[pittendrigh]

I'll keep looking. I've unpacked a few epub3 containers now. I think it would not be hard to write server side codes (perhaps with PHP) that unpack an epub3 on the server and then use it. A persistent data structure with resources and spine information could be saved in a common directory like /tmp on a linux web server. _SESSION variables could keep track of a current page number. Or what ever.

I'm just trying to get my sea legs. I'm reading. Will buy a few more books. At least one more from O'Reilly.

Epub3 Best Practices describes an epub3 container as "like a website in a zip file." So my first thought was "why not make it a web site?" Why not make a system that does NOT require the reader to pre-install software, download epubs and then hassle with "loading them." Why not just navigate to an online book, from any browser on any device, and read it?

I'm working on it. Some features, like overlays, would indeed be difficult to accomplish in a simple browser, without a plugin. But reproducing a TOC and basic forward and back reading, with the ability to save $_SESSION['currentPageNumber'] as a cookie, and to set a few book marks............would not be so hard.

I'm still a bit worried I'm missing a smoking gun brick wall that would make this impossible. But so far no such loaded cigar has surfaced. The longer I look the more possible it seems.

And not all that hard either.