epubsummit 2016 ePub for Education at Editis-Nathan

ePub for Education

NATHAN Joint R&D and production experiment

Laurence Zaysser

ePub Summit Bordeaux 1 7-8th of April 2016

http://www.w3.org/

Introduction

• Our commitment to ePub for Education • Use the ePub standard as interoperable eBook format for Education • Stop the vicious circle (few editorial offer => no full support of ePub3 in

reading systems) • Participate in the virtuous circle (create a large educational ePub3 offer)

• Our first step in "edupub" (abbreviation for "epub for education") • Use education metadata in the OPF • Use epub:type semantic educational values • Use all semantic XHTML5 tags, even the most complicated ones (i.e.

MathML) • Use CSS3 facilities • Content not derived from XML QTI • Not connected ePub (download, then off-line), no LTI, no CALIPER

ePub Summit Bordeaux 7-8th of April 2016 2

Table of contents

• What?

• How?

• Difficulties and lessons

• Benefits


What?


What? Contents

• Extra-curricular, training for exams (French “brevet” + “bac”)

• One collection called “Annales ABC”, 17 titles

• Two sub-collections called "Annales ABC du brevet" + "Annales ABC du BAC"

• Diverse matters • Literature and foreign languages • Human sciences (history, geography, economics and social sciences) • Scientific subjects (math, physics, chemistry, biology)

• Diverse school grades • Middle school (8th grade = 3rd in French system – 14-15 years old) • High school (10 + 11th grade = 2nd , 1rst and last year in French system – 16-

18 years old)

• Annual content revision (re-edition) of all titles

• Up to one hundred learning resources in each title

• Questions (subject exams as published by the French Minister of Education) and answers (provided by the publisher)


What?




What? eBook characteristics • Re-use of printed editorial text and image content, original digital content for audio

• Simple or enhanced ePubs (audio enhancement for dictations)

• No user interaction inside the eBook, except for audio launch

• Readable on any reading device (desktop, tablet, smart phone)

• 2 or 3 hierarchical levels TOC (sub-matter, theme, learning-resource)

• Paper vs. digital style sheet • Page layout slightly different • Identical color chart for all ePubs (contrary to the printed versions with color exceptions from one title

to another)

• Paper vs. digital learning resource organization • Very close, but not strictly identical • Each learning resource is fully autonomous and self sufficient • All information associated to a learning resource is directly accessible (as opposed to the printed

version where it is factorized due to constraints in paper page number) • Each learning resource is split in two parts: question + answer => answer is easily accessible (as

opposed to the printed version where answers are grouped at the end of a title)

• => Not strictly homothetic to paper, even for simple ePubs • Editorial re-conception of the printed version, for adaptation to digital use


What? Technical • ePub3 or ePub2 format

• ePub3 mandatory if paper publication contains math formula, or if ePub is enhanced with audio

• ePub3 / ePub2 for the rest

• In the past: ePub2 used (marketing requirement at that time, for better support on every reading device and system + for broader distribution)

• In the future: ePub3 for all titles

• Reflowable ePub + responsive CSS design • Contrary to most ePubs for education • Dynamic page layout reorganization according to user’s character size preferences and

user’s screen/window width • HTML structure: text tables (not images), native MathML math formula (not images,

except as a fallback mechanism) • Style sheet (CSS3): relative character size values (not in points), no need for @media

(too much development) because very simple layout


What? Technical

• Edupub metadata in OPF


What? Technical

• XHTML5 semantic structure • Head / meta [for metadata] • Article @class=@epub:type=learning-resource [for each learning

resource] • Header [for learning resource header] • Section @class=@epub:type=question / answer [for question /

answer sections in the learning resource] • H1 / H2 / H3 / etc. [for structure elements] • Aside @class=@epub:type=help / notice / glossary • Figure, figcaption [image and image caption] • Audio [audio player of the reader, no Javascript programming] • Table [XHTML, not XML CALS] • Math [in MathML, format included in XHTML5]



What? Technical

How?


