Digital Publishing

SMIL. It's AZARDI 11

AZARDI 11 has been released. This is a major feature upgrade. It can be downloaded from azardi.infogridpacific.com.

AZARDI 11 has significant changes in the reading interface and now matches AZARDI Cloud Reader (aka AZARDI Online). It supports SMIL Audio overlays in ePub3. There is a demonstration SMIL audio ePub3 on the resources page. This is the full  A Christmas Carol  by Charles Dickens, with some interesting highlighting patterns including single word, phrase, sentence and paragraph.

IDPF EPUB3 Fixed Layout Spec Demo 1

The IDPF announced the Fixed Layout specification on the 15th March 2012. Here it is 17th March 2012 and we are able to have the first IDPF sample fixed layout ePub3 books up for viewing on AZARDI Online.

It was relatively straight-forward to map the IDPF specification to the AZARDI fixed layout method as the match was very close. There are only so many ways fixed layout can be done!

You can view the IDPF samples A Voyage of Life and Page Blanche here on the AZARDI OL demo site.

We have also uploaded the IDPF sample version of Moby Dick with two chapters containing SMIL overlays for those interested in this area of the ePub3 feature list.

EPUB3 UNLEASHED - AZARDI Online

EPUB3 UNLEASHED is now available for viewing in AZARDI Online. This release includes MathJax to make MathML available on all browsers and platforms.

Fixed layout becomes platform neutral when delivered from AZARDI Online. All of the interactive goodness in EPUB3 UNLEASHED is easily accessed directly from your favourite standards-compatible browser. Remember if you are using IE 6-9 you will need the Google Frame plug-in to make it work. Tablets are targeted for the Beta release.

To view EPUB3 UNLEASHED in AZARDI Online, go to azardi.infogridpacific.com/azardi-online.html. Scroll down to the section Infogrid Pacific Demonstration Specials.

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 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!)