Digital Publishing

Apple iText Books

There is a lot of excited and analytic commentary floating around about  the Apple iBook Author thing.

My friend and argument partner Mark from Axis 12 in London said we should have a press release:  "When asked if he thought the recent release of ibook author threatened the viability of his flagship product, Mr Pipe, CEO of Infogrid Pacific and the company behind IGP:Digital Publisher replied, "It's very pretty."

After digesting the crazy license and serious limitations for any type of education content and the serious blog statements about IP, I am reasonably sure it is going to be highly successful in the Apple controlled content ecosystem. It's difficult to beat frenzy, greed and myopia!

AZARDI 8.1 Released

An update has been released for AZARDI. This is a small feature upgrade and bugfix release. The full version is available from the AZARDI site. If you have AZARDI 7 or 8 installed this will update automatically next time you open the reader.

We have also included a 64bit deb package version for Linux in this release.

The new features are:

ePub 2, ePub 3+2, ePub 3 Test Books

We have posted some ePub samples on the AZARDI resource page to enable publishers to possibly understand and evaluate the various transition issues when making decisions about when to move to ePub 3, and how.

The samples include four Gutenberg books processed as ePub2, ePub3+2 (transitional) and ePub3 directly out of IGP:Digital Publisher. I could have added a KF8 mobi as well but that would have been showing off, and AZARDI doesn't like them.

The most interesting issue with these ePub variants is how they work on various readers - the reason for this evaluation set. It helps to set a baseline of understanding the issues.

Cover treatment is probably the biggest issue, but ePub 3  also has a cute little landmarks section that will only be seen in AZARDI right now.

AZARDI 8 Released

AZARDI 8 is now available at azardi.infogridpacific.com. This is the first release with auto updating. Mac and Linux will silently update. For those with AZARDI 7, Windows 7 may ask for permission and show an unsigned/unknown publisher box.

This is a relatively low-key upgrade. We have a lot more features planned for the next release based on requests and recommendations from users, and to address the demands of digital content.

Digital Content in 2012

The current fascination with Javascript and CSS, the encapsulated formats of PDF and ePub, and other distractions, blinds many to the value and need of consistent, reliable, highly controlled XHTML and the serious foundation business strategy needed for digital content ownership... regardless of content genre.

I read a laughable comment about how we produced EPUB3 UNLEASHED. "The market will wait until Adobe comes out with the tools". That is the joke. Sure they will have tools that will be able to produce something like EPUB UNLEASHED. But not with a controlled XHTML foundation and in two days, with  two production "resources" in India. The cost of producing EPUB3 UNLEASHED... around INR 5000 or US$100.

ePub 3. Around the World in 28 Languages

Reader devices for ePub have had a strong English orientation. This has been addressed with ePub 3, but of course it needs to be easier. This test book has 28 languages from around the world including alphabet, script, logograph and all the other "too hard" languages.

It is available from the AZARDI resource site for those who are interested in language in general or perhaps a specific language.

For those interested in the page sequence, it follows the sun. Starting at the International Dateline in New Zealand with Maori, and moving with the sun more or less with lines of longitude. An alphabetic listing may have been more useful, but then that would have been alphabetic in English and missed the point.

EPUB3 UNLEASHED Available

We uploaded an informational demonstration book to the AZARDI download location today. EPUB3 UNLEASHED is a highly interactive ePub3. The book is pure HTML5, CSS3, SVG, MathML and Javascript.

AZARDI is designed for the controlled channel delivery of  interactive content. It is optimized for specialist vertical channel content rather than being "just another reader".  This demonstration starts to demonstrate what is possible.

You can download EPUB3 UNLEASHED and AZARDI 7 here.

One of the motivations for producing this was to show that the core technologies can deliver a lot more than anything that is in the market at present, and it can do it easily and cost effectively. The IGP:FoundationXHTML that is packaged into an ePub3 here can also be delivered as a Web Site and WebApp (with the exception that Android doesn't handle SVG!)

AZARDI 7 Released

AZARDI 7 was released today (21 Nov 2011). This version has a number of bug-fixes and feature updates.

the ePub3 support has been improved and most significantly the AZARDI Interactive Engine has been updated and included.

For more information and to download AZARDI 7 go to azardi.infogridpacific.com.

AZARDI is strictly a desktop digital content reader. It works on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, Macs and Linux (Debian). As such it goes a lot further in digital content capabilities than mobile devices.

AZARDI has been designed for education, training and instructional content which requires large scale interactivity. The AZARDI Interactive Engine introduces advanced Question and Answer tools, Story line and Events modules to reduce production costs and time to market.

AZARDI 7 is licensed at no cost in its simple ePub3 form, and is available for customization for publishers and institutions.

AZARDI 2011

As a short diversion from the magnificence of XHTML for publisher content series, we are just a very short time away from releasing AZARDI 2011, our new version of the digital content reader first launched in 2009.

AZARDI 2011 is ePub, and HTML5 ready. It is sort of ePub3+ ready with a few conditional rules (we are leaving out the stupid bits). AZARDI 1 was very ePub strict, AZARDI 2011 displays just about anything XHTML(5) because that is the requirement for any reader in 2011.  It bifircates ePub and HTML5 and is effectively two readers working from one framework.

AZARDI 2011 is ready for a changing digital content future. It does ePubs, and allows App-like publisher products using IGP:FoundationXHTML, without the overheads of custom app creation. It is really important to state right here AZARDI does display books/e-books, but it is not just about books. The target is controlled distribution of high-value digital content.

FX4. F4-Headings

 The IGP:FoundationXHTML series continues. I am skipping F3-Inline content here and moving straight to F4 Headings. The reason for this is that Inline or phrasing content is big, scary, detailed and consists of many, many parts that move in many directions for any coherent XML strategy. Inline content encourages oxymorons like massively small. 

Phrasing/inline content is for the XML hard-core. It encapsulates XML to support links, generated content, generated links, processed content, semantic terms, index insertion points, metadata and of course styles like drop-caps, italics and bold text to name just a few.

So without any more waffle...headings!