Accessible EPUB 3
J**E
Go source material. Some info missing
Does not compltely cover aspects of creating an E-Pub.
R**E
Soundtracks for the blind.
Matt Garrish, Accessible EPUB3 (O'Reilly Media/Tools of Change, 2012)Garrish tells us at the end of Accessible EPUB3 that is is, in fact, a teaser for the full-length EPUB3 Best Practices. That's the wrong place to put that information; it should have been in the beginning, and masking it until the end revised my rating of this book down by a non-trivial amount. Since (presumably) you are reading this review, you won't have to worry about that, so take that into account as we go along. I was kind of amused that O'Reilly Media decided to release this and HTML5 for Publishers in the same whack of free material, since the two books are basically opposites; in fact, one of the big features the latter highlights, canvas, is specifically targeted in Accessible EPUB3. “Although a potentially interesting element to use in ebooks, at this time the canvas element remains largely a black hole to assistive technologies.” Reading the two of them in tandem is probably a good idea, assuming you care about accessibility issues (and if you're publishing ebooks, you probably should). Oh, that reminds me: take note of the use of the word Accessible in the title. When I grabbed this, I was thinking of it as “we're going to take this ridiculously complex specification and lay it out for you in layman's terms”, when in fact it is used in the Microsoft Control Panel sense of “here's a high-level overview of making your ebooks readable by folks who will not be approaching them from the normal way (e.g., the blind)”. And a high-level overview it is, though unlike HTML5 for Publishers, there's enough meat on Accessible EPUB3's bones to make it worth your while. You will, once again, find yourself delving into more detailed work to make a full go of it (and preferably a different one than the full-length of this, since anyone who uses the phrase “best practices” in a non-ironic sense does not deserve one penny of your money), but this is at least a halfway decent starting point. Just be aware that it is not the full monty. **
F**S
Comprehensive "best practices" will save developers from bad results
It's one thing to know how to make something; it's another to understand how to make something as good as possible within the constraints of technology. Matt Garrish helps us do the latter. He moves pretty quickly through all parts of EPUB3, but he slows down to give in-depth examples just when they're needed.The only aspect of EPUB best practices that I missed, was more visual presentation of the interaction of HTML code and image display in the discussion of the fixed layouts versus reflowable. Garrish refers us to free samples in the online EPUB3 resources, which is helpful, but I would have liked more visual examples within the book itself.Also, an index is included but it's hard to navigate. It would have been helpful to have links to each alphabet letter at the top of the index.Neither of those reduces the overall real value of the book, which I think is terrific for anyone who wants to make the best EPUB3 that they can for a book they're working on.
H**.
Informative
Still reading it, but it has a lot of good information if you want to code your own ebooks. I'm not sure yet whether I will do that part or not since there are so many things to remember and stay conscious of and follow up on. I might stick to writing and designing them, rather than doing the coding. However, I ordered several books on the subject and find they have good information that whether you do it yourself or not, you will then know if whom you hire to do it is doing it right.
B**S
... (as you might expect from O'Reilly) but full of useful information that I've not been able to find anywhere ...
Highly technical (as you might expect from O'Reilly) but full of useful information that I've not been able to find anywhere else on the web. Highly recommended for anyone getting into ePub development. Designers, I would recommend knowing front end coding first or else this book could easily seem too complex.
S**T
Food for thought, but needs more code examples
This book reminded me that there are more readers in the world than sighted -- and my failure to keep ALL readers in mind when I format was sobering. With that said, the book could have offered more examples on "how" to make your books more accessible - codes and their uses. I would imagine in future updates that this may be addressed.Two excellent sources are CSS: The Missing Manual and HTML5: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals) -- excellent sources for learning more on Accessible CSS and HTML uses.
M**T
This is a most useful guide for anyone creating an epub
This is a most useful guide for anyone creating an epub. There is an excellent balance of explanation and technical direction. I would recommend it as a definitive style guide, with the caveat that one still needs to research and test as extensively as possible.
F**O
Excellent resource, laid out clearly
Excellent resource, laid out clearly, covers all you need. I refer to it often. But as with all O'Reilly books in this line, the text is a bit dense and it could do with more visuals and examples.
A**O
The best out there (so far)
I work in publishing and I think this is to date the Bible of ePub and ePub development.
G**G
Nice item, quick delivery
Nice item,quick delivery,thank you!!!
P**R
Slightly outdated, but still very valuable
This book explains the ins and outs of the EPUB specification 3.0. It was written by leaders of the working group at IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum).The book is slightly outdated: The actual specification is 3.1, the IDPF has merged their work with the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and some links do not work anymore. But the different chapters cover still the essential processes and pitfalls of the actual epub production.Although the book is not completely up-to-date I will only subtract one star: When you are doing a research then you will see that there is – after a hype around 2011-2013 – almost no recent authoritative and comprehensive material on ebook production available. One has to put together different bits and pieces from diverse discussion forums (mobileRead as one of the best), from the resellers (eg. Apple, Amazon etc.) and from blogs and the self-publishing scene. I could not find up-to-date wide-ranging relevant material on the web (videos, courses or other training material). "EPUB 3 Best Practices" is still one of the best resources available.The authors target the "ebook practitioner" (preface iX). But even if there are many code examples there is still something missing for the practical implementation: All explanations are on a general level as there are no tools provided to apply the knowledge directly in your own book project. Sure, this agnosticism to special products is intended by the authors as they have to present all the different stakeholders of digital book production.For me "EPUB 3 Best Practices" was very valuable as I had just started to experiment with Sigil, an opensource multi-platform EPUB ebook editor. At the moment (End of March 2018) there is only a rudimentary manual of an old Sigil version two years ago, which covers just the different functions and some introductory tutorials of the software. The reason behind different functions and what they practically do with the code is not explained. But taken book and software together I could supplement my meager practical knowledge with a clearer understanding of the epub specification.
A**Z
O'Reilly, una certezza.
Ho comprato decine di libri di questa casa editrice e non sono mai rimasto deluso neanche una volta.Anzi, spesso mi aspetto qualcosa di meno, invece ogni volta rimango stupito di come sappiano scrivere bene dei libri anche su argomenti non semplici.ePub, è il formato dei libri elettronici. Il formato che prima o poi diventerà lo standard (anzi, che avrebbe già dovuto essere).Qui è spiegato tutto nel dettaglio, formato, vantaggi, svantaggi, standard, linee guida. Ed il tutto è focalizzato sull'Accessibilità. Sulla capacità dei "lettori" (inteso in senso non umano), di rendere il testo accessibile a chi ha ridotte capacità di lettura, pur mantenendo sempre una unica, singola, funzionale formattazione.ePub è questo ed altro.
A**O
Libro más técnico, pero recomendable
Los contenidos de este libro con algo más técnicos que otros pero no son difíciles. Cualquier que desee crear libros accesibles en epub 3 aquí tiene un buen referente.
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