"Accessible" ePub... but...

[Oxford-eBooks]

Thanks all who helped out with my previous query -- much appreciated.

Here's one that's making me scratch my head, and again it might elicit a number of different opinions which I'll gratefully hear. But it doesn't need to get too deep!

A client wants an "accesible ePub" of one of their childrens' books for World Book Day.
The book is "just words", not too long, simply written, no fancy formatting, just ten short chapters.
They've been told that the eBook needs to be ePub3 format (fine) but I kind of think that this is the WBD guys making sure that any books with images in have alt descriptions etc etc.

From what I understand, there are some metadata flags for various "accssibility" things in ePub3 -- so just what constitutes "accessible"? (they asked, no reply).
But if it's "just words" then why would ePub3 be better than ePub2? Nothng to offer, right?

I sent one of our books to my Kindle App as a bog-standard ePub2 and it happily read aloud and turned on the "word wise" feature (never saw that before - pretty neat) -- but surely that kind of thing is just a feature of the READER not the format?
I even put an alt-text in the cover but can't see any way to get tht to read aloud (not that it matters?)

Anyhoo... happy to hear thoughts on this.

[KevinH]

For epub3, you might want to read up on Aria and its role attributes, epub type semantics, and on using smil and audio files. All for epub3.

[Oxford-eBooks]

Originally Posted by KevinH

For epub3, you might want to read up on Aria and its role attributes, epub type semantics, and on using smil and audio files. All for epub3.

Cheers. Yes, I plan to do that kind of thing. "THE TOOL" is about 15 years old now, so that kind of stuff is worth building into version 3 later in the year.
I don't think the client wants to go that deep for this though.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Oxford-eBooks

A client wants an "accesible ePub" of one of their childrens' books for World Book Day.
The book is "just words", not too long, simply written, no fancy formatting, just ten short chapters.

Shameless plugs:
Sigil DAISY EPUB Accessibility Checker
Sigil Access-Aide

Since Daisy ACE is NPM-based, you can easily integrate it into your "tool."

[DNSB]

I would also suggest installing a screen reader. I've been unpleasantly surprised a couple of times when I have generated a "accessible" ePub and it wasn't so accessible.

[Oxford-eBooks]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Shameless plugs:
Sigil DAISY EPUB Accessibility Checker
Sigil Access-Aide

Since Daisy ACE is NPM-based, you can easily integrate it into your "tool."

Nice. Thanks. I've added to my notes and I'll drop in and take a look when the time comes.

[Oxford-eBooks]

Originally Posted by DNSB

...installing a screen reader...

Do tell.. are you talking about a checker tool? Have to say that I was dissapointed to not be able to find "all" the features from the Mobile Kindle APP in Kindle Previewer3. Would be handy for rapid(ish) testing.

Funny, I remember getting all excited about ePub3 a decade and a half ago but can only count on the fingers of one hand when I'd needed to use it vs five figure count of ePub2 under the bridge since then.
Maybe time to move needlessly with the times... (ducks under pile of books against possible flames for the use of 'needlessly')

[Quoth]

It can be perfectly accessible for a screen reader etc as epub2. But I'm running away, because that's heresy. The epub3 fanatics will accuse me of being a luddite and burn me at the stake as a witch.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It can be perfectly accessible for a screen reader etc as epub2. But I'm running away, because that's heresy. The epub3 fanatics will accuse me of being a luddite and burn me at the stake as a witch.

• If you weigh the same as a duck, then you must be made of wood.
• If you are made of wood, then you must be a witch.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Oxford-eBooks

Do tell.. are you talking about a checker tool? Have to say that I was dissapointed to not be able to find "all" the features from the Mobile Kindle APP in Kindle Previewer3. Would be handy for rapid(ish) testing.

I was talking about a read aloud /screen reader ePub tool. My first couple of attempts at accessible ePub files looked good until my test person pointed out issues when they were read aloud.

Originally Posted by Oxford-eBooks

Funny, I remember getting all excited about ePub3 a decade and a half ago but can only count on the fingers of one hand when I'd needed to use it vs five figure count of ePub2 under the bridge since then.
Maybe time to move needlessly with the times... (ducks under pile of books against possible flames for the use of 'needlessly')

It took me several years but I now use ePub3 as my primary format. I still try to make sure that any books I format for others are ePub2 compatible but some features are just easier to use (footnotes as one example) with ePub3. Yes, I can do them in ePub2 but ePub3 makes for easier and cleaner code. I've also created several ePub3 fixed layout books for children's authors but that a whole different can of tuna. Though it can be fun to run a FLO ePub3 through a screen reader ( there may be severe warps in my sense of humour )

JSWolf/Jon, OTOH, seems to believe any ePubs that are not coded to work with version 2.01 of ADE are blatant heresy.

[JSWolf]

ADE 2.0.1 is a good way to test that your ePub3 is backwards compatible. If it looks good enough you are good to go.

While a lot of people think ePub2 compatibility isn't important. it is. There are a lot of Sony Readers, nooks, Kobo, and others using an old version of RMSDK. If it's not backwards compatible enough, it won't work when read on these devices using RMSDK. Not everyone removes the DRM and there are those who do remove the DRM but do not remove the DRM from a library loan. As for Kobo, some do prefer reading with RMSDK because of the better typesetting. KePub has some problems when you set it for kerning and hyphenation. Plus, there is the occasional glitch with the text.

[Oxford-eBooks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

ADE 2.0.1 is a good way to test that your ePub3 is backwards compatible. If it looks good enough you are good to go.

While a lot of people think ePub2 compatibility isn't important. it is. There are a lot of Sony Readers, nooks, Kobo, and others using an old version of RMSDK. If it's not backwards compatible enough, it won't work when read on these devices using RMSDK. Not everyone removes the DRM and there are those who do remove the DRM but do not remove the DRM from a library loan. As for Kobo, some do prefer reading with RMSDK because of the better typesetting. KePub has some problems when you set it for kerning and hyphenation. Plus, there is the occasional glitch with the text.

Kind of with you there. If I'm doing anything off the beaten path I'll always give it a spin in ADE. "If it works in ADE it'll work in anything" - though with ADE the definition of 'works' somewhat non-binary in my opinion. ('Degrades gracefully' might be better).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Oxford-eBooks

Kind of with you there. If I'm doing anything off the beaten path I'll always give it a spin in ADE. "If it works in ADE it'll work in anything" - though with ADE the definition of 'works' somewhat non-binary in my opinion. ('Degrades gracefully' might be better).

I know ADE 2.0.1 is not perfect. But I've not found a better program for testing ePub3's backwards compatibility.

[Bozzka]

Does anyone know, please, how to fix the problem without having to redo the file Epub2 to Epub3?
Some Path? I prefer to change the content . opf file manually, if it's possible

I use caliber.
I fix all accessible metadata problem, but Daisy does not accept
my <dc: Language> en </ dc: Language>,
the error message is:
Add The Missing OPF XML: Lang Attribute
The Language Must Be Specfied (XML: Lang in OPF Package)
- also if this line is present

Thank you very much, I know you know everything ... :-) so maybe someone knows.

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by Bozzka

<dc: Language> en </ dc: Language>,

That tag looks a bit messed up.
You have spaces around the en value which should be removed.
I am pretty sure tags need to be all lower case. Language should be language.
Try fixing that and the let us know what the error message is.