Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
Is it possible that people are asking too much of epub3 by setting a standard that would overwork a tablet?
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Yes, it is possible.
It is also possible that epub3 has been so future-proofed and over-spec'ed by trying to meet every conceivablepublisher requirements that it has overshot the needs of the current marketplace.
I've noticed a tendency over the past few iterations to try to turn epub into reflowable pdf, by asking it to support sophisticated fixed formatting as well as sophisticated smart reflow. And then they added interactivity, "spyware"-enabling programability, multimedia, etc.
That is a lot to ask of what is, as pointed out, a web-based spec built off HTML, CSS, and javascript.
ePub3 is not the first document standard that floundered for trying to be all things to all people--hence my sarcastic quip about SGML above. The reason MS DOC and TeX, first, and later HTML/XML, became the defacto industry standards that SGML aspired to be is because SGML overtaxed 80's-90's desktop PCs with its attempt to map all types of documents, from spreadsheets to scientific reports. Most business chose to go with much cheaper PCs and mainstream Office productivity apps instead of the expensive UNIX Workstations and desktop-publishing software needed to work with SGML.
So far, ebook vendors are (apparently) choosing to implement strategic subsets of epub3 functionality that their hardware devices can support and that meet their needs as commercial ebook vendors. Thus, Apple's ibook format supports the features they need for textbooks and Amazon supports the features *they* need for childrens' books and graphic novels.
That is exactly what happened to SGML; subsets of the full over-reach Spec were carved out for separate markets and HTML flourished in the web space. Eventually XML emerged out of market needs.
It may be that the committee needs to retrench and spec out an ePub 2.5 that can run on the existing installed base or readers and tablets.
Or maybe the ebook vendors are just greedy blood-suckers out to destroy a perfectly viable universal standard out of evil self-interest.
