AZARDI Online Alpha Release

Infogrid Pacific is pleased to announce the Alpha release of AZARDI Online. A demonstration is available at  azardi.infogridpacific.com.

AZARDI OL, like its sibling AZARDI Desktop, is an ePub reader supporting ePub 2, ePub 3 and when appropriate specific HTML5 packages. AZARDI OL is the first Reader in the AZARDI family to support SMIL Audio Overlays.

AZARDI OL is designed to allow the distribution of all ePub content on all platforms and devices which have standards compliant browsers, using virtually any screen size.

Just a quick first page warning to save time. Check out the browser compatibility advice.

AZARDI Online has a number of interesting features and functions not available in any other ePub Readers.

Personalization for any screen

A browser based reader means the content can land up on any viewport with sizes from 450px to 2000px +. In addition the wide range of content genres demand different flow and layout options to be available, based on the viewport, content type and reading requirement.

Fixed layout chrome just doesn't work when this sort of flexibility is required. AZARDI OL addresses this with comprehensive, easy to use personalization. It probably results in a better reading experience than any of the fixed size readers, even on tablets. But that is an opinion.

AZARDI OL lets you customize font-family (not yet active) font-size, margins, line-height, justification, hyphenation, scrolling and paging modes up to four visible columns, column rules and, for when you really mess it up, a nice reset to two page view.

SMIL Audio

SMIL is difficult to produce and difficult to display. SMIL books are rare enough, but SMIL Readers apparently don't exist in the wild. We have included the full SMIL edition of A Christmas Carol with paragraph level SMIL highlighting patterns. Later we will include demostrations with word, phrase, sentence and paragraph highlighting.

If the book has a SMIL enabled page, the speaker icon next to personalization wakes up and you can interact with the audio.

Here it is with more or less everything on. The second paragraph is highlighted.

On a big monitor or projector screen, with the font set large, it makes a great teaching resource.

Fixed Layout

AZARDI OL supports fixed layout. At present that is the AZARDI system, but we are working on full support for the IDPF fixed layout specification, with support for proprietary schemes. Of course fixed layout books set at 1024px X 768px are not going to be particularly exciting on a lower-res monitor!

We are also playing with Apple Fixed Layout and Kindle Fire fixed layout semi-emulators so even that content is available without the proprietary delivery frameworks. EPUB3 UNLEASHED will be available shortly, but meanwhile the Flashcards demo shows fixed and flow content working together.

In AZARDI Conclusion

So there it is. A brave new digital content world! Digital content everywhere without the constraints of device specific packaging.

AZARDI Online is the result of requests from Library and other closed content delivery channels who just need to get their content everywhere and cannot make business sense from the closed channel delivery options available.

AZARDI OL It is also great for an ePub preview online offering, so publishers can promote their digital books with confidence, especially born digital books.

The code for AZARDI OL will be changing frequently over the next few weeks. If there is anything radical and new we will update the blog accordingly.

There are a number of demonstration books on the AZARDI site. We will be adding more over the next few weeks. The personalization features of AZARDI OL, especially multi-column views will be rolled into AZARDI Desktop to provide the same levels of customization.

If you are interested in more information, SMIL production or using AZARDI Online for preview or full reading, just contact us at sales@infogridpacific.com.

Comments

[bowerbird]

considering the huge amounts of
hype, b.s., and twaddle out there
about the .epub format, your work
on the online viewer is _superb._

you're clearly the front-runner now.

congratulations.

-bowerbird

[UC]

This is the first to handle ePubs with so much ease; and fixed layout and audio gives Azardi a huge edge over other available online readers.

Definitely a first step towards breaking the monopolistic approach towards formats and devices taken by Apple's and Kindle's of this world.

Best product for libraries and big educational players who require closed content delivery channels.

Digital Publishing Geek

[Richard Pipe]

Thanks for the nice words. I don't know about being the front-runner! The objective is to make it easy to get any ePub, made for any device, available anywhere Online reading is OK, and show the rich benefits of ePub3.

It is also trying to address the problem of the plethora of screen sizes, resolutions, etc. at the same time. The ultimate expression of flowable content. Hopefully, after a book is adjusted, the reader becomes the un-noticed plate (Douglas Adams).

[Matthew]

Where is the demonstration of Azardi Online?

[Richard Pipe]

It's at http://azardi.infogridpacific.com/azardi-online.html There is a link there to the demo catalogue.

[R. Scot Johns]

Finally! Now I have a good reason to get serious about working with ePub 3. The real question for content creators, however, and the biggest challenge for Azardi and ePub 3 based content in general, is how to market that content without the support of a massive online retailer like Amazon.