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Re: Accessibility of EPUB vs PDF

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From: Jim Homme
Date: Jan 16, 2018 11:29AM

Hi,
I've had success on iPhone reading ePub books with an app called VoiceDream Reader. I think there is an Android version of the app. One of its drawbacks is that you can't examine down to the character level. Another is that you can't easily examine a book if you want to do a lot of reading and stopping. Other than that, I like the app.

Thanks.

Jim


Jim Homme

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of L Snider
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2018 4:29 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility of EPUB vs PDF

Hi Derek,

One of the big publishers went to EPUB, and not PDF about a year ago. I could be totally wrong, but it was a big one like Harper Collins.

The one other issue I found a year or so ago, was that the readers were not as common as I would have liked...That was a sticking point as well, even though EPUB is basically HTML in a box. Today, I am not sure I would say that, but it hasn't changed significantly.

I still like the idea of EPUB a lot, and think it has great potential.
PDF/UA has helped PDFs, and I now don't consider them apples and oranges, even though one can still argue that PDFs are problematic in many ways.

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Lisa

On Fri, Jan 12, 2018 at 2:35 PM, Jackson, Derek < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi Lisa,
>
>
> Yes that helps a lot! It also leads me down another good path of
> looking at other publishers that have made the switch to EPUB.
>
>
> Thank You!
>
> Derek
>
>
>
>
>
> > From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > on behalf of
> L Snider < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Sent: Friday, January 12, 2018 3:07:20 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility of EPUB vs PDF
>
> Hi Derek,
>
> I did extensive research on EPUB about a year ago, and just started
> another round. I found a ton of resources in the academic book
> publishing industry, like this one:
> http://accessinghigherground.org/epub-versus-pdf-epub-is-
> the-new-standard-for-accessible-ebooks/
>
> A link to a PowerPoint is here (sorry for the long URL)
> https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&
> cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved
hUKEwjhxryUm9PYAhUO7mMKHf5FB
> mQQFghSMAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Faccessinghigherground.org%
> 2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F06%2FePUB-versus-PDF.
> pptx&authuser=1&usg=AOvVaw2KpeGmfDfsMf93m2GUW6TD
>
> I would suggest not going lower than EPUB 3, as Daisy was brought into
> that version.
>
> Major places like IBM went to EPUB:
> http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/f/24/t/38861.aspx
>
> There is now a good EPUB checker that was brought out recently:
> http://validator.idpf.org/
>
> One problem I found was the creation tools were lacking. InDesign can
> make a pretty good EPUB (if you make that doc accessible), but for
> Word, etc. I had real problems finding a good solution. There are a
> couple of creation programs out there, but that was the sticking point
> at that time. Calibre was a really easy to use convertor, but it only
> did EPUB 2 files...I wish someone would update it, it would really make a huge difference!
>
> Hope that helps!
>
> Cheers
>
> Lisa
> PS-Some of the links above are not the best resources, but they were
> the ones that sprang to mind first!
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 12, 2018 at 1:51 PM, Jackson, Derek <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> >
> > I am trying to make the argument that relying solely on PDF has a
> > lot of pitfalls when considering the need to provide accessible
> > digital content, while offering EPUB in conjunction with PDF brings
> > great benefits in
> terms
> > of accessibility (providing DAISY Files, customizable
> > color/font/background, Reflowable, etc.). I wonder if anyone on this
> > listserv might know of related resources or have thoughts that I
> > could
> rely
> > on to make this argument... or perhaps does anyone find an issue
> > with
> this
> > notion?
> >
> >
> > In addition I have been looking for any information on user
> > preferences for accessible formats, e.g. what is the break down of
> > usage/preference
> for
> > accessible content in different formats (PDF vs EPUB vs HTML(browser)).
> > Does anyone know if that has been gathered anywhere?
> >
> >
> > Any help, ideas, references, or suggestions is greatly appreciated!
> >
> > Derek
> >
> >
> > Derek Jackson
> >
> > Manager, Content Production
> >
> >
> >
> > HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING
> >
> > 20 Guest Street, Suite 700 | Brighton, MA 02135
> >
> > 617.787.6711 | 617.783.7492 fax
> >
> > hbsp.harvard.edu
> >
> >
> >
> > > > > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > >
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >