58 Introduction
Who I am?
Nancy Waite, waitenm@mcmaster.ca
- TD Coordinator for Library Accessibility Services
- I have been in this role since 2013
- I have worked in the library since 1998
- I have completed a number of accessibility courses and workshops over the years and enjoy working with students, staff and faculty to improve accessibility at McMaster.
What will be covered here?
- What is an ePub
- Why choose ePub as your format
- What are the different levels, and why choose a certain level
- What are some programs you can use to create ePubs
- Accessibility considerations when creating ePubs
- How to check the finished product
Why choose ePub?
- The ePub format allows you to retain control of your Intellectual Property the same way you can with a PDF file, while retaining the accessibility features of a Word document, it’s the best of both worlds!
- ePubs allow the end user to change the font, increase text size, change the colour, you can make the content reflowable (meaning the text will move if you increase the size).
- ePubs also allow you to add in multimedia, and interactive content and assessments.
- ePub readers work on a variety of platforms and provide a Read-out Loud feature.
What is an ePub
- ePub is an electronic publication. The file format is set out by the International standards organization or ISO.
- The file must consist of a set of specific files contained within a file folder
- the root directory contains the mimetype file, and meta-inf directory, which contains container.xml, it also contains OEBPS folder which contains the content.opf file along with the content of the epub.
- most epub converters will structure the files for you.
What are the different levels of ePub?
There are different levels of ePub each corresponding to the level of complexity that the platform can handle.
- ePub 2 – reflowable, colour ePub books
- ePub 3 – ability to add navigation, media (usually audio), fixed formatting, improved metadata, ability to add math notation
What are the routes to get to an ePub?
- ePubs are not created directly the same way a word document is
- You need to create a well formatted Word document, InDesign document, PDF, or HTML file first
- All of the accessibility features need to be completed in these programs prior to conversion
ePub Workflow
Word to ePub – great for text based material, or material with math or tables – easy to create a book with limited experience
InDesign to ePub– great for text, tables, math and media – require some experience using InDesign to create ePub
HTML to ePub – great for any ePub format creation – require HTML experience to create ePub, not for beginners
Programs Used
Commonly used programs include:
- Sigil (HTML)
- Calibre (PDF, Word)
- Daisy Word to ePub (Word)
- InDesign
- Variety of online converters