EPUB 3 Support Grid and ADE Update

Matthew June 11, 2012 CSS, EPUB, ePUB2, ePUB3, Fonts, HTML, iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Uncategorized 1 Comment

  • Sumo

Lots of new releases and updates for EPUBs and EPUB creators.

 

BISG EPUB 3.0 Support Grid

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has released their EPUB 3.0 Support Grid which shows how various eReaders and eBook software support the new spec . It is a great tool if you are working on cutting edge EPUBs or just getting your feet wet with EPUB 3.0. BISG has the following to say about the grid:

  • The EPUB 3.0 Support Grid is intended to provide a useful resource for publishers and their suppliers who would like to know the degree to which EPUB 3.0 is supported across different apps, devices, and reading systems.
  • The EPUB functionality listed in Column B of the Grid is only a subset of what is currently available in EPUB 3.0. BISG’s Content Structure Committee is tasked with ensuring the functionality tracked here is of importance to the general book industry.
  • Information not provided by the vendors of the represented reading systems and devices, but was instead provided by industry experts and users, is indicated as such on the Grid. BISG makes no claims to speak on behalf of the vendors in these cases.
  • Although best efforts are made to update the EPUB 3.0 Support Grid monthly, BISG does not claim it to be completely correct at any particular time. The Grid was most recently updated on May 30, 2012.

Support and functionality is broken down into the following categories on the grid: navigation elements, metadata, pagination, text content, linking, text layout and styling, global language support, fonts, speech (TTS), scripting and interactivity, multimedia, other document types supported, separate device features, and usability and accessibility. Readers covered are broken into families and include Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Google, IDPF, Kobo, NOOK, VitalSource, and Apps (including AZARDI, Overdrive, BlueFire, and Safari Books.

BISG will be making monthly updates, and they are interested in hearing from EPUB creators if there are errors on the grid or items need to be updated as eReaders improve. You can email them at info@bisg.org with any updates you have.

 

ADE Update

There has been a new update to Adobe Digital Editions in the Adobe Labs. The latest version is Digital Editions 1.8 preview 4 (version 1.8.3) and has several new features and bug fixes. These include:

  • Vendor ID Authorization — Now you can authorize computers and devices using Vendor ID other than Adobe ID.
  • Printing — Added support for printing books with appropriate permissions.
  • Full Screen — When reading a book, you can switch to full screen mode.

You will also notice a new look. Gone is the familiar black background of previous versions of ADE:

Image of Adobe Digital Editions 1.8.2

ADE 1.8.2

It is replaced with an almost negative of the old look, now white and bright:

Adobe Digital Editions 1.8.3

ADE 1.8.3

Even the new icon is a negative of the old one:

Adobe Digital Editions 1.8.2 icon and Adobe Digital Editions 1.8.3 icon

ADE 1.8.2 icon and ADE 1.8.3 icon

 

Do you like the BISG EPUB 3.0 Support Grid? Have you found any errors in it that need updating? Have you tried the Adobe Digital Editions 1.8.3? What do you think?

 

 

One Response to “EPUB 3 Support Grid and ADE Update”

  1. R. Scot Johns says:
    June 11, 2012 at 9:00 am

    This is a fabulous idea and much needed, so kudos to BISG for the effort. Unfortunately it is currently lacking a lot of information (no Nook data, Azardi still a question mark), and has some incorrect data in the Kindle listings regarding fixed layout that are clearly based on specs rather than actual hands-on testing (i.e. just because the User’s Guide doesn’t list “orientation-lock:none” as an option doesn’t mean it isn’t possible). Looking forward to future updates for reference.