MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Server side publishing -- epub3 as web pages

pittendrigh · 10-03-2018, 08:27 PM

Is this the right forum?

I'm announcing open source software that displays an epub3 as web pages, on an apache web server. Copy the epub to the DOCUMENT_ROOT in an appropriate place and then unzip the epub with `unzip myEbook.epub3` edit one line in a config file and away it goes.

Most readers want their epubs downloaded to a hand held device. This is as it should be. The market for server side epub(3) display is a niche market. But that niche market does exist. And this software does it, in a way that can be embedded inside a surrounding Content Management System.

For those who want to do it that way you can now use:
https://github.com/pittendrigh/robopages

Disadvantages of server side epub(3) display:
I'll punt on disadvantages for now. There are many.

Advantages:
Controlling access to the epub (server side drm) is easy. There are many ways to hide URL access behind a password barrier

The main advantage is the ability to embed large amounts of streaming video inside the epub(3), which is handy for how-to-do-it ebooks. Video is too big to fit on a hand held device. If you want an epub that contains video, put it on the server and stream it down.

I create my content with sigil and then use calibre or Jutoh to convert the epub2 to epub3. Why epub3 only? Epub3 is pure xhtml and parsing the table of contents sections is easier. Epub2 might happen eventually. We'll see.

I use it on a website that teaches people how to build a boat. Editing content with sigil is convenient for me. Displaying on web pages that look like the expected ebook format has been a great benefit to my how-to-do-it website. With all my instructions organized and presented in epub format I get fewer "how do I find" questions from my customers.

https://github.com/pittendrigh/robopages

10-03-2018, 08:27 PM	#1
pittendrigh Connoisseur Posts: 78 Karma: 1332336 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: montana Device: none	Server side publishing -- epub3 as web pages Is this the right forum? I'm announcing open source software that displays an epub3 as web pages, on an apache web server. Copy the epub to the DOCUMENT_ROOT in an appropriate place and then unzip the epub with `unzip myEbook.epub3` edit one line in a config file and away it goes. Most readers want their epubs downloaded to a hand held device. This is as it should be. The market for server side epub(3) display is a niche market. But that niche market does exist. And this software does it, in a way that can be embedded inside a surrounding Content Management System. For those who want to do it that way you can now use: https://github.com/pittendrigh/robopages Disadvantages of server side epub(3) display: I'll punt on disadvantages for now. There are many. Advantages: Controlling access to the epub (server side drm) is easy. There are many ways to hide URL access behind a password barrier The main advantage is the ability to embed large amounts of streaming video inside the epub(3), which is handy for how-to-do-it ebooks. Video is too big to fit on a hand held device. If you want an epub that contains video, put it on the server and stream it down. I create my content with sigil and then use calibre or Jutoh to convert the epub2 to epub3. Why epub3 only? Epub3 is pure xhtml and parsing the table of contents sections is easier. Epub2 might happen eventually. We'll see. I use it on a website that teaches people how to build a boat. Editing content with sigil is convenient for me. Displaying on web pages that look like the expected ebook format has been a great benefit to my how-to-do-it website. With all my instructions organized and presented in epub format I get fewer "how do I find" questions from my customers. https://github.com/pittendrigh/robopages Last edited by pittendrigh; 10-04-2018 at 09:41 AM.