cont...
My gripes are:
The controls are nonstandard. I haven't used it in a bit, but advancing the text with spacebar would be just peachy.
Default formatting. It's not bad, but the most annoying, especially on today's widescreen 16:9 format screens, is that while margins can be set, text width cannot. I find 35 - 45 em is about perfect for text, yet cannot set this for ePub.
Sigh.
I actually usually use Calibre or Pandoc to create HTML, then write my own CSS and serve those locally.
BookFusion can be used instead of Calibre to not only manage and organize your eBook library but also to:
1. Read ePub, PDF and other major format ebooks 2. Send your eBooks to your kindle device if you have one 3. Easily share your eBooks with friends and family the way you would a physical book.
Web: https://bookfusion.com/ Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bookfusion... IOS: Coming in 2016
I would be happy if you would take the platform for a spin and send me your feedback at dc@bookfusion.com
We have lots of updates for 2016
My frustrations with poor publication curation is ... a major pain point.
I would love:
1. A tool that would present HTML content in some standardised, simple, format. E.g., Readability, Instapaper, Pocket, Firefox Reader Mode.
2. Include metadata. Perhaps a somewhat IMDB-type facility for sources which don't include good metadata. ISBN and DOI work well for traditional printed book and scientific article works, but other online content is ... less well structured.
3. Tags. I've detailed a possibly workable general tagging ontology at Ello (https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/FTpX7LWNFjtOpYGu5xRkHg). That plus user-assignable tags, and the ability to subset/select by multiple tags would be ... nice.
4. Bibliography generation.
I've looked at, kinda, Calibre, Zotero, Mendelay (rejected on account of Elsevier ownership), and a few other tools.
Sharing between desktop (Linux) and Android other than via Kindle would be tres, tres cool.
Yeah, that's the first thing I configure on a new installation of FBReader. That should really be default.
I love the status-quo where Amazon pretends that their DRM is not hopelessly compromised and I get to strip the DRM from the vast quantities of ebooks I purchase there. I would much rather they keep turning this blind eye than adopt epub behind a more effective DRM scheme. That would be a huge loss to me.
When my e-ink kindle can support high-resolution color images, smooth and fast LCD-like scrolling etc. then I might care about epub features, but while I don't want or expect more from my kindle than a paperback, I am quite happy.
Very hard, I must say. The are all sorts of meta files that doesn't seem to ad anything to this format, but are somehow required.
My one biggest frustration (noted earlier here) is that the Linux ePub client, fbreader, doesn't have a way to specify a maximum content line length. Margins, sure, but not content. Result is that reading full-screen on a 16:9 display is ... kinda pessimal. Small issue, but one of those "pay attention to details" items that matters.
From the preso (nice layout there, by the way), Metadata: I'm in love. This is something that I'm familiar with via hNews and Readability. Structured information in documents would be really, really peachy.
I've got a long-standing rant on the browser world, which is entirely flipping falling down as a content presentation tool, for numerous reasons. Among the reasons for tab proliferation, I'm realising, is really piss-poor content management tools. As I'm in the midst of a large research project, with some 1800 articles curated and another thousand-plus books and documents (mostly PDF, but a mix of other styles), being able to reliably extract title, author, publisher, date, etc., information would be quite valuable.
Some things HTML is rather pointedly missing:
1. A footnote / endnote / sidenote native capability. I've mucked around creating a sidenote implementation, but as a native element it'd be useful.
2. A native hierarchical threaded discussion structure. The fact that every last online Web forum (HN included) is re-implementing tin / mutt (and doing it wrong) is ... depressing.
3. A hell of a lot more thought to accessibility. From font/colour/size choices to support for text-to-speech and speech-control systems, I'm developing a growing awareness through the community I'm currently supporting. ePub with its simplified presentation may be a win here.
4. Equations. Not always needed, but support for something at least as powerful as LaTeX would be quite useful.
5. Annotations. A lightweight mode of interacting with content would also be helpful.
That said, very happy to see progress.