MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Link Rot and Charles Dickens like subscriptions

pittendrigh · 10-07-2021, 02:27 PM

Charles Dickens made a living--at least in part--by selling serialized stories to 19th century newspapers. Each week said newspaper or magazine would print the next installment of his story. Eager readers bought the magazine in eager anticipation of the next Dickens installment.

Epub could do that. Epub3 includes the ability to use JavaScript making Epub more than just text and images. They are now or at least can be live computer programs.

An appropriately enhanced Epub could query a remote server at each startup, perhaps using an asynchronous query, to find out if an update is available. JavaScript cannot write to the local file system but it could pop up a dialog, asking the current reader if he or she wanted to download a newly enhanced Epub to replace the one they've recently been reading.

The Dickens subscription idea might be a little far-fetched. But a system like the above (asynchronous communication between Epub and remote server) could also be used to solve the generic "link rot" problem inherent with all documents containing links to external resources--of any kind.

Has anyone does this already? Made a live Epub that communicates externally? Behind the scenes?
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10-07-2021, 02:27 PM	#1
pittendrigh Connoisseur Posts: 78 Karma: 1332336 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: montana Device: none	Link Rot and Charles Dickens like subscriptions Charles Dickens made a living--at least in part--by selling serialized stories to 19th century newspapers. Each week said newspaper or magazine would print the next installment of his story. Eager readers bought the magazine in eager anticipation of the next Dickens installment. Epub could do that. Epub3 includes the ability to use JavaScript making Epub more than just text and images. They are now or at least can be live computer programs. An appropriately enhanced Epub could query a remote server at each startup, perhaps using an asynchronous query, to find out if an update is available. JavaScript cannot write to the local file system but it could pop up a dialog, asking the current reader if he or she wanted to download a newly enhanced Epub to replace the one they've recently been reading. The Dickens subscription idea might be a little far-fetched. But a system like the above (asynchronous communication between Epub and remote server) could also be used to solve the generic "link rot" problem inherent with all documents containing links to external resources--of any kind. Has anyone does this already? Made a live Epub that communicates externally? Behind the scenes? ~