Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrick
Thanks again very much for the participation!
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I haven't followed it too much since that 2017 thread, but it seems like
"Open Annotation" Standard has been accepted by the W3C.
You can see all the latest specs (February 2017) here:
https://w3c.github.io/web-annotation/
Also, I assume
Hypothes.is has still been chipping away at this problem as well. They may be a decent resource to read up more on the latest annotation news.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrick
@Changing Epubs direclty
The problem of "how to handle annotations in a changing document" would be solved with this approach. But I understand that it's possibly dangerous. And on the technical side difficult because of the /inserting/ nature (and noted above already).
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The specs go into detail on:
- Embedding into HTML or external file?
- How to handle morphing documents.
- New paragraph/image inserted in the middle of text? How do your make your note "stick"?
- Note: And remember, websites are much more dynamic than "static" ebooks.
- Different levels of annotations
- From Private (only for you) -> Fully Public (everyone can see).
and a lot of other stuff.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrick
I've never thought of that (probably as I don't let my ebooks being updated. But this might indeed be a hurdle.
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When ebooks are updated on Amazon:
- Amazon sends you a popup saying the publisher has updated the ebook + if you want to update your copy.
- They "warn you" of losing all your highlights, etc.
- You then have to explicitly accept it.
It's up to you to then balance the ebook fixes vs. losing your notes.
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Side Note: I assume other stores do similar.
Kobo, as of a few years ago, locks you to the ebook-version-when-you-purchased, unless you contacted them directly.
I know back in
2019, when I informed Kobo one of the ebooks I purchased was accidentally set to "French", they updated my copy (and let me know the publisher already had it fixed within the months of my purchase + when I began reading).
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrick
I could imaging though, that a git-diff approach might solve this rather easily.
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lol. Don't make me laugh.
You probably haven't seen the underlying changes that occur when updating books OR doing a Calibre-convert.
There ain't nothing "easy" about git diff!
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Side Note: For some of the super in-depth discussion, see this fantastic 5-part blog post in
2021: "Optimizing Git's Merge Machinery".
You wouldn't believe all the crazy edge-cases that come up.
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But, if you read the "Open Annotation" specs, they do describe how you might
try to keep comments attached, even if the underlying text/code is changing often.
(Again, think something like Microsoft Word / LibreOffice / Google Docs comments. They've already been trying to tackle similar problems for years.)
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Complete Side Note: The latest insanity I ran across while digging through
LibreOffice "Comment bugs"... did you know that Word allows you to COLOR text/backgrounds/highlights and carry over all this insane extra formatting
within comments?
Not to mention:
- nested replies
- commenting in headers/footers
- images-within-comments
... and all sorts of other insanity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkTrick
Anyway, I guess the conclusion for now is mostly (1) use books or (2) use a reader with a very easy notes-export functionality.
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Yes, pretty much this. Find one tool/workflow that you like, test the export functionality, and stick with it.
One of my frustrations is, after export, most only carry the raw text of the highlight.
(Many times, I only highlight a handful of words—not entire sentences/paragraphs. I jump to the comment, then need to read the surrounding context.)
If you read the Open Annotate specs above, they also describe ways to export strings to the left/right of the highlight... to try to make it a little more robust.