Quote:
Originally Posted by AliceWonder
Meta tags in the .opf file can be used by online retailers to identify the accessibility features of the product. That is precisely why meta tags in the OPF were added. See https://www.w3.org/Submission/epub-a11y/ |
But again, this is not the reality of what the actual retailers (B&N, Amazon, Kobo) out there accept or support.
Reality is, retailers require you to submit the metadata separately through their submission forms.
Plus, no reading devices even support some of the more obscure metadata in the OPF (they'll probably read the big ones: Title+Author+ISBN+Year... but roles like Artist, Electrotyper, nope).
Similar situation with EPUB metadata... we wish retailers would pull ISBN and other metadata from the EPUBs themselves... nope.
Side Note: Some of this is discussed in
"The Metadata is the Message" from ebookcraft 2018, but this deals with ONIX data and tools only accessible to large publishers. To the normal self-publisher, small publisher, or outsider, these things don't exist either.
* * *
Sure, there are also some pushes for "rating accessibility" in ebooks, like pushes from libraries. See some discussion in:
"The Accessibility Supply Chain" at ebookcraft 2019
You might also have government/universities pushing for some sort of Accessibility standards in EPUBs, but I just don't see it in actual retailers... it doesn't exist.
Side Note: If you want a real boring Accessibility talk about this topic:
"In the Trenches with Accessible EPUB - Charles LaPierre" at ebookcraft 2017
I believe he was from Benetech, and he was one of the creators of the ACE checker, and designing their company around accreditation and giving "Bronze/Silver/Gold" level ratings to ebooks. (I forget the details, it's been years since I watched the talk.)
Side Note on "The Standards The Standards The Standards!!!": And again, there's also things like the
EPUB Indexes spec... guess how many readers out there actually support this? 0. Guess how many books actually use this? 0.
When you go cherry picking some obscure thing out of the EPUB standards, sure, it
theoretically exists... but reality... nothing supports it, and nothing ever will.