How? Principles

• Paper first

• Adaptation for cross media support

• Extraction of learning resources

• Native Indesign converted into HTML (subcontractor ) and ePub packaging (internally)

• Publication as ePub on the different eBook stores


Difficulties and lessons


Unexpected problems we overcame

• Build only ePub3, forget about ePub2 • Problem: (full) support of ePub3 by reading systems, by distributors/vendors • Solution: only ePubs containing math formulae and audio are in ePub3

• Implement TOC menu with HTML5 <nav> element, forget about NCX format • Problem: some readers do not support 3 hierarchical levels TOC menus, due to an

ambiguity in standard formulation • Solution: stick to NCX format

• Use text wrapping around images or frames • Problem: no full support of advanced CSS3 features - such as float property • Solution: simplified style sheet

• Make a semantic distinction between learning-resource and document(s) used in learning resource via @epub:type attribute • Problem: @epub:type vocabulary does not cover this need yet • Solution: use proprietary “doc” semantic class instead of standard epub:type semantic

class


Unexpected problems we overcame • Avoid any Javascript program inside ePubs

• Problems: • No / partial support of MathML (all / some MathML formulae are not correctly displayed) • Image fallback mechanism does not work, though alternative images are provided (@altimg) • The obligation for simply displaying text contained in MathML formula is not the solution, meaning

is lost!

• Ex : fraction 1

5 -> 15 or Ex: angle 𝐴𝐵𝐶 -> ^ABC (bug in iBooks)

• Solution: workaround to force correct display of complex math formulae in every reading system

• Use all educational @epub:type values we needed in standard vocabulary • Problem: some of them are not yet implemented by epubcheck 4.0.1, because still draft • Solution : retrieve some educational @epub:type values from our ePubs

• Use educational @epub:type values, whatever the distributor • Problem : some distributors still run epubcheck 3.1 that do not support any education

specific @epub:type values • Solution : retrieve all educational @epub:type values from our ePubs




Lessons learned

• HTML5 & epub:type cover all our semantic needs in structuring

• Paper has to be designed for cross-media uses from the beginning to reduce production time and costs

• Digital product conception • Requires in-depth collaborative work between editors and digital engineers • No innovation without a permanent "shuttle" between editorial + technical

insights until "design freeze"

• To ensure full interoperability, we are still forced to the lowest common technical denominator in style sheets (maturing technology) => Complete cultural change for editors, loss of freedom, lots of frustration

• Regarding proofreading, editors are still much more concerned by and vigilant of final products (epub, web, ...), than neutral cross-media content


Benefits


Benefits: for our company • Short-term:

• Our first step in “eduPub”, demystification, learning by doing • ePub product was a plus (added to web product), not initially planned • Cross R&D and production experience

• Medium-term: • ROI on content structuring

• In different products • In annual re-editions

• Since the 2nd edition of paper • Better desktop publishing (cross-media constraints now taken into account) • Better archiving of all native files

• Long-term: • Paper graphic model can be homogenized in the forthcoming years (if the

editor so wishes) • Prepare next generation ePubs for Education


Benefits: for the community

• Short-term: • With the community: sharing of experience, "success story" • With the Idpf: suggest standard evolutions (ex: @epub:type)

• Medium-term: • Contribute to ePub format adoption (inter-professional

actions) • Promote ePub as single format (1 format instead of N) for educational

digital books, to reduce production costs • Prove that educational content can be modeled in ePub • Address problems of ePub3/CSS3 support to software editors

• Long-term: • Create a large ePub offer in Education market


Conclusion

• Publishers need to guarantee an ePub positive reading experience to their customers (publisher's activity & commitment)

• Publishers need robust, reliable, interoperable ePub reading systems in order to easily publish on both public and private readers • First steps:

• Evaluation of reading systems in progress • http://epubtest.org/ (joint action of BISG, Idpf, Daisy)

• Evaluation grids on atomic ePubs features (still a lot remain untested) http://epubtest.org/features/

• Evaluation grids in percentage on groups of functions http://epubtest.org/testsuite/epub3/

• Comprehensive ePub3 samples to test on reading systems • Next steps? Different certification levels for reading systems?


http://epubtest.org/

http://epubtest.org/features/

http://epubtest.org/testsuite/epub3/



Thank you


epubsummit 2016 ePub for Education at Editis-Nathan

Presentations & Public Speaking