After many months of hard work, the EPUB Working Group has released the first Public Draft of the new EPUB® 3 specifications for review. This is a substantial update on the current spec and has core changes that include;
- HTML5 support
- Rich Media and Interactivity
- Layout Improvements
- Global Languages
- Accessibility Improvements
EPUB is a XML and Web Standards based delivery format for digital books and publications allowing content to be used on many Reading Systems, which include Apple iOS, Android, Desktop computers and dedicated eReaders.
The new EPUB3 is a major revision to the current standard and with a move to HTML5 based content, now provides support for key emerging technologies including video, audio, scripting, interactivity, styling and layout enhancements, vertical writing, improved accessibility and MathML support.
The WG has also made big improvements on how the EPUB 3 spec is structured, now providing 5 documents; EPUB 3 Overview, Publications 3.0, Content Documents 3.0, Open Container Format 3.0 and Media Overlays 3.0. You will also find an, EPUB 3 Changes from EPUB 2.0.1 document, which should help everyone better understand the changes made from the old spec.
It must be noted that this is just the first public draft and the EPUB WG are now open for both IDPF members and general public to comment on.
The current draft can be found here on the IDPF website: http://idpf.org/epub/30
All comments on the EPUB3 specification should be submitted to the Issue Tracker.
EPUB3 Final Recommendation is expected to be reached in mid-2011.
Are there any sample EPUB test files which conform to this new spec, that you may know about? It would be nice to see one and start to compile/test some of the enhancements in the players.
The specs is still to be finalised so we can’t expect anything official until then.
Nonetheless, Dave C. has posted an example on the EPUB development area over at Google;
http://code.google.com/p/epub-revision/downloads/detail?name=9780316000000_MobyDick_r2.epub&can=2&q=
It should also be noted that there is currently no way to check the validity (no EPUB3 epubcheck option yet) nor an EPUB3 reading system to test it in. Still, it can be a good starting reference.
I am new to ePub publishing but I’m curious to find something out. Can you tell me if ebook formats (epub or mobi) can have links that when clicked will open another app. that will load data pulled from a server or cloud